To my brave wife’s credit, she tackled the “Clean the Hall Closet” project. Asking my assistance to take a diaper box containing old AV cords off the top shelf, I found an old photo memory card lying behind the box.

What could it contain? My mind reviewed all of the possibilities. Nuclear launch codes. The Colonel’s secret recipe. A treasure map. What could it be?

Thankful that our home computer could still read the card, I found a single file named “2005-05-19.”

Clicking on the file, I was greeted by a little boy. My oldest son Jacob, who was at that time our only son, decked out in 18-month-old basketball apparel. He also looks appalled by the dirty kitchen floor in our old house in Pennsylvania. No matter what we tried, we could never get that floor to look clean.

Flash forward 3,766 days. Given enough time, it’s amazing how those things (a.k.a. children) grow. Here’s my now 11-year-old son taking up nearly all of the couch, while he hams it up and reads my Sports Illustrated.

Blessed? Yep, that’s me. Today, celebrating 3,766 days of blessings and counting. Now if I could just get my hands on my Sports Illustrated and in the habit of cleaning out our hall closet more often.