During the day, I come across tidbits of information that stick with me and as my mind twists and turns they morph into a post for this blog.  These ideas could come from family, coworkers and my fellow gym friends and instructors.

Some time ago during a Body Combat class (don’t ask) the instructor was talking about focus, drive and strength and innocently stated, “you gotta know the why”. (I honestly don’t remember much after that…she is a great instructor and my quads were screaming.) But I remembered what she said and it made me think. Do we know the why? I mean really know it or are we seeing, feeling and doing things for some other reason? Do we understand why?

I began to think about important factors, people and decisions that are a part of my life and I think I am lucky enough to at least recognize a bit of the why.

• I know why I married Chip and why I love him. Doesn’t mean homicide hasn’t crossed my mind, or his, a time or perhaps two.
• I know why I cherish my children and the happiness I get from them every day. That love is what makes mama bear so protective.
• I know why Izzy is so fiercely loved and in return so fiercely loyal.  She humbles me.
• I know why I love cheese, wine & coffee preferably while sitting on a dock looking at the lake.

Do I know the why that Jenn spoke of that morning at 5:30am?  Not all the time. My new saying is “you don’t know what you don’t know” and that leaves a lot of things open for thought, discussion or perhaps dismissal. There are so many times we don’t know why. Like why a baby or children have cancer and suffer; or why my high school classmate recently died at an early age after giving so much to so many. Tragedy can occasionally be both a why and/or a how come. As I have said before, when I die, I am going to ask God for a cup of coffee and some time because I have a lot of questions to ask.

What about the how? Does knowing the why help with understanding the how? Ugh, this is getting too deep for a post without coffee or a lovely scotch sipped on a cool night.  I think I will leave this one alone but if you have a comment, please share it.

When Amelia left for college this year, she was wiser, more confident and ready to go. She is no longer a young girl. She says she is an adult in training. I like that

Jack is deep. He knows quite a bit about the why and I think he has known it for some time. The challenges he has faced have made him strong. He has a way to go and I am confident he will get there.

I’ve been working through a challenging time and I need to figure out more about the why myself but I’ll tell you what.  It is not quick and it is not simple.

Pour me another cup of coffee please!