Bringing In the New Year

Bringing In the new year

“I am onto my next great adventure” - Ben Spitzer

It’s almost 5 AM on December 31st. I have been up since 3:30 AM. I was going to go back to sleep, but I was thinking about things and just decided to head downstairs, feed the dogs, make some coffee, and do some writing. I have been thinking about this year and what 2025 may bring.

2024 was an eventful year. In my journal, I wrote out all the big things that came with 2024 this morning. I won’t write them all down here again but I think it would be good to go over a few:

  1. My dad died on July 20, 2024.

  2. I started a new job with The Phoenix.

  3. Britta is pregnant with our first baby.

  4. I had my surgery done to remove all the extra skin that was left after losing over 120 pounds years ago.

  5. I ran the NYC Marathon.

  6. I ran the Detroit Free Press International Half Marathon and posted a PR for 13.1.

  7. I celebrated five years of sobriety on May 3, 2024

I am incredibly grateful for this year. It will go down as one of the most eventful years of my life. I am most grateful for my sobriety, which has allowed me to show up fully for all of these major events. This next year I hope to remain open and humble. I hope to learn and grow, and I’m sure I will if I show up fully.

As far as Run4Ben goes, we plan to wrap it up this year. It has been a long journey and it is time to bring it to a close. My dad has passed and it is time to share our story.

To be honest, I don’t know where the documentary will go. I don’t know who it will touch. I don’t fully know how we’ll finish or who will be part of the final process. I hope that the right people find it. I hope that the right people champion it. I hope it touches people who may be going through a tough time who may not know what to do or where to turn, and who may feel alone and scared. I hope it brings hope to others and makes a positive impact in the world, just as my dad did.

It is my turn to move forward with my story and to be a father to my son. Wow! I can’t believe where this story has ended up. In writing that it is my time to “be a father to my son”, I realized how this journey with my dad in the last years of his life has prepared me to be a father. What an amazing gift.