Lessons on the Road to Peace won the Minnesota Book Awards for best general non-fiction earlier this month. It was a wonderful affirmation of our 2-½ years on the road gathering stories from across the country and the daunting pace of writing and producing a 304-page book during most of 2023. It was also a welcome recognition of the power of the stories that people shared in the pages.

This is book awards season and Lessons on the Road to Peace is gathering new honors almost weekly. We’ve received first place for overall design from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Honorable Mention in the art book category from the Eric Hoffer Book Awards, and we were chosen as a finalist for the Montaigne Medal, presented to the most thought-provoking books that either illuminate, progress, or redirect thought.

I’m honored, and while I don’t write books to win awards, I am thrilled if these awards can help direct a few more people toward our message of rediscovering our common humanity. This book was a labor of love and I love the way it came together.

Land acknowledgements have become familiar to most of us, and the practice encourages me to think about story acknowledgements as well. Lessons on the Road to Peace is only possible because wise and beautiful humans from across the country were willing to share their stories with me. I have the happy fate to be a curator of stories…to sit with these amazing folk and to share their stories with you in an effort to build the common good. That process is an honor and a joy.

I was looking forward to attending the Minnesota Book Awards ceremony at the Ordway on May 7, but as the date approached, life had other plans. Karen’s dad Wally had a stroke a few weeks earlier and it felt more important to have one more day with him as he got close to the end.

A few days earlier, my son Jordan married Tiffany. Our goal for Jordan and Tiffany on their big day was that they would have fun and that they would feel loved and that was certainly the way it played out. The weekend was an amazing celebration with family and friends and we are still basking in the glow of it.

This is my favorite shot from the wedding. I still tear up a little when I look at it. You can read more about the photo and the story behind it on our social media.

Because of his health, Wally couldn’t make it to the Saturday wedding. We streamed it on Facetime for him. But Sunday morning Jordan and Tiffany decided to get dressed up in their day-old wedding garb and drive the nine hours round trip to celebrate with Wally. It was a sweet moment. It was a proud parenting moment as Jordan and Tiffany decided to give him that gift.

A week later, Wally was gone. He took his last breath with his three daughters and other loved ones around him. Our hearts are broken and we will miss him, but he knew he was loved. We knew he loved us. And we walked him out of this world the best you can hope for.

There are a lot of ways to win in the world. Hold your people close. Show up for each other. Our time here is short, so lean into love. That may be the biggest win of all.