It’s utterly amazing to me how many milestones one hits in a year, how much goes by, how easy it is to take it all for granted.  Yesterday, I was reminded of three different annual matters, each of which seemed worthy of brief examinations this morning.

First, getting back to yesterday’s issue of running: I managed to get in eight miles yesterday, injury free, though tight and with injury re-aggravation threatening in my calves. While speed is relative, I ran slow for me, trading in the 8:19 miles I was cranking out when I re-injured my right calf for 10:41’s, a slog of a grind, but one that felt healthy and at least allowed me to run. I plan to pace Lincoln, but have been asked to bump back from 2:10 pace to 2:25 as a safety precaution. My friend Brian graciously agreed to drop pace with me so we could stay together. All that aside, I year ago I was on pace to run 1,000 miles in 2017, which I did, and I was entirely sans injury.

The next thing to pass this year was my first year serving on the VinNebraska committee, as marked by last night’s debrief meeting and our members each being presented with this beautiful etched bottle of wine by Partnership 4 Kids. I was truly honored to receive this, a bottle I’ll likely never drink but am sure to display proudly as a reminder of the good work I helped a great group of people to accomplish. It’s something I’m quite proud of, as regular readers of this blog are aware. I look forward to the coming year, and to helping the committee and our parter charity accomplish still more.

The final annual occurrence to come to a conclusion yesterday was Sonja’s photographing of our daughter, which she also did for our son, during their first year of life. Zooey’s party was Saturday, but she turns one year old today, and this picture of her enjoying the flowers that have thankfully begun to bloom in our yard after what seemed like and endless winter is perhaps the perfect marker for that milestone. I’m so grateful to my wife for the things she does for our children — and also for me.

What will be going on a year from now? It’s impossible to say. Collectively, Sonja and I have attempted to make the sort of decisions that will make a year from now easier, better even, than this one, and this one hasn’t started off badly by any stretch. Still, so much can change while the wheels go round and round, and it’s impossible to imagine what might come in that amount of time. It’s a frightening — yet beautiful, reality. I look forward to today, and to tomorrow as well.

Cheers to the passage of time, and to all the future holds,

Mark