Love your love the Most

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Yes I love good cold beer
and mustard on my fries.
I love a good loud honky tonk
that rocks on Friday night.
And hell yes I love my truck
but I want you to know,
Honey I love your love the most

Eric Church

I’ve been thinking of this blog for a while. Recently Nikki and I went to see Eric Church two nights in a row… Yeah, we kinda like our country music. Church has a song called “Love Your Love the Most” and it gave me an idea how to start this blog.

The English language is so weird and strange. Think of the word love. I know, I know… who cares? Here’s Webster’s definition – please play along – I promise there’s a point:

Definition of love

(Entry 1 of 2)1a(1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. Maternal love for a child (2): attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers. After all these years, they are still very much in love.(3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests. Love for his old schoolmates b: an assurance of affection. Give her my love. 2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion. Love of the sea 3a: the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration. Baseball was his first love. b (1): a beloved person : DARLING — often used as a term of endearment (2)British —used as an informal term of address 4a: unselfish loyal and benevolent (see BENEVOLENT sense 1a) concern for the good of another: such as(1): the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2): brotherly concern for othersb: a person’s adoration of God 5: a god (such as Cupid or Eros) or personification of love 6: an amorous episode : LOVE AFFAIR 7: the sexual embrace : COPULATION 8: a score of zero (as in tennis) 9 capitalized, Christian Science: God at love: holding one’s opponent scoreless in tennis in love: inspired by affection

(Entry 2 of 2) transitive verb 1: to hold dear : CHERISH 2a: to feel a lover’s passion, devotion, or tenderness for b(1): CARESS (2): to fondle amorously (3): to copulate with 3: to like or desire actively : take pleasure in. Loved to play the violin. 4: to thrive in. The rose loves sunlight.

When I think of work – I think of love. When i think of my family – I think of love. There are countless other ways to use the word, and what struck me during the concert was how Church helped show the difference in words. There’s tons of things in life we love.

I love work, and the people that make Buechel Stone what it is. There’s not a better word in the English language that fits it. It’s not admiration [respect and warm approval]. It’s not respect [a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements]. It’s not gratitude [the quality of being thankful]. It’s not friendship [the quality or state of being friendly]. I may feel these things about this “place” and my fellow Rockstars, but these words don’t fit quite right. The thing is the word love is so inclusive it makes the word amazing and almost worthless. How can you use the same word for how you feel about your work and the people there, and your loved ones… or say, an object? Like a lamp…

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So why am I writing this… and why has it been on my mind? In a lot of ways my love for Buechel Stone and its people was ingrained in me from a very early age. My love of the people kind of comes from me naturally. This place often came first in my life – probably not always a smart decision. Summers in high school I put my summer job ahead of playing high school baseball. It almost cost me a starting role in football because I skipped the weight room (although I was able to prove lifting stones all summer for 8-10 hours a day was probably better than an hour in the weight room… I might still have a bit of a chip on my shoulder over that). College I stayed close to home because I wanted to help as needed: weekend sales, pricing, IT help, learning from those who were there all week. When college was over I felt I should find a have a job somewhere else for a while… but once again I felt the need to help outweighed the benefit of a different experience, because of my love of all things Buechel.

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I’m not sure if a large part is I completely appreciate the fact people chose us (aka Buechel Stone) or just that I enjoyed the people, be it fellow employees or customers. There have been things I wasn’t always able to count on, but Buechel Stone was always there. I could trust Buechel Stone to be a place I knew what to expect. I could make money to pay for the things I wanted growing up. I was “smart” – I knew our products and the industry extremely well even at a young age. It helped give me a great view on life. Even during the great recession I was fairly upbeat about finding a way to make things work out. We found sooooo many people also love Buechel Stone. We are a family, be it a bit dysfunctional at times, but hey… who’s family isn’t.

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So love – I may love my fellow Rockstars, but nothing compares to my love of my wife and kids… they give such unconditional love it’s hard to put into words. We love, we laugh, we fight, we forgive. I can’t overstate how truly lucky and blessed I am for such a great people at home. They ask about work often, how things are, what’s going well, what could be better. The kids already feel an attachment to Buechel Stone. They love the Buechel Stone swag. They love seeing the piles of gravel going up while the scrap pile is getting crushed. Nikki does small things without feeling the need for recognition or payment. My family understands how precious this place of great people is.

Thank you Eric Church for helping me put into words how love is synonymous for me with work and family. While I may love this place and the people of Buechel Stone, there is one thing I know for sure. For Nikki and family, I Love your love the Most!