jeff shuck

Well, I haven’t written in several weeks, not because I haven’t had anything to say, but because there’s been so much happening between work, life, and the holidays that time has gotten the better of me.

Several weeks ago I completed the San Diego Breast Cancer 3-Day, which was every bit as re-energizing and inspirational as I hoped it would be. It has been quite some time since I’ve participated in one of our events, and I left the experience feeling rejuvenated emotionally and spiritually.

Then, this past week I was fortunate enough to take the entire week as vacation, and spent the week generally shuffling about, accomplishing little, and enjoying my family — in short, a great way to spend a week. I spent one entire morning in my five-year-old’s classroom, an experience I highly recommend to anyone!

All of this has me feeling grateful and content, and so I thought in the spirit of the holiday I’d share a brief list of everything for which I’m thankful:

• First and foremost, my family — my wife and children, who make the positives of life more important and the problems of life less so; they color my world, bring everything into three dimensions, and I love them so much.
• My health, perhaps our most precious resource; I’m thankful that by the grace of God I have the ability to enjoy and experience life.
• My work, and most importantly the opportunity to spend my life engaged in something for which I care totally and completely. The longer I live the more I realize that the opportunity to feel totally engaged with and deployed by one’s occupation is rare, and I am thankful that I care so much about what I do that there is no boundary between my personal and professional lives. There is just one life.
• My friends, who put up with so much and receive so little — I hope to prove myself worthy of your companionship next year.
• The incredible fortune to live in a place where I can say and think what I want, a place which provides opportunity and challenge for those who want it. For all of its problems, this country is still the best place on Earth to live, and I truly believe that we hold in our own hands the future of this place.
• Music, and the ability to appreciate it in all its forms. The closest I get to art.
• The lake and the chance to enjoy it regularly; the opportunity to skim a few inches above the water at 20 knots.
• The NFL, and the real chance that this year’s Super Bowl may feature the Bears versus the Colts.
• Computers and all the access they offer.
• Green tea, diet Coke, Sierra Nevada, pizza rolls, and crunchy potato chips with pepper.

There’s so much more, but that’s a good start. My best to you and yours, and may we all find a bit of time to appreciate all we have.