The feed of updates to Nate's Notes
Nate’s note: My son, Jacob, graduates from high school in June 2026. As part of a final assignment, he was instructed to write down some advice for incoming freshman. I enjoyed what he wrote so much that I wanted to document it here and share it with others. I’ve finished high school, you’re just starting. Here’s some advice on stuff I’ve learned in my time here. Though, let’s be honest, most of…
from The Creative Supplies on Threads There’s something about Christmas lights that people are drawn to. We put up lighted Christmas trees 🎄 in our homes, and sit in the early morning with a cup of coffee ☕ or late in the evening with a good book 📖 so we can enjoy the tree’s light. We put up lights outside our home to provide joy and cheer to our neighbors and our community in a dark season. We…
I’ve been using Obsidian for a while now, and it’s been a great tool for me, helping me organize my thoughts and my notes using plain text. But an area where I still need organization help is with all of my work-related stuff — especially with the occasional-but-nagging-questions of “ When did this happen?” or “ What did we decide about this program?” I have many of those things documented in…
Scenario: In Obsidian , I’m linking from my current note to another note with my vault. That note has an Alias that is not simple to type because’s it in another language — in my Bible study, an example would be the word “ Yahweh” and it’s Hebrew letters, יהוה . I can easily start the link with the double-left brackets, [[ , and typing the word to bring up the option for Yahweh, as identified in…
I decided to give LMNT ’ s electrolyte drinks a try, so here are my notes. I used the discount code from Laura Farms’ YouTube channel to get a free sample packet with my first purchase (their 12-count Variety Pack) I’m using Camelbak’s 32 oz Chute Mag Water Bottle. If there are no other benefits, at least I’m drinking more water. The price is not bad: $22 for a one-time purchase of the 12-count…
From Scott Sauls in his book, From Weakness to Strength : “ As Jesus said, our chief purpose and mission in life is not to defend and protect our own rights, privileges, and comforts. Rather, our chief purpose and mission is to deny ourselves daily, take up a cross, and follow Jesus—even to the death if called upon to do so—all the while taking every opportunity to surprise our neighbors,…
I am a bundle of raw nerves. Political unrest: Thinking back to J6 , 2021: Another day of infamy, But this time self-inflicted. Remembering the masked mob Reveal their unrestrained violence; The violation of that day And of our nation’s Capitol. Would our democracy die Just two months after my wife , Who died on November 6, 2020? Work uncertainty: What will be our new economy? Will lies and…
About once a month, I run a simple query that helps me keep my Gmail account clean. Here is the query unsubscribe before:YYYY/MM/DD has:nouserlabels is:unread Here is a breakdown of what’s going on this query: unsubscribe — it’s looking for any email that has the word “ unsubscribe” in it, which is required of all emails that are sent from a mailing list. before:YYYY/MM/DD — it’s looking for any…
Photo by Karan Thakkar on Unsplash I loathe the word “ never.” I abhor it. Never: at no time; not ever; under no circumstances or conditions It seems like such a final word, with no alternatives or options. Admittedly, there are positive uses of “ never”… In Hebrews 13:5 , where God has promised: “ I will never leave you or abandon you.” (Emphasis mine.) That’s a good never . In John 11:25-26 ,…
On Friday afternoon, while driving to pick up my son from school, I started noticing a somewhat familiar sound from my truck — that is, if you’ve been driving a car or truck for more than a couple of decades, as I have, then you pretty much immediately know what the sound is and what’s entailed in fixing it, from both the perspective of time and money. I mean, I’ve GOT time. It’s not like there’s…
It may be difficult for some to believe, but yes, I have been asked this question more than once in response to some of my writing about my late wife, Melissa . The short answer is: Nope. 😐 Of course, being the person I am, I would want to continue the conversation with a clarification of terms. I like to understand clearly what it is we’re talking about here. What does one mean by “ get over it”…
November 6, 2020 to May 6, 2023. 30 months. Two and a half years since Melissa left this life and went to her eternal one. Melissa and Jake at Disney World, August 2012 This span of time without her still doesn’t feel possible. I am confident that every day, Jake and I still mention her or talk specifically about her. Sometimes it’s a memory I’ll have of her — usually a story that I think Jake…
Last night, I finally got around to watching “ Bubbikins,” Season 3’s Episode 4 of The Crown , Netflix’s popular show about the British Monarchy. I say “ finally” in regard to this episode because I haven’t liked the character transitions from Season 2 to Season 3, especially the transition from Claire Foy’s version of Queen Elizabeth to Olivia Colman’s version. This specific episode seemed to…
I turned 47 today. It seems odd to say that, for at least a couple of reasons: I was 10 months younger than Melissa, so for most of the year, she was a year older than I was. But now I’ve lived to be older than she did (she was 46 when she passed). I feel like I’ve “ missed” so much of the past two years, or at least my brain doesn’t remember it unless I intentionally look back at my journals. So…
“ It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” Lamentations 3:26 Photo by Hennie Stander on Unsplash There’s a saying: “ Sometimes when God closes a door, He opens a window.” That may be true (even if you won’t find that saying in the Bible). But sometimes, when God closes a door, we can be surprised to look around and see other doors shut, too, with no open door or window in sight.…
November 6, 2020 to May 6, 2022 — 18 months. A major part of me doesn’t really know what to say; a minor part of me could probably write forever about all that we’ve experienced in the past 18 months. How can it be 18 months? My primary answer: time has been completely warped from what I once experienced. Now there is primarily “ before” and “ after” — everything else is just an appointment on the…
