A man’s friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.

Charles Darwin

Life gets busy.

For me, that means running my own business, raising three kids, trying to protect time with my family, and squeezing in a little recreation when I can. I’m not saying my life is any busier than yours. We’re all busy.

I opened Lab 20 Sports Cards during the peak of the pandemic in 2020. Between trying to get a business off the ground, the weird years of social distancing, and then life just doing what life does, I realized somewhere along the way that I had lost a lot of hang out time with close friends.

Not intentionally.

It just happened.

One of my goals for 2026 was obviously to lose some weight, something I continue to publicly document here so I can’t quietly give up and pretend I never mentioned it. But another goal was to reconnect with friends.

Actually reconnect.

Facebook and social media have created this weird illusion that we stay connected to people. I know where you went on vacation. I saw your kid graduate. I know what you had for dinner and, depending on your political posting habits, probably know way too much about what makes you angry.

But I may not have actually sat down and talked to you in three years.

That’s not really being connected.

I’ve slowly been working my way through the list this year, but I haven’t gotten to everyone yet. My circle of friends has never been huge. I’m an introvert who occasionally dabbles in extrovert traits before retreating back to recharge.

So if I haven’t reached out yet, beat me to the punch.

I’d love to grab a cup of coffee one morning. Sit down. Catch up. No agenda.

The good news is our kids are getting older. That’s true for me and for a lot of my friends. The years of practices, ballgames, school events, and trying to be in three places at once are slowly changing. Hopefully, that means we all get a little more time back.

Admitting the problem is the first step, right?

I’m working on making sure I don’t let myself get that disconnected again.

Now for the part of these posts where I hold myself publicly accountable.

I almost hesitate to type this because I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m officially at my lowest weight of 2026.

I’ve made some pretty big changes to what I’m putting into my body. For the last two weeks, I’ve had nothing to drink but coffee and water. I heard someone say, “I don’t drink my calories,” and for whatever reason that line stuck with me.

Red meat has become a once-a-week luxury, and some weeks I’m trying to push that to once every two weeks. I’ve probably eaten more salmon in the last two months than I had in the rest of my life combined.

Slowly, the results are starting to take shape.

Of course, there was that little vacation incident I wrote about in my last post where I drove completely through the guardrails and kept going. But four of those vacation pounds came back off quickly, and I’m moving in the right direction again.

Progress.

That’s about where life is right now. Trying to be a little healthier. Trying to be more intentional with my time. Trying to stay connected to people who matter.

And apparently trying to identify every bird species recorded in Wise County in 2026 (currently 53.64% of the way there, but who’s counting?).

Oh, and we’ve picked up a new birder in the family. Sarah is officially hooked and now sits in sixth place in Wise County.

Also, a big thank you to everyone who has reached out and shared bird sightings with me over the last couple of weeks. With your help, I’ve been able to track down three new birds and add them to my list. Keep them coming.

Before I go, here are a few of the things I’ve been reading lately. As always, if you’ve read something worth sharing, send it my way.