Karwoski Life

I don’t mean to be a Valentine’s Day hater…but really…I kind of hate it. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an aversion to what has so blatantly become a ‘Hallmark’ holiday. The older I get, the more I feel like Charlie Brown searching for the meaning of Christmas…only there isn’t so obvious an answer in the end. I guess I ultimately don’t see the point in showering your true love with gifts a plenty on this one day that’s magically deemed special. It seems so…forced. And really, it’s like you’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. If you’re in a relationship and your significant other doesn’t do something for you on Valentine’s Day…you are disappointed. If you act disappointed, then your lover feels bad and then feels obligated to remedy the situation with a last minute run to Hy-Vee for flowers…or some such thing. And then you feel bad when they return with what was surely the last tiny handful of baby’s breath…and they feel bad…and you feel bad. If you aren’t in a relat...

The other day I was talking to a friend about things…and she mentioned how lucky I seem to be. She rattled off a few examples of things that seemed to just plop in my lap, out of the blue, in some sort of mysteriously amazing good timing. She said she was frustrated that none of the ‘good luck’ seems to fall on her lap. I shrugged my shoulders and waved her off, because standing there I didn’t know quite what to say, or have the time to get into the deeper conversation I felt the subject warranted. But later, I couldn’t help but come back to that conversation and think about the idea of luck and coincidences. Over the past few years, I’ve definitely pondered coincidences and God’s will. I know a lot of people who struggle to determine what God’s will for their life is, they question why bad things happen to good people and really question whether things DO happen for a reason or not. But for me, it’s been so clearly proven, it’s hard to dispute. I think back on our life since Matt’s ...

So it’s been a while…a long while. Sometimes I have such a long dry spell without any updates that I begin to wonder if I should let this blog drift off quietly into the blogosphere. But then ultimately, I guess there’s still a part of me with something to say. So here I am. It’s the beginning of a new month, in the new year…so why not just dive on in?? Matt and I are doing…well…we’re doing pretty darn well. The Jingle Jog 2 mile run/walk went off without much fanfare. Amy and I walked the route and my foot held up just fine. I did long to be able to run…but still felt good being out early on a Saturday morning in frigid temperatures, speed walking around the frozen lake. Sounds nice, right? It wasn’t the exciting finale to my year of running – but the t-shirt is pretty cute, and Amy and I still managed to have a good time. I know there will be more opportunities for fun runs in 2011, and in fact, we are set to run the Red Flannel 5K again on the 12th of February. I’ve been running ...