Author: Abe Darais

Today Lily went on a hike with her great friend Emily. Here is some beautiful scenery from the hike:

Last night In only slept 2 hours because the team was prepping late for our onsite meeting the next day and then I couldn’t sleep well due to nerves and having napped on the plane. We also got up early to prep more. But the day was very fun. I love the people I worked with and we all showed up and delivered a great presentation. Afterwards, I helped support an event in Manhattan (the morning meeting was on Long-Island) and as I was walking into the venue, I met Darius Rucker, one of my favorite musicians. He was very nice and asked me my name and agreed to a photo. I told him he was my road trip music.

The event was fun and exhausting. Between the event and dinner, I was entertaining people for about 8 hours straight after the morning onsite. When I got home, I collapsed into my bed and woke up 10 hours later, which was delicious.

I got up at 4AM to catch my flight to New York and I almost missed it. I don’t know the details, but it appears Lily took the kids to a park and the weather was beautiful.

Today was Mother’s Day. It was so wonderful to celebrate the incredible mothers in my life. I was able to connect with my mom, Suzanne, and my grandma, and we had Georgia over for lunch. All of these women mean so much to me and have impacted me in unique and special ways. It is also a very special day to acknowledge the incredible mother that Lily is and the kids made her gifts of love and appreciation. I booked Lily a massage in the afternoon, and afterwards we all visited Georgia again at her place and Lily gave her a foot massage.

Afterwards, we all had a delicious dinner at Via 313.

Transparently, Mother’s Day tends to be a hard day for Lily as she is hard on herself, but I’d like to put a few thoughts on paper for you sweetie.

I love the way you mother with so much intention. Thoughts, hopes, dreams and concerns for our children are ever in your mind and heart. You intentionally design a life for them that is structured, rich, cultured, grounded in values and depth and with the right amount of openness to their own personalities and desires. You have jump started their reading, exposed them to languages, passed on a love a cooking, painstakingly instilled musical talent, nurtured, orchestrated trips and adventures to show them the world, modeled humility, apology, and getting it right over being right. You laugh with our kids, play wingspan with them, play with Clarissa, organize playdates with them, set boundaries for them, teach them, instruct them, listen to them, give the massages at night, strike a balance on what to allow them to be exposed to and what not, watch family movies with them, host parties for them, listen to them talk and so so so much more. And as much as I try to help with the house, there is no question that you do the lion-share, and it is so deeply wonderful to live in an environment that is beautiful, clean and organized. Thank you. You also have the best ideas, like our pet dog, our home, our fruit trees, going to Palm Springs as a family, Orchestra tickets and other artistic performances, ski school for our kids, and the list goes on and on and on. You are also deeply wise and kind. When I read your writing, I see the beautiful thoughts, values and life philosophy that underpin the beautiful person you show up as. You are beautiful inside and out and I cannot imagine a better mother for my children. Thank you, thank you, thank you thank you for being my best friend and partner, and for for all the time, energy, intention and heart you put into this family. We flourish because of you.

To my mother, thank you for always loving me unconditionally. I never once had a question if you loved me or thought I was cute and smart, and I still don’t question that. I always feel like we get each other and I feel a sense of home when I talk to you.

Suzanne, thank you for taking my brothers and I and our families fully into your life. You invest in us, care for us and truly love us and it is a joy to have you in our lives. I love your cheer and really enjoy our chats.

Georgia, you too have become a mother to me, and you have loved and supported our family in every conceivable way. When I go through something hard, I feel your love and support and genuine care, and on your current difficult road, you are modeling breathtaking courage and faith.

Grandma, I love your sense of humor, and your never-ending cheer. You are always gracious and kind and have a smile on your face. You show genuine interest in our family, and your heart is so gentle. Your love and good energy radiates and I’m so grateful for our visits.

Today Lydia had her honors recital and she did very well. She had a couple of false starts, but she maintained her poise, got her fingering right and then proceeded to play majestically. I’m so proud of her. She was wonderful.

Dad and Suzanne came to the recital also, and Lily was taking Ammon to a haircut during it since she’d heard the piece many times and Ammon really needed a haircut. The original plan was for her to take him and Clarissa (since they have a hard time sitting still for recitals), but Clarissa begged to stay, so Lily just had Ammon.

After the recital, we all went to Gourmand’s to celebrate my dad’s birthday (today!) and Mother’s Day for Suzanne. My dad turned 66 today. It was so fun to talk to him about his reflections and goals. He’s grateful for his great health (which I’m sure has something to do with his intentional diet involving eggs, sour kraut, a 15 ingredient salad, oatmeal with 15 supplements sprinkled on it, and 15 vitamins he takes every day–maybe he should call it the 15 diet) and he wants to make progress on his civic engagement, his articles/website and on his home.

