At first, I was going to write a blog about the end of the year, the stress, the crankiness, and the flood of “you can do it”, or “finish strong”, or some other positive mumbo-jumbo.

I’m tired, and no amount of positive memes/posters/tweets/blog can help the feeling of “holy crap”.

#blah

However, there’s a lot going right here at the compound:

  1. I’ll write about move in day. Not ours, but for my oldest daughter. Saturday, she and my wife trekked to Cedar Rapids and moved her into a new apartment. Today is the first day of her coop experience at Rockwell Collins, and as we left we could tell she was nervous, but there are so many bright spots for her going forward.  She’s a bright, articulate, hard working young woman who will do great things. I’m excited about the possibilities that this will open for a software engineer, one who enjoys geeking out while coding something, who enjoys making her father feel dumb with all the neat things she’s doing, and who really enjoys seeing her code work the first time.
  2. Our youngest daughter had her music awards last night, and that was a lot of fun to watch. The music geeks, band and choirs alike, are just a hoot. She’s been a bit bummed about her sister moving out, having the worst parents in the world, but at the awards, she was beaming because, quite frankly, she’s a talented girl. She doesn’t believe in herself when it comes to band, but our director believes in her, and that’s all that matters. She’s got a powerful voice, and she’s beginning to harness that power. I’m excited to see what happens next year.
  3. We made a trip to IKEA. That’s always a good thing! A couple new chairs and a table. The table was broken, but we called (an hour on the phone) and we’ll get a new piece.
  4. Summer break is almost upon us and that’s a good thing too.
  5. Next week, we’ll try out this empty nest thing with both daughters being out of the house, one in Cedar Rapids, one taking a school trip to Germany. We’re getting away a weekend, but it will be interesting to see how the dynamics of the house change. It’s a good thing for all involved.

So, it’s easy to get down on things. But, when you stop, breathe, and look around, there’s so many positives around us. Whether it’s a smile from a co-worker, a bad joke from a student, or an email from a parent saying thank you, the positives are there.

Sometimes, you just have to dig a little deeper!