I like to play Scrabble. (I'm an English major, so naturally I enjoy words.) Scrabble has always been the go-to board game in my family. For yet another reason, it will always have a special meaning to me.

In 2016, my brother Billy came to visit from California to attend my college graduation. While he was home, he, my mom, and I played Scrabble one night. We were laughing at one point because Billy was trying to claim sounds like the "cha-ching" of a cash register and "caw" of a bird were words you could use in Scrabble. Turns out, he was right, but at the time I was not convinced. For a while the running joke was to just go around saying "ca-caw!"

A week after my brother flew back to California, he committed suicide. We don't know why and probably never will this side of Heaven. One of his roommates said the night it happened, he saw Billy leaving the house. Billy told him that if anything happens, to just yell "ca-caw." I think about that a lot, and I believe he said that because he was thinking about us.

If you haven't read it here or on my Instagram page already, I have started combining running with photography. I am by no means a photographer, but I enjoy taking pictures while out on my runs of whatever random, interesting, or pretty things I see. Those pictures I have started putting onto T-shirts and other products on Teespring and Redbubble. I named my shop NatureCaws as a play on words, referencing the call from nature to get outside and honoring that memory of my brother. Here are a couple of the latest designs I've added:

Due to renovations in the office where I work, my weekend technically started on Wednesday of last week. I dedicated the unexpected time off to painting our house. Here's the before and after pictures of our living room:

The actual weekend was much like any other. I got all of my scheduled runs in last week, including my 9-miler on Sunday, which felt good. Sunday we visited both sets of parents and ate good food. What more could you ask for??

I am flying solo at work for a while, as the office manager has been out due to health concerns. With that said, I will have to end this post here. I pray everyone reading this would stay safe and healthy during this crazy time.

Talk soon!

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