Whew....I'm not sure how to write that sound you make when you take a deep breath and then blow out a relaxed and rejuvenated noise. I turned 40 last weekend and it's been monumental. My friends and family showered me with words, time, surprise after surprise, good food, laughs, and on top of that the weather has been phenom.

First, thanks for the continued support to me and my family (both home and work family). We carry the weight of the responsibility of getting a lot of people the food they need to be their best selves, and we continue to make mistakes along the way. Your grace and forgiveness to us have meant the world.

What is this Friday Five, and why do you keep sending it to me?

Great question all you newbs...

Answer:  It's a simple way that I can get what's in my head out on something tangible.  It started as a goofy way to connect to our Yellowbird customers in a different way than food.  It's morphed into something that is good for me, and might even give you a couple Friday 5's.

Sorry this is so late to launch this week...literally haven't had time to do anything but pack and deliver food.

Because we are all completely swamped with voices, opinions, advice, and graphs during this season, I am having trouble deciding what is worth our time vs. what is just me voicing my own opinion because my ego wants to be heard.

With that in mind, this week will just be one story.

Where to start? The only logical place anyone can actually start from is right where they currently are. So how are you? I know this sounds corny, but if you don't have someone that you are connecting with right now and you need a friend, a conversation, or even in some cases some help...please do not hesitate to reach out.

From A Brother During Covid - 19 My Songbird- You sing so sweetly announcing life and warmth and growth and hope. Hope that the cold is dwindling and brighter days are ahead.

Hello Beloved.

Please take the next 5 minutes to unplug your mind from the matrix of thoughts that you have to think about throughout your day.  This is not time to solve the world's problems, this is time to laugh at fart jokes and cat videos.

At the bottom I am going to tell you about Yellowbird Foodshed.  If you do not already know, we are a FOOD COMPANY that is DELIVERING FOOD...at this point do the details matter?

What a week it's been huh?

I've heard so many facts and opinions this week that I don't even really have anything to say on any of it.

I'm going to throw the "best of the week" at you in case you need a giggle, a little info, a little musical escape, or a little bite to eat.

A random story:

When I was in my early 20's, I was visiting a friend in Indianapolis and we were driving past what was then referred to as the "Hoosier Dome".  (Many of you probably remember this)

There was a music festival going on that day/night and I wanted to check it out so we parked and walked up to the door to try and purchase a bracelet that would gain us entry to the festival.  They told us they were sold out and that we should have reserved our tickets long beforehand.

I just got back from taking my 3 boys (ages 12, 8, and 4) to an Ash Wednesday service at the Episcopal church on Kenyon's campus.

We don't usually attend a weekly "service" so it's always fun to watch my children's behaviors in settings like this. 

It's a very cool building that feels as if it came right out of a Harry Potter movie and Dumbledore should be the one serving the wafer and wine.

When I was 21 I had a best friend that taught me about 300 MAJOR life lessons that I still reflect on to this day.

Here is one.  

We lived together in a tent out in the middle of the mountains in Montana and shared a car and worked at the same place...which is to say, we were together ALL THE TIME. ..

Since I was a kid, Friday's have always been my favorite day of the week. 

They are pregnant with the excitement of the weekend...and since weekends rarely live up to the hype, I think that I have found more joy in the expectation of the weekend. 

I notice as I get older that this holds true for most things.
-The Christmas season is actually the thing we love, not Christmas day which comes and goes so quickly that it's hard not to feel a little anti-climactic. 
-The cup of coffee that I have been looking forward to since I went to sleep the night before gets downed, and I really don't remember drinking it.

** "They call it a Royale with cheese."

** Pulp Fiction, 1994

Friday February 7th, 2020 It's that time again!!! Friday Five Time!! I've got a few things up the sleeve this week that I think you will enjoy.

On why I don't "hide" or "unfriend" people that are in my social media feeds that post annoying things that I absolutely disagree with:

Because if I do that, am I not becoming the thing I hate?  If I can't sit and listen to what the "other" person is saying, am I not succumbing to exactly the thing that we are all accusing one another of doing?

Once every six months I hear something that is so powerful and important that it is the only thing that makes the Friday Five.

It's no coincidence that the only other times I have done this involve the same 2 people talking.

Rich Roll and Zach Bush have found a chemistry that I can't stop listening to.  This was at a special event and there were so many things in this talk that I had to stop the video, rewind, and write down things over and over.

Almost all the ancient religious scriptural texts have references to becoming "like a child".  

I'm in a house right now with children at the ages of 3, 7, 11, and 14.  

I've now watched the "distance appear" (mentioned in the quote above) in 2 of the 4. It will happen shortly in the other 2 as it has happened to every human throughout history.  

My dad always told me, "Wisdom is learning from someone else's experience."

This is difficult for a few reasons. 

We rarely learn from our own experiences, so how can we be expected to learn from someone else's? 

Even when we learn from our own experience, it is difficult to make changes that lead us away from comfort...from knowing, into what might actually be harder for us, but also lead to healing.

Friday January 3rd, 2020!!

I didn't make it to midnight on New Year's Eve

My challenge for 2019 was to jump rope 500,000 times.  I made it to 75,350 before I got a really bad case of poison ivy, my arches got tight, and I got off rhythm and didn't pick it back up again.

I yelled at my kids when I should have been patient.

I ate too much at lunch and it killed the rest of my day...and I knew I was doing it as it went down.

I judged people.

This time of year comes LOADED with lots of emotions, memories, and significance.

Stay in each moment.  

If you are joyful, rejoice.  

If you are mourning, mourn with fervor.

Remember that this year holds its own events and a chance to create or add to holiday traditions.  

Give yourself the grace you deserve in this time, to be who you are, and in doing so freeing others to be who they are...together.  

Each Thursday night, my wife takes a living sourdough "starter", and creates between 15-20 loaves of amazing dough. That dough sits around our kitchen overnight and then she gets up at 5:30am and begins to bake this wondrous bread.