The first trauma I was called into, I was afraid. I wasn’t afraid I’d fail. I’d simply never been in a room like that before. Fear doesn’t mean you can’t do it. I know that now. I didn’t know it then. A man who had been shot, bullet lodged in his T-spine. When I got … Read more
Here’s what we’re reading in July 2026 — and I’ll be honest, I didn’t notice these four had anything in common until I’d finished all of them. They all ended up pushing me in the same direction. Die With Zero — Bill Perkins I almost skipped this one because I assumed it was mostly about … Read more
Building It Live #9: What Ten Weeks Looks Like Ten weeks in. We missed a weekly update. We didn’t miss the work. We’re Spending Less Time Negotiating The biggest change isn’t that we’re doing more. Before, a busy week usually meant movement disappeared. Now there’s always a smaller version that keeps us going. The decision … Read more
We live here. Long enough that the Gateway Arch became part of the skyline instead of somewhere we actually went. Then Tom’s boss and two coworkers came up from Dallas for a work trip. We planned the kind of evening we’d put together for visitors — the Arch grounds, dinner at Ballpark Village, a Cardinals … Read more
July is when we find out which products actually earn their place. Here’s everything we’re reaching for when the heat is real and we’re determined to be outside anyway — plus a few things making the indoor hours better too. July in St. Louis is not subtle. The heat index hits triple digits before noon, … Read more
Almost every morning — or evening, or somewhere in between — there’s a version of the same conversation. Maybe I skip the walk today and just have coffee. Maybe I work on the project tomorrow instead. Maybe we stay home tonight because it’s been a long week. Maybe the dishes can wait. Tomorrow will be … Read more
This month we built a retaining wall. We were both really busy with work. There were dinners with friends, a cardinals game, walks with the dogs, rounds of mini golf, a movie with Tom and Sam, coffee outside before the day started, and a brunch we almost talked ourselves out of. There were nights I … Read more
Looking back, June felt like a month of surviving the day without putting life completely on hold. Work was busy. We built a retaining wall and the garden bed behind it. There were days I came home from work, ate dinner, and went straight to bed. But somewhere in the middle of all that, we … Read more
What surprised me most is that we’re both working on the same module, but almost opposite problems. Tom used to run until he was wiped out. He’d push hard enough that the next couple of days became recovery days. Lately he’s been learning to back off a little, add strength training, and leave enough in … Read more
