1. Spending a good chunk of the summer on Grand Lake, north of Alpena, Michigan. Where we eat at the Hungry Hippy, get ice cream from Scoops, mini-golf at Lee’s, and beach at Starlite.
2. Pokemoning with my son and my Dad. Which almost always ends in treats.
3. Breakfast at Parker House on Long Lake.
4. Seeing Gwen take over Traveling Ladders in Alpena as the new owner.
5. Rose started a new job as a college connections coach with Ivy Tech (Indiana’s community college system) helping high school students get enrolled. The best part about it is they treat her like the talented leader she is.
6. Isaiah’s drum solo.
7. Seeing Sophia kill it as the principal and Cady’s Mom in Mean Girls.
8. Listening to the Mean Girls soundtrack for weeks.
9. Spending time with my parents while they were here for the musical.
10. Driving to Kanuga for my first retreat in a decade, listening to Ethan Hawke read The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers. Then finding out my friend, Hunt was staying in the same cabin.
11. Hearing Pádraig Ó Tuama speak to history, the body, spirituality, identity, and tradition through poetry and prayer.
12. Feeling like a poet again.
13. The Bishop’s encouragement that we learn how to rest. And encouraging us to read Rest Is Resistance along with her.
14. Planning a sabbatical in the future.
15. Seeing my friends who did sabbaticals this year, come back with excitement, stories, and vision for making things more fair.
16. Heading north of Detroit to meet with my buddy, Dan and new friend, Marty to see a concert in Sterling Heights. All-American Rejects, New Found Glory, The Starting Line, and The Get Up Kids were fantastic, but the short time spent with them was better.
17. Watching our kids grow taller than their Mom. Teens really do grow like weeds.
18. Teaching Sophia to drive.
19. Redoing our son’s room.
20. All of those tennis matches.
21. The Grandparents wanting to be there, too.
22. Going to Nashville, Indiana to see Lewis Black and thinking, “how much of this crowd knows who this is?” And really feeling the tension between the rural and the worldly vibes.
23. Seeing The Big Lebowski on the big screen again! And finding out that Rose hadn’t actually ever seen it.
24. Hearing Cole Arthur Riley at our diocesan convention talk about bodies and spirituality. It’s not like we don’t know that we have bodies or that our bodies have a part to play in our lives, but we don’t appreciate the way we abuse them, ignore them, and otherwise condemn them. We live our whole lives in a body and should appreciate that fact.
25. Improving both the internet and sound system at the church.
26. Offering Ashes to Go at Indiana State University with friends despite the weather.
27. A hat on a shaved head.
28. Getting together with friends for the renewal of ordination vows at the cathedral.
29. Getting our front tree trimmed. It was long overdue—and helped preserve it from the freak storm we had about six weeks later.
30. Andi visiting, catching up at Starbucks and joining us for church.
31. Baptisms and funerals—which are holy and inspiring.
32. Preaching Good News when junk feels pretty dark.
33. Barbenheimer. In the theater.
34. Visiting with my buddy, Christian at TapHouse Burgers in Greencastle.
35. Deciding to blog every day and sticking with it.
36. Using a bullet journal the way I want to.
37. Writing with a Pigma Micron or a Sharpie pen.
38. And writing on 120 GMS paper.
39. Taking a break from podcasting to focus on other things.
40. Our cats, Maximus and Olive.
41. Making a real breakfast.
42. Cory Doctorow’s concept of “Enshittification”. It explains so much about the present moment.
43. On the Media continues to be the most important podcast on the internet.
44. Reading books I totally wouldn’t read. And also liking them. I started Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge halfway through the year, and while I didn’t finish, I plan to do 2024’s challenge early on.
45. Trying to read The Stand in the bathroom in one year. I got about 850 pages in and stopped. For real, I stalled out when the story got bleh.
46. Acknowledging challenges are totally arbitrary. And an opportunity to create a new one. Like, say, finishing 2023’s challenges in 2024.
47. Going to Victory Field with other Episcopalians to watch the AAA Indianapolis Indians square off with Toledo Mud Hens. And seeing Colt Kieth and Justyn-Henry Malloy play before they get called up to Detroit (hopefully this year!).
