First of all, Merry Christmas everybody! Hopefully you all have a great holiday to spend with your families. For me, it also marks Day 1000 of my new consecutive exercise streak. It started March 31, 2019. One week after my health issues ended my last streak at 4,196 days. It started off really slow, but the habit had already been started. In the last roughly 15 years, I have missed 7 days total, and they all happened to be in a row.
This truly is how success is described. It truly is a journey, not a final destination, or a final race result, or a final completion of one particular goal. It is ongoing. A continuous journey. Many things along the way help each of us continue this journey. It should never be thought of as something you will do on your own. Take all the help you can get.
Sarah has been by my side every single day of this journey. I would never have been able to keep going with all of this without help, and motivation from her as well. Forever partners!
Of course, everybody in our run group, WARC, helped immensely as well. This will always be a very special picture to me. They were all cheering for me while I was in the hospital, and this day would have been #4200 for me. Of course, my weakness is peanut M & M’s. There are never enough of them!
5 months ago I became a Grandpa! To think I may not have been able to even see him! Everything is now in the past. I am only looking forward!
I had to keep telling myself this many times. You have to keep telling yourself to never give up! Never! Even though there may be many times when you want to give up, you have to show how tough you really are, and keep going.
Exactly! We all have to work physically at the activities, but the mental part is the really hard part. If you can convince your mind to do this, you will!
Yes, there are times when you feel exhausted when you get done. You start wondering how you can do it again the next day. But once it becomes a habit, you have more endurance, and mind power, to accomplish things.
I am truly happy that I was able to start a new streak. I am running again, and did not know if this was going to be in my future or not. So I am especially thankful around the holidays. And as far as how long this new streak will take me, I have no idea. The only thing I have left to stay is:
Bring it on! I am ready to take life on. I am ready to conquer other obstacles that go on. It has been a tough 2 years putting up with COVID, and it makes me wonder how much more I can take of this. But this is how it is. Put your head down, face the challenges in your life, and take them on with everything you have! Have a Merry Christmas, and an upcoming New Year! May the New Year be your beginning of something better for you! Keep moving everybody!
Our run club wore our Christmas attire today to celebrate Christmas. Many lights, sweaters, and running! Those moments when you can run with friends, and family…it truly is fun. I am just waiting for Sarah to have her foot heal up. It is truly not the same without running with her. Our family celebrated Christmas this weekend. Of course, my grandson Connor made it home, which helped me get over my grandchild withdrawal syndrome!
Even Dakota had to get in on Connor cuddles and kisses!
With family, friends, and the holiday, it makes you appreciate life even more. We have to make sure that we make every moment count. Don’t look back on your life and have regrets. Move on, be in the moment, and appreciate every day we have.
Our run group had to stop and take a photo at the sleigh while on our run this morning. Our running family…hoping and wishing everybody a Merry Christmas coming this week!
Don’t ever forget this! Live each day to the fullest. I saw a picture the other day that had a sunrise in the background, and the slogan was: “Just before Sunrise there is a dark night.” Begin each day anew. Look forward to what the next day will bring to you. Appreciate it. Here is one of my sunset, then sunrise pictures.
Each day brings something else to look forward to. This is what makes life so interesting…you never know what the day is going to bring! My daughter Megan gave me a gift last night of a book of many of my sunrise/sunset pictures, and the title of the book was “Reiffenberger Reflections”. How cool is that!!!! I love it!
Truly make every moment of your life count. We only get one life. Don’t waste it. Spend time with things that truly are important. The rewards in this are endless. Take care of yourself, and keep moving everybody! Have a Merry Christmas coming!
I have to say, I have not been feeling the greatest lately. I seriously think I am coming down with grandchild withdrawal! I have not seen Connor since Thanksgiving, and they are coming next weekend to celebrate Christmas. We had to go a week early to get everybody home. Boy, do I miss him! I thought our kids captured our hearts, but this really is different! Molly and Tanner send us snapchats everyday so we can see how he is doing, but there is nothing like holding him. This post is going to have a lot more pictures than usual, just to get my point across.
He is always smiling, and so happy! How can you not miss him! Connor reminds me so much of Molly when she was little.
Molly is the one on the left. It is hard to imagine this picture is already over 27 years old! Where did the time go!
Here they are now all grown up, and Megan is holding Connor at his baptism.
It is fun seeing Sarah holding a baby again. She is making a wonderful grandma and loves her role just as much as I do mine.
Holding him just does not get old. He will be walking and running with us as he gets older. I always have my hat on running, so of course he had to try it out too.
I am ready to go Grandpa! I may have more facial hair, but he has me beat for the amount of hair on his head! Train them young to they learn quicker.
We had him out in the stroller this Fall, but now it is too cold for him. We will be back out there again in the Springtime! The only one who probably is not as excited to see Connor come is Dakota. She starts to feel left out, but manages to get petting time by everybody then.
Dakota wiped out after Connor leaves. She has to cuddle with her pet dinosaur. Another kid in the family.
Having Connor spend time with us is like having a great new sunrise every morning. It just gets better and better, no matter how many times you may have seen it (in this case, him!)
How true! Connor just laughs and smiles, not a care in the world. We need to get back to those simpler times as well. Life is too stressful at times, and many times made more stressful by ourselves. Kick back and enjoy the important things in life. Spend time with your family, and especially your grandkids. As we get older, we now can actually spend more time with our grandkids than we actually did with our own kids. Spoil them. Play with them. Be with them! You/I want our grandkids to remember us. Don’t miss those opportunities.
