100 Things That Made My Year in 2017
/It should come as no surprise that I am a man of lists.
I love lists. I make a shopping list anytime my assignment has three or more items. I make to-do lists for my day. I keep lists of books I read, books I want to read, miles I’ve run or biked, summits I’ve hiked, blood pressure and heartrate measurements, body weight, passwords, calendars, goals and dreams, and, as you can see, lists of lists. I agree with the sentiments of Sheldon Cooper, who said, “If there were a list of things that make me more comfortable, lists would be at the top of that list.”
This is my third year to make a list of things that made my year. I hope to make fifty more annual lists like this one before I’m finished. I want to continually remind myself of the best that happens
The world we live in is scary enough; we don’t need to be reminded. But we do need to remind ourselves of the good things that happen, the grace-filled things, the influential things, the things that make us human. Not just because we are lazy and forgetful, but because the Enemy steals them from our memory.
Living with gratitude is the secret to a meaningful life, and this exercise of listing people, events, and things that made the year better is a powerful move toward having a habitually thankful heart.
I encourage you to put together your own list, and don’t stop until you can identify at least 100 things. You may have to find help in order to remember the best, so dig out your journals, comb through your calendars, review your reading lists and music purchases, and ask those who are close to you. It won’t be easy, but it’s worth the effort.
And when you do, I hope you share. A big part of imbedding gratitude in your life is making it known.
(By the way, this list has been randomly sorted using the mathematical magic of Excel. Trying to decide which item is more important than the others is paralyzing.)
1. Leaving the trailhead at Durango for a 40-day through-hike of the Colorado Trail
2. Book: The Tummy Trilogy, by Trillin Calvin
3. Playing in the FBC orchestra with Cyndi
4. Somebody kept sneaking Honey Buns into my pickup and my closet and my life
5. When friends send me photos of rock cairns
6. Reading my Bible near the early-morning glass-smooth lake water at Granbury
7. The hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, in the Villa Nueva Church, Guatemala
8. Dancing with Cyndi at the Los Lonely Boys concert in front of the whole city of Midland
9. Cracking jokes with my dad up until he passed away
10. Memorial service for Deane Simpson, who passed away March 31, 2017
11. My favorite booths at Whataburger
12. Wrangler Relaxed-Fit jeans
14. Byron’s brisket chile rellenos at Thanksgiving
15. Iron Men FORGE retreat in Junction
16. The term, trans-generational; it’s how I want to live
17. Watching Cyndi play the congas
18. Base Camp Gathering in Colorado
19. Celebrating 14,000 days of marriage to Cyndi Simpson
20. Kevin riding his long board
21. Working with Tamarack Petroleum
22. Taking family photos in Mansfield
23. Cycling the hilly roads around Tesuque New Mexico
24. Nick Conn, my trombone teacher
25. Book: The Last Arrow, by Erwin McManus
26. Climbing stairs at my office in the mornings; it’s exhausting, but victorious
27. Singing with Cyndi on the ski lift
28. Watching the movie Muppets Christmas Carol November 1st
29. Specialized Tarmac Elite bicycle
30. Taking trombone lessons for the first time since 1976
31. Learning how to use OneDrive
32. Hearing (reading) my essay on NPR
33. Chicago concert in Midland with my brother Carroll
34. Energel Liquid Gel Ink Metal Tip 0.7mm ball pens
35. Book: Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
36. Salomon XA Comp trailrunners
37. Cyndi flirting with me.
38. Speaking at MOPS with Cyndi
39. Watching granddaughter Madden be baptized
40. Rappelling with Daryl Jensen at Bear Trap Ranch
41. Quote: “I am not preoccupied with collecting more goods and services; quite simply, my desire and effort - every day - is to pay back, to give back to the world a bit of what I have received.” (Richard Rohr, Falling Upward)
42. Summiting Guadalupe Peak again (my 18th time on top, second time with new knees)
43. Playing with MC Jazz band
44. Cyndi reading from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in our adult Bible class
45. Book: The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, by James Martin
46. Listening to audio books with Cyndi on long road trips
47. Cycling with Daryl on Sunday afternoons
48. Traveling with the smallest two suitcases in the group
49. Catching up with the Harry Potter movement, only twenty years after everyone else
50. Quote: “It’s your own responsibility to keep your own bucket filled, to identify streams of replenishing energy that will take you from a depleted state to where your tank is filled to the brim and overflowing.” (Bill Hybels, Simplify)
51. Keith Skaar’s story about his family connection to my family
52. Book: Falling Upward, by Richard Rohr
53. Our full tribe of clever, intelligent, and Godly friends
54. Movie: Hidden Figures
55. Bill Britt with Integrity Massage – he keeps me walking straight
56. Book: Finishing Well, by Bob Buford
57. Katie decorating cookies; making the world a happier place
58. Hiking Hunter Peak with Chad and Clark
59. Dreaming of another Colorado Trail attempt in summer 2019
60. Commuting to work on my bike
61. Quote: “To be a contemplative is to learn to trust deep time and to learn how to rest there and not be wrapped up in chronological time.” (Richard Rohr, Falling Upward)
62. Carving the Thanksgiving turkey – it feels so patriarchal
63. Music concert in our house with Mathew Clark
64. Cyndi Simpson in yoga pants
65. Tiny old Guatemalan women huggng my neck and saying “Gracias” after the New Year’s Eve concert
66. Dinners with Britt and Patti Pyeatt
67. Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato sandwiches at Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen in Santa Fe
68. Talking about music everyday with Bob
69. Quote: “In the avalanche of sin, grace has abounded through music.” (Manuel Lopez, Coro Philarmonico, Guatemala City)
70. Watching Cyndi pour her heart, the full weight of her life, into the construction and design of her new yoga studio
71. Book: Finding God in the Waves, by Mike McHargue
72. Marmot Precip rain jacket
73. Regular phone visits with my brother
74. Movie: The Rewrite
75. Question: I wonder what my life would be like if I started doing all the things I’m afraid to do?
76. Playing trombone with the Global Missions Project Metro Big Band
77. Book: Option B, by Sheryl Sandberg
78. Holding hands with Cyndi
79. Hiking McKittrick Canyon with the Compass Class and my granddaughter Madden
80. Books: The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis
81. Family ski trip at Santa Fe
82. Granddaughter Landry in her Super Girl cape and mask, walking boldly into Einstein Bagels, ready to save the world
83. Played my first two stand-up jazz solos – they were not great, but I was brave enough to risk it
84. Quote: “Once you believe that it’s possible, and you start working toward it, it becomes inevitable.” (Alex Honnold, NPR All Things Considered (after free-soloing El Capitan))
85. Sitting with Cory on the back row of orchestra
86. Clark’s stories from his time in England
87. Movie: Dunkirk
88. Book: Isaac's Storm, by Erik Larson
89. Cyndi dancing with audience members at the Arkadia Mall in Guatemala City
90. Cyndi’s homemade apple pie at Thanksgiving
91. Book: Simplify, by Bill Hybells
92. My Panama hat (I want so much to be a “Hat Man”)
93. Midland Storytelling Festival
94. Abandoning the Colorado Trail only a week after I began due to altitude issues, disappointed yet knowing it was the right thing to do
95. My life verse, 1 Corinthians 15:3 … “For what I have received I passed on to you as of first importance”
96. Movie, About Time
97. Movie: Begin Again
98. Black fleece pullover
99. My brother, Carroll, reengaging with his drums
100. Running on the Trinity River Trail in Ft. Worth
