Sam Prellwitz

I was a pretty nerdy athlete for much of my young life. I was told once that I should chart my waking heart rate. Apparently, by keeping track of it you can have a pretty good read on whether you're overtraining, getting sick, or getting fit. I have charts somewhere that have a bunch of 50's and 60's written on them. I think I hit something like 52 once and was pretty proud of that. To give you some perspective, elite marathon runners have a resting pulse of somewhere in the high 30's to the low 40's. It's pretty unreal. But there's something about a beating heart - no matter the frequency it beats at. When we first heard the heart-beat of our boy, he became real to me for the first time. He was suddenly more than my wife feeling exhausted and sick to her stomach - he was a beating heart. Sometimes when I run up a big hill, stretching to reach the top as quickly as I can, a throbbing will reach my ears. I realize how much of me depends on my beating ...

Some people don't really enjoy the snow, the cold, or the short hours of sunlight that characterize Wisconsin each winter. I'll admit there are days when I wouldn't mind a little extra heat or a few additional hours lit by the sun. But this is Wisconsin in the winter and there's something to be said for that. There's something to be said for layering on the clothes, lighting up your home in the early evening, and spending a little extra time in that home with your family. There's something to be said for slowing down and letting everything outside die as you look forward to the color green that's sure to come in a few short months. I'm glad I get to celebrate the new year in Wisconsin with the cold and the wind and the snow. In the midst of the dark and the frozen; the new year is a great chance to give ourselves a little glimpse of hope. It's a reminder that no matter how dark and frozen your year might have been, the new year has endless ...