David Michael Bruno

A New Recession In My Life

There is a new recession in my life. As certain as death and taxes, I have been positive that my lion’s mane worth of hair on top of my head would remain thick till my last days. Alas, I see scalp in the morning.

The previous couple of weeks have been wonderful. A delight in every way possible. Yet over the past several months I’ve noticed my soul has been rumbling. Weird feelings have been shifting within me. For instance, I work at a university. As a good Christian man, I try to keep my eyes to myself and not scam on the young women. But these days I sometimes catch myself doing a double take to grab a second peek ... at one of the college girl’s mothers! Shamed, I remind myself of my own wonderful family, which now includes a junior higher! There is no stopping. The guy named Dave, who was once called (rather awkwardly I might add) the “Italian Stallion” by his mother-in-law, is now in a slow trot to middle age with a loose grip on the reins.

I don’t have much more to say about the subject. This is just a small confession. A public bending of my knee to the inevitability of life. A reminder to myself that recessions eventually pass but often change the rest of one’s life. Not necessarily for the worst. Often for the better. By God's grace I'm anticipating better.

Choosing Chipper

Been feeling kind of down over the last few days. I'm going to follow my wife's ever-wise advice. My plan this weekend is to "grieve the loss" and move on. Going to choose to be chipper.

Will Return Soon

This is just a super quick post to say, thanks for hanging around during the silent times. I'll be back to blogging soon. 100 THING CHALLENGE the book is pretty much a complete draft and will not be taking up too much more of my time. So it's back to blogging...soon.

A Personal Decade

It finally struck me this morning that a decade is passing today. Then it hit me, this has been quite a decade!

We added two daughters to our family, and our first daughter reached double digits

None of our children suck their thumbs/pacifiers or poop in their pants anymore, and usually they make it to the bathroom when they have to throw up

Leanne and I both made it into our thirties, me a lot earlier than her

Our family got two hamsters, three cats, one dog, two guinea pigs, three birds, and countless fish (one cat, one dog, one guinea pig, all the birds, and some fish are going to make it into the new decade, barring any tragedies today)

I got an M.A. (go Wheaton!) in American religious history that I am, er uh, sort of using in roundabout ways

We bought a house

We now own a minivan and it has "student of the month" stickers all over the back (if you would have told me that ten years ago...)

I personally went through five different cars (huh?!)

I started ChristianAudio and sold my stake in the company

Other entrepreneurial tries, most notably LetterPop, did not turn out as well as ChristianAudio (though I have high hopes for the guy who bought LetterPop)

I started a blog about an average guy named Dave

Then there has been the 100 Thing Challenge, which is doing quite well, with bright prospects into the New Year and beyond

I accomplished my goal of getting a book publishing deal, though I did not quite finish the manuscript, which will be one of the first accomplishments of the next decade :-)

I surfed for the first time

I'm not going to take the time to count how many vacations we went on, but suffice to say there were quite a few and most of them were fun

We started using Apple computers instead of PCs

Gmail

Facebook

We still don't have a TV

We planted a vegetable garden in our tiny backyard

The olive tree we planted seven years ago in our tiny backyard has grown too big

Leanne's mom gave my mom one of her kidneys

We have celebrated the New Year with the same group of friends every year, and that celebration, which started with eight adults and two children has grown to eight adults and fourteen children

No doubt I am missing something important. It has truly been an incredible decade around the world, and in our home. The future looks shaky around the world, but I cannot help feeling really positive about the prospects. I believe it's a great time to be proactive. There seems to be lots of opportunity. Go get it!

Fall for Change

Fall is a season in which I'm often motivated to shift things around. Once again in my life I am feeling some fall desires to be out and about and on the move.

Last week I had a nice conversation with my editor. It was an encouraging talk. Harper has agreed to push the publication date of my book back to December 2010. Big relief -- though I'll still need to bust my butt to get it finished.

While most of my attention is on the book, I'm not uninterested in what comes next. More writing? More speaking? More connections with organizations that are prioritizing a meaningful life over stuff? All of the above and hopefully more. Looking forward to the possibilities and where they lead.