People got yummy deserts at the end, and Clarissa had fun looking cute in my glasses.

At home we spent a ton of time gardening. While I was away on business last week, Lily purchased a bunch of trees, bushes and flowers. Lily did a lot of planting (and involved Clarissa) and I mostly dug holes for trees, which was back-breaking work, but it made me happy because I love manual labor (especially with all my sitting at work).

I had a customer onsite today. It went really well, but I’m missing home. Here are some cute pictures from the day:

I’m out of town and missing home. Today Lydia recorded “Watching the Wheat”. I assume she is preparing for her honors recital this Saturday.

Today was a more low key day which was nice given the pace of yesterday. Lily and I played Wingspan in the morning and then the family went for a 1-mile run for Runday Sunday. After the family run, I did my own run while Lily monitored Ammon, Clarissa and Mary playing on the playground. Lydia wasn’t in the mood to play on the playground so she sat on the car and took pictures of Basil.

Back at home, Lily and I had a long and deep conversation about Lily’s life story which I loved and I gained beautiful new insights about her. Then Lily and I played Wingspan, and did a quick blitz clean of the house with the kids. Then I took Ammon and Clarissa to the movie theater to watch the Mario movie while Lily stayed home with the older girls to watch “I Love Lucy”. It was a very nice day today!

Also, during the day, Lydia built a giant Jenga tower, and Ammon was beyond thrilled with it and took this video:

Today was a very full and very fun day. Lily and I played Wingspan in the morning and then Georgia and Suzanne came over for lunch while Lily was at lunch with Michaelann. We all had a great time with Georgia and Suzanne. First Lydia and Mary played music for them and then we had a great time chatting over lunch. Then Ammon showed Georgia his Tocaworld game for a long time while Mary and I taught Suzanne how to play Wingspan. That was also the time when Lily got back and took Lydia to her harp festival.

Lydia performed with the highest marks, “Superior” and now she will be performing in the honors recital next week. Amazing work Lydia! With all her hard work (and Lily’s incredible support) she has truly turned into a something special with her harp music. Well done!

When Lydia and Lily got back from the festival, I corralled everyone for our Cycling Saturday bike ride. Last week we had the idea to have family wellness weekends and do cycling Saturday and Sunday Sunday. I was in a bad mood and didn’t respond well when not everyone wanted to go, but everyone ended up going and I apologized later for my mini-tantrum. I’ve honestly let work stress get to me and I wasn’t quite myself today. In the end people enjoyed the bike ride and it was great to see Clarissa making such great progress!

After the bike ride, Lily and I went to see the Opera/Libretta “Revolution of Steve Jobs” with our friends Daniel and Amanda Olsen. Lily and I had to give up our tickets that we had for Monday since I was going to be out of town, and we were so thrilled to be invited by Daniel and Amanda tonight and still have a chance to go, and even better to get to go with them! Lily and I even each wore our black turtlenecks! We had so much fun chatting in the car with Daniel and Amanda, and the Opera was truly profound. It spoke to me especially as I was in such a cloud of work stress. The Libretta showed how Steve Jobs started out way too focussed on his work ambitions evolved to put work more in perspective, and place more value on people and living life in the present with appreciation, love and joy. But so much of his evolution was to the credit of his wife Laurene, who rounded him out and made him his best self. I related so much to the role Lily plays in my life and how she helps me live more fully, see beyond my work, and focus on people and the life that is all around me. It was a beautiful experience and we even got to attend a QA from the author and composer who were present for tonight (opening night). What a wonderful treat it was!

This evening we hosted Valerie Kind for dinner. She is our contact for our donor relationship with the National Parks and she is one of our favorite people ever. Like us, she is obsessed with the parks. She even wore her Arches socks! She is so genuinely interested in people and give all of us so much of her love, time and attention. We all talked about our favorite National Parks and the kids played their instruments for her. We also learned about her recent adventures, and the things the National Parks are doing in and around Selma Alabama. She also showed us a video that her ring camera took of three bears in her backyard while she was away!

She even brought gifts for the kids, new National Parks passport books, stickers and a National Parks Jenga set. The kids (especially Ammon and Clarissa) couldn’t get enough of her because of the way she really leaned in and cared about what they were sharing. Valerie lit up our whole home tonight and we are grateful for her spirit and visit!