1.  I often wonder if Trey really knew how much I loved him.  He was always so much in the now that I can make it feasible that he didn’t know because he never thought of or wondered it.

2.  I am reminded of how when he was super tired or (toward the end) just spent, he would just relent and put his head on my shoulder.  It was a safe place for him, he felt secure there.  He knew.

3.  Joe at a self serve car wash is a beautiful thing to behold, pure laughter, minimal control.

4.  Bella manipulating kids at the pool on raft night so that she ends up with a raft…scary and efficient.

5.  Watching fireworks without Trey, tear jerking in one moment…

6.  Then realizing that we never had one 4th of July fireworks with Trey where it went well…tears rescinded.

7.  Looking at the ferris wheel at Idlewild park, on the other hand, reminded me of sitting there with Trey like a normal father/son.  Hard beautiful memories.  Tears.

8.  Joe said that he is scared to have kids someday because he doesn’t want anything to be wrong with them.

9.  You think the pains we face as children don’t follow us into our adult lives?

10.  You think, “Oh, that was then, we all face things as kids.”?

11.  Please remember that your pain matters…both then and now.

12.  I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, why is my fridge either shamefully overstocked or barren of anything other than a few condiments?

13.  You know your kids are watching too many cooking shows when they critique the STEAK you are serving them.

14.  I remember telling my mom how she could have tweaked or balanced the flavor structure of a few dishes when I was growing up.  Oh wait, no…I didn’t do that.

15.  Inside Out is a great movie filled with a lot of truths about emotional needs.

16.  Joe and Bella are starting to say that Rachel and I are embarrassing them.  We sure will miss them for the next ten years or so.

17.  We have neighbors directly across the street and diagonally across the street both moving this month.  There is another house for sale three houses away and an abandoned one across the street (next to one of those moving).  I’m beginning to think it may be us.

18.  Girls on my volleyball team this fall will have been born 7 years after I first started coaching and 3 years after I took over the girls program at Penn Hills.

19.  When you forget to record your sermon live it provides a slightly awkward “preaching to no one” scenario later in the week, alone in your living room.

20.  I love when former players of mine come back and play ball with us.  It is great to catch up with them.

21.  If you get bit by a shark and survive (and keep all of your limbs) it would be horrifically painful but you would have quite the story to tell.

22.  If you get stung by a jellyfish, all you have is a decision to make.

23.  I was excited to see that someone from the state of Indiana (I went to IU) had called my cell phone.

24. I was chagrined to find out that it was the IU fundraising foundation (I think after 20 years they gave up on my home phone (sssshhhhh).

25.  I took Joe and Bella to Wholey’s for the first time last week.  Why do parents (or was it just my father with me and me with my kids) love watching their kids get grossed out by the sights and smells of that place?  Good times.

26.  Making burgers with 80/20 ground meat combined with slab bacon finely diced and lightly cooked results in great flavor…and a mad house of flare ups on the grill.  It was touch and go for a bit.

27.  I hate making appointments for my grill to be serviced but that’s why I paid a million dollars for the extended warranty/service contract (I may be exaggerating).

28.  I just know that I’m going to be angry when they say that the heat deflector shields are no longer included and that they can’t come out until sometime between next week and November.

29.  I’ve said it before but besides being nice, knowing Christ, smart, thankful and a few other things I really love the fact that Joe and Bella are funny.

30.  I am very thankful for all of the people in our lives who have loved us in so many ways and continue to check in with us and stand by us as we go through this thing called life.

31.  One day I will love and respect those who have a pretty healthy case of OCD and end a “list” post on an even number…one day.