The Cedar Life
Living for the Long Run
Archives
Christmas in October Though it continues to fall on December 25th, each year Christmas seems to arrive a little earlier. I can remember a time when my family used to wait until December 1st before we would decorate our house in preparation for Christmas. This year I went to the store the week before Halloween to find some ghost decorations only to find the shelves stocked with Christmas lights and blow-up Santas… Read More
First Principles It is hard to believe a year has passed since I first pressed publish on The Cedar Life. When considering my ‘Why’ for starting the blog, I posed a theory. Over the last few years, I have discovered that there is more to life than what I had experienced before that point. The theory I put forward was that there are many of us looking for more. My hope was… Read More
Artistic License Working in a public accounting firm, the opportunities to be expressive are somewhat limited. Dress codes have loosened in recent years. When I started out, most men wore a business suit, tie-optional, with some variation of a blue check shirt. Work processes were standardized throughout the organization. We all used the same computers and software. The one place my coworkers and I had some freedom to express ourselves was the… Read More
Math Lessons In a recent episode of the Order of Man podcast, host Ryan Michler interviewed Chris Williamson, host of another show I frequent, Modern Wisdom. The men covered a variety of topics and subjects, but towards the end of the show, Chris articulated an idea that I had not heard before: Never multiply by zero. As a professional numbers guy, I am always excited to hear great advice that ties in… Read More
Sunday Practices One of the weekly pillars in the life of my family is going to church. Spending an hour together in community, in worship, and encounter is something that I am grateful for. Especially after the last 18 months, when we could not go at times due to the pandemic. I have come to love the opportunity to attend mass on a regular basis. I look forward to sharing this love… Read More
Lyrical Reminders Sometimes a song I have not heard in a while will come on and capture my attention. It might remind me of the place I first heard it or the lyrics trigger a particular memory. This happened recently. A song called ‘Whispers’ by the artist, Passenger, popped up on a playlist. For me, the song captures a longing for something more and the difficulty in finding that ‘more’ in a… Read More
Learning to Love Before getting married, I had never heard of Gary Chapman’s book, The 5 Love Languages. Marriage does not come with a manual, but if it did, the concepts within the book could cover off a few chapters. For those not familiar with it, the premise of the book is that there are five primary ways in which we ‘speak’ and receive love. They are: Acts of Service, Quality Time,… Read More
Gone Fishing Last summer, my son asked me if I could take him fishing down at the river near where we live. He had done this a few times with my father-in-law, but this was the first time I got to take him. I was thrilled that he asked me. Spending one on one time with my kids is something I really enjoy, understand the importance of, and do not do enough… Read More
Early Warning “Beware the Saboteur.” The text on my phone did not make sense when I first looked at it, but as I thought about it for a moment, things became clearer. The text had come from a good friend. Later that night Katie and I had plans to meet with him and his wife at their home. We had been trying to get together for a couple of weeks and had… Read More
Long Nights In the early months of 2012, I was working at a large accounting firm in the midst of ‘busy season’. This meant long days, late nights, and little room for anything other than work. It was an annual season within the industry as we worked on client files. Most clients closed their books at the end of December and needed annual reporting completed early the next year. During these months,… Read More
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