Could I manage an entire weekend without using my iPhone? Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash This past weekend (Saturday and Sunday), I decided to go phone-free as much as possible and see how I felt about the experience. It had been a really rough week, and I could tell by Friday morning that I would need something “ extra” over the weekend to reset for the following week. 🚫 What I didn’t do I…
Photo by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash For the last 15 months, I have spent a lot of time working on organizing my life. There’s one simple reason for this: On November 6, 2020, my wife Melissa passed away unexpectedly. Suddenly, I was a widower and a single dad to our 13-year-old son. I was overwhelmed with grief and burdened by all of this new responsibility that fell on me alone. Melissa and I had…
Grief is in two parts: The first is loss, the second is the remaking of life. I found that quote in a Facebook group for people dealing with grief: “ Grief is in two parts: The first is loss, the second is the remaking of life.” I’ve found this to be so true. I fully expected the first part, “ loss.” Mourning the person who is no longer a part of your life when they previously played such a…
Cranberry Sprite It occurred to me today that this would be the time of year that I’d start making my annual scavenger hunt through all of the local grocery stores on behalf of Melissa, looking for any cranberry-flavored soda/pop. 🥤 It’s true, we often disagreed on the term for it — she preferred “ soda,” I called it “ pop.” But we were in agreement on the substance of the matter, that Melissa…
Give Thanks Today is a day set aside to prioritize thankfulness and relationships — hopefully you have loved ones to spend today with, as I do, even though we still miss the presence of someone important. But it’s all too easy to connect my level of thankfulness with how I feel , and my current circumstances against how I think things should be going for me in my life. I “ feel” significantly…
I think blogging and social media often require a strange form of bravery… Post some content. “ Here is something I thought is interesting — a thought 💭 , an activity 🚶♂️ , a photo 📷… ” Hope someone sees 👀 it. “ Well, Facebook has my content now, and their advertisers will soon, too, but I hope the algorithms 🤖 let this through to my friends 🫂 and acquaintances here.” Hope someone likes 👍…
Melissa Dunn How long can one year be? 12 months? 52 weeks? 365 days? 8,760 hours? 525,600 minutes? What about when time itself seems to warp so that every one of those segments multiplies itself to take even longer? Today is the first Friday in November — the same day of the week that I was awakened by Jacob to find Melissa on the floor in the hallway of our home. I had no idea that just over an…
This morning while driving alone in the car, I started another conversation with God. I picked up this habit from someone I admire who I know spent at least some of their time alone in the car praying, especially on their morning commute, giving their cares to God, praying for their family, friends, pastor, etc. This morning, I was telling God how I don’t think I’m ready for this coming weekend…
I had a conversation with God today… It all began when I took Jake to school this morning. The school encourages the students to carry a refillable water bottle during the day, but when it was time for Jake to get out of the car, he couldn’t find his water bottle, so he just shrugged his shoulders and walked into school without even mentioning the problem to me. As I drove away, I thought about…
Photo from Melissa’s birthday in 2013 in Frankenmuth October 20, 1974 to October 20, 2021 — Melissa would be 47 years old today. In some ways, that doesn’t seem possible to me simply because she was always so “ young at heart.” And she never looked that old, either — I’ll never forget the time in the last couple of years when a teenager guessed Melissa was 25 and I was 50. (In fact, she was 10…
Photo by Clément Falize on Unsplash November 6, 2020 to October 6, 2021 — eleven months without Melissa. A year ago at this time — October 6, 2020 — I had no idea that I had just one month left with her in this life on Earth: One last time to celebrate her service dog Zoey’s birthday (Oct. 11) One last time to celebrate Melissa’s birthday (Oct. 20) One last time for Melissa to hand out candy on…
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash “ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” — 2 Timothy 1:7 We live in a fear-filled, fear-based, fear-mongering world. A lot of people are filled with fear right now, and perhaps rightfully so, given all that’s gone on in the past few years. Some people live their lives based on fear, often of someone or something “…
Photo by Florian van Duyn on Unsplash For some time now, you’ve been struggling with a seeming dichotomy: Death is final, but heaven is real. To explain… When your late wife Melissa passed away unexpectedly on November 6, 2020, even in the midst of your grief, you had an immediate confidence that she was now in heaven. This confidence was based partly on verses that you’ve learned from the Bible…
Dear Jake, When we found out on January 1st, 2007, that your mom was pregnant with you, we were overjoyed. Finally, after 10 years of marriage, we would have our first child! Then we started doing “ the math” of a projected due date and we realized it would be the month of September. Our first thought was, “ Please, not on 9/11.” You might think we would have realized by now that we’re not in…
Photo by Jamie O’Sullivan on Unsplash #Adulting. Maybe this is a new word or concept for you — according to a quick web search, its use as a word seemed to start around 2008-2009 among Millennials who were describing new tasks they were facing as a new adult, but the term has taken off since then to be used by many people who face the challenges of being an adult in this world. Since you’ve become…