Stay fit and take care of your health. Don’t miss out on those times you can spend with your grandchildren. They want to be a part of your life. I/we really want them to be a part of our lives. Enjoy every minute of it. Keep moving everybody!
We all tend to be in hurry. We have to hurry up and do this and hurry up and do that. Patience is not something that comes to us easily. When talking to patients, and their health issues, it is always the same thing: They want to be better yesterday! I am no different. We all want to do well and live our lives the best we can. We are not always in control though. Sometimes going slower can actually accomplish things faster. We can be more productive if we are not in a hurry, or we take the time to really think about it. That is what is so fun about taking pictures of the sunrise, or sunsets. You have to be patient. One minute is different from the next. It is always changing. Just when you thought it was about done, it changes, and looks even better than it did previously. Such is life. One moment we wonder how things could get any worse, and then wait a little bit, to find that things have worked out, and we are on to the next thing. Some things may take longer than others, but that truly is where patience comes into play.
We especially need to be patient when the going is hard and slow. We wonder if we are ever going to get through something, only to look back on it later and tell ourselves, “You know, maybe it was not so bad after all!” If we want to achieve something, we have to work at it. We all have goals, and if we work at it, it eventually is achievable. That does not mean we did not put a lot of work, effort, and sweat into it. But then all goals take effort, and that effort often times requires us to be patient.
Here is our run group from last weekend. Several of our usual runners were not there that day. Sarah, Jenn, and Paula have all been hurt, and are recovering. It takes patience. Many times, when we can’t run, patience is hard to find. Our body is telling us one thing, and our mind another. But we need both together to accomplish things, especially goals. Several people in this picture have reached what I will say is a marathon runners dream: to get to the Boston Marathon. Owen just found out his time from the Brookings Marathon earlier this year qualified him, and he will be running at Boston in April. Congratulations! For Erika and Tom, they have already run Boston in the past.
Erika and Tom, two seasoned running veterans who have both already run Boston. They have stories and experiences from that day. They have running stories in general from years of running. All that experience pays off in their daily lives as well. They did not get there right away either. Patience! I have been trying now for 29 years. Maybe someday as I get older it may be, but then maybe my qualifying days are done. That is ok too. I had a lot of fun over the years running, and I would not trade it for anything. There is always that elusive “Boston qualifying” goal that I have just never been able to achieve. So, when somebody truly gets a qualifying time, it is a huge accomplishment. It is most definitely one that took work, effort, mental power, and… patience!
The perfect picture! Patience…exercise…sunset…what better way to make a point! Patience truly is an exercise in self-control. We all need to learn to be patient, in all aspects of our life. “Good things come to those who wait!” How many times have you heard this phrase? Too many to count! So in these coming days, slow down. Pay attention to what is around you. Look at things differently, and it may amaze as to what you see.
These images, surroundings, things in our life have always been there, but we…I… have just been too busy to pay attention! Slow down! Pay attention! Take it all in. You don’t even know what you are missing when you are not even looking! It is time to have a new look with our eyes, to feed new thoughts to our brain, which can then translate new energy to our bodies as well. Learn to be patient and take the time to appreciate what you have accomplished. Know there is more to come, and that the effort will be worthwhile! Keep moving everybody and learn to be patient!
This Thanksgiving was the annual Turkey Day 5k run/walk. Sarah, Megan, and I participated prior to getting ready for a family gathering, and great food. Hopefully you all had a great Thanksgiving. But, what are you thankful for? I will give you a few of the things I am grateful for this year.
Family is number one!
We all recently got together for my grandson Connor’s baptism. All of my kids, and now my first grandchild. I had thought, and hoped, that being a grandpa was going to be really cool, but I did not even fathom how cool it really could be!
He is such a good little boy! Always smiling. We could all learn a lot from him. Take things in stride. Be happy, and just be you! I love being a grandpa, and the same for Sarah being a grandma!
My twin brother Don came to spend some time with us this weekend. We went walking, taking the dogs, and also went out on some picture taking trips. It was good to see him again. He is a Lutheran Minister, and does not get the opportunity to leave very often. We are both very busy, and have to find more time to spend with family, and to give thanks for!
The food was absolutely incredible on Thursday. I did my part helping where I could, and cleaning up, but Sarah is the major cook, and master chef. She once again did an absolutely great job of making a great meal.
I am grateful to be running again! I did not know after my health issues almost 3 years ago how this would go. I may not be as fast, but that is ok. I am out running. Right now, Sarah has a sore foot, and she can’t run. I miss my main running partner so much! I can’t wait until she can join me and the rest of us again.
She was out walking during the Turkey day run/walk, and spent the time walking with one of our friends, Sue Beaudry. They got to do some catching up conversation wise!
We had many of our WARC group show up for the Turkey run as well. It is great to call these people friends! We all love to run, and exercise. It is especially nice to see the younger ones of our group bringing their kids out to participate like we did with our kids for many years. Now my kids are joining us as adults. My daughter Molly and son-in-law Tanner ran the Turkey Day 5k back in Marshall, MN, close to their home of Tyler.
I am also thankful of finding time to go out and see the beauty of the Lake and scenery, and just taking the time to truly appreciate it. It has been a great escape for me!
These are some of the things I am thankful for. But just as it says, remember: In every thing, give thanks! Don’t take anything for granted. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Live today, and each day to its fullest. Really Strive to Survive. And remember, to tell the people around how much you care for them, and appreciate them! Keep moving everybody!