48. Seeing the Detroit Tigers compete when they really shouldn’t have.
49. The time our kid was locked out of the house after school and I took him to Steak and Shake.
50. Hosting the newly-elected bishop of Southern Ohio, Kristin White as she led our church in a workshop.
51. Good cupcakes.
52. Hearing from the bishop about how running clubs are creating a place of welcome that we all could learn from.
53. Petting dogs the Humane Society brings to the Farmer’s Market.
54. Reading The Artist’s Way and starting morning pages.
55. Seeing how doing morning pages does help me sort out my thinking.
56. Thinking of all the ways this book would translate to the church. And then thinking maybe I should give it a try.
57. Taking Isaiah and a friend to see Five Nights at Freddy’s for Halloween.
58. People decorating for Halloween like it’s Christmas.
59. Iced coffee, even when it’s cold outside.
60. Making a Thanksgiving turkey. And a ton of gravy.
61. Letting go of a historic ecumenical project. And starting new ones.
62. Visiting with Adam and Elijah at Java Haute. They are some amazing Lutherans!
63. Celebrating the life of our guinea pig, Marshmallow. And offering a proper burial.
64. Having the in-laws stop on their way home from Louisiana and visit at Cracker Barrel.
65. Reading new books by Katherine May and Jenny Odell—their previous books (Wintering and How to Do Nothing) were big reads for me in 2020 and helped with that time of lockdown. Their new books were beautiful and helpful for the next phase in our collective journey of living.
66. Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 3 and The Marvels
67. Ezra Klein’s compassionate wrestling with the Israel/Palestinian relationship. His podcast offers a heartfelt and broad approach that helped me learn far more than “both sides” coverage. Including the challenge for the Jewish Left, what Israel could do, what Gazans had been feeling before this, a primer on previous efforts, and so much more.
68. I restarted my podcast with renewed interest and a revamped approach.
69. Posting pictures and poetry in Advent has been a fun, creative practice I want to do way more of.
70. Lessons and Carols at St. Stephen’s Church in Terre Haute, Indiana with the Farrington Grove Chorale.
71. Planning to see my best friend in January when he’s home from Scotland.
72. Listening to music you loved back in the day and finding you still love it.
73. Discovering a band you love has an album you didn’t know about.
74. Taylor Swift’s Midnights.
75. Writing at Starbucks again.
76. Noise-canceling headphones so I can focus while writing at Starbucks.
77. Saying goodbye to a friend who moved to another diocese with joy that she is going to a place that is right for her.
78. Leading a mutual ministry review for a congregation that really wants to do the work.
79. Rejoining the Homeless Council of the Wabash Valley and making sure there is an emergency shelter this winter for those experiencing homelessness.
80. Writing weekly letters to the congregation and (mostly) weekly letters to the vestry.
81. Christmas music when I haven’t been listening to it.
82. Posting less. Writing more.
83. Unsubscribing from emails. And choosing to subscribe to emails I actually want.
84. Spotify Wrapped reminds me that, while algorithms measure behavior, they don’t measure what is real.
85. Starting to plan a congregational study of Revelation.
86. Standing desks. And also chairs.
87. Good shoes.
88. Choosing to see the light rather than obsess over the dark.
89. Playing Forbidden Island and Uno with the family.
90. Rewatching Psych.
91. Eating our way through the Christkindlmarkt like its the Covered Bridge Festival.
92. I gave up on caring about football a decade ago. Seeing my favorite teams win is a lot more enjoyable now that losing doesn’t feel like dying.
93. Learning about the current landscape in AI. Seeing all of the opportunity And the people who want to protect people from how some people will use that opportunity.
94. Crossing things out on the to-do list when they no longer matter. It’s almost better than checking them off as done.
95. Seeing life where others assume none exists.
96. Learning to say “We can have nice things.” Because we can. And we aren’t nihilists.
97. Playing fantasy baseball.
98. Listening to philosophy podcasts. Particularly Hi-Phi Nation, Hotel Bar Sessions, and What’s Left of Philosophy.
99. Going for midday walks.
100. Learning how to stop.

This post idea is stolen from Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist. Check his “100 things” posts out here.