So we're keeping Thanksgiving simple this year and focusing on being a family. The bird's in the oven and I have a few minutes to reflect on what I'm truly thankful for. It's been a year full of more change than I can ever remember. It seems that in most every area of my life (work, hockey, community) there has been drastic change. Change is always hard because it upsets the balance of things; it stretches (and stresses) me.

However, in every aspect of change in my life, it's a chosen path that is for the positive. Here are the changes in my life and which naturally reflect what I'm most thankful for:

My Marriage: First and foremost, I'm most thankful for my wife and the relationship that we continue to forge. She has always been there for me (in spite of my always changing interests..."oh, look another shiny object" and self absorbed passion to pursue my next greatest idea). Our change has been a reconnection to look at our life's mission, where we come together and charting our path for the future. We've questioned everything to consider what truly would make us happy and provide an environment to help our family thrive. I feel like we're starting a new chapter in our relationship finding deeper meaning to our life together. I'm thankful for our renewed relationship.

My Boys: Every year I seem to be more amazed at the growth and blossoming of our two boys. Dylan (our youngest) has really found himself as a little boy, growing more confident and discovering a joy for reading to go along with his love of writing and creativity. He has found a passion for martial arts where he is really excelling. He is so much like me in terms of total emotional commitment to the things that most interest him. I'm thankful to have grown our relationship and understanding of one another over the past year. We've really connected in a way and I feel more love for him and from him than ever before. For Tyler, I'm thankful for the relationship we've forged since I stopped being his hockey team head coach and started being Tyler's hockey dad. I can now focus on him as an individual. We've always had hockey and been close but now I feel as if we can just talk more openly about how he's feeling day to day. I can celebrate his triumphs and his challenges as his, not my team's.

Work: We've undergone some pretty significant change at work this year to make the company stronger. I've personally transitioned from business development (which never truly fulfilled me) to a much deeper role in the geek side of the business. We've talked since the company's founding about creating practices that would standardize what we do and allow us to leverage what was built in the past to make projects in the future easier and more profitable. We had never achieved that goal (or even made significant strides). We seemed to just run faster and faster no the hamster wheel. In the past six months, we have moved significantly towards that goal and are just now seeing the fruits of that effort. While that alone is enough to be thankful for, I'm most thankful for the people I work with. They are among my best friends in the world. We work together like a family continually working to improve the business and ourselves. I am so thankful for their continual friendship and the willingness to try new approaches.

Most of all, I'm thankful that so many changes have happened over the past year to help me recenter on what's most important. I feel as if I've recalibrated even what that is. I'm really looking forward to the year ahead and whatever changes it may bring.