Normally I (Ben) get on here to post once, maybe twice, a year. If I stick with this pattern, I guess this is the last time you will hear from me in 2014. We will see. I just wanted to write a quick post about the weather and about life. We, like everyone else in Indiana, have felt the wrath of this winter's weather and are getting tired of it. It has interrupted our lives in multiple ways including limiting our practice time, postponing competitions, making driving a major pain, and extended our school years by nearly two weeks. But tonight I realized what else it has done. It has given us so many more mornings, afternoons, and evenings with our little girl. Back in October when Amanda went back to work, a black cloud hung over our heads. That black cloud was the combination of the upcoming swimming and basketball seasons. This year we were tackling this incredibly busy time in our lives with a third party involved, and one who we are pretty much responsible for keeping alive at this point. Amanda made a calendar of all the nights that we both had competitions and what time we would need to pick Amelia up and where she would stay when Amanda was in a pool in Manchester and I was in a gym in Wabash. For a while, it was incredibly hectic, but we made it work. There were many nights when only one of us was home for bath time and to put Amelia to bed. There were many nights that we ended up eating dinner alone after Amelia had gone to sleep because the other was off in some part of the state doing their coaching thing. We were able to make it to Christmas Break without having forgotten Amelia anywhere and our sanity mostly in tact. Christmas break was great, but it was a blur of driving to see family and practice at different times of the day and the usual craziness that comes with the holiday season. And then Mother Nature happened. The storm at the end of the break caused both of us to miss an entire week of school, but not only that, it caused us to miss almost an entire week of basketball and swimming as well. It was just the four of us at home (Grissom is part of the family. Any warm body that jumped in the bed with us when the power went out for a few hours was officially family.) It was a great time together. We were able to put Amelia down for every nap, feed her every meal and eat right alongside her, and play with her until it was time for us both to nap. Even the few weeks after break have been broken up by the occasional snow day or delay. All of this "terrible" weather has given us the chance to see our little girl grow and develop and change, all things we were missing when the weather was fine. I would be the first person to admit that I am sick of the cold and the wind and the snow, but I can also see a major positive in it. We have a warm house to stay in, plenty to eat, and a wonderful baby girl to play with. Although the driving and our schedules were both severely impacted by the weather, this time has been great to be able to take a step back and realize the important things in life, no matter how small they are. Not the I am wishing for another winter storm or for anything other than temperatures above freezing, but I am beyond thankful for the extra time that God gave me with my family in the form of bad weather.