Prepare, adjust and work through it.

Well, looks like mother nature wants to dance yet again this winter. I wrote about her first turn on the floor in December - that was just a warm up. January was mostly quite - she was merely catching her breath. Now February has brought not one, but two 'storms of the century'. Guess we will be good to go for a couple hundred years after this one (weak grin). Got through that two week tango with barely the energy to unlace my boots. Spent the last ten days regrouping, recovering and repairing. Now, she steps on the floor to cut yet another rug. Not sure what to make of all this. With the weather, all we can do is prepare, adjust and work through it. A wiser man than I once said that there is no way to reason with Hurricane season. I am guessing that he lived in the warmer latitudes, but the same principal applies at approximately 40 degrees North with blizzard conditions. So, we take to the floor and dance again - prepare, adjust, work through, regroup, recover and repair. Takes all that I can muster to think about dancing with her again. Only comfort is the fact that I just have to follow, because in this dance, the lady leads.

Goodbye J.D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye - Chapter 22

"You know that song 'If a body catch a body comin' through the
rye'? I'd like-"
"It's 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye'!" old Phoebe
said. "It's a poem by Robert Burns."
"I know it's a poem by Robert Burns."
She was right though. It is 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye.'
I didn't know it then though. "I thought it was 'If a body catch a body' I
said."
"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. and I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day, I'd be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy"


Probably the most dog-eared book I have. The copy is worn and faded like a favorite wallet. This book was the first piece of real literature that I loved. I connected with it. Something about it clicked, and my world was not the same after. When I heard of Salinger's passing earlier this week, my first reaction was 'I did not know he was still alive'. Then a sigh ran through me and gave me a chill - like I had just heard of the passing of a old friend that you lost touch with. The kind of reaction that makes you want to pull out the old photo albums and look at old pictures. Except this time it is not an album. It is a dog-eared paperback with their name on the cover. Goodbye J.D. Salinger. Thank you for being my catcher in the rye.

Reunion chapter 1

Twenty years. TWENTY YEARS! 20 years? Has it really been that long? Well, it actually has. Later this year, my high school class will celebrate our 20 year reunion. It is sinking in slowly and somewhat painfully. Where do I begin? Well first off, I have never been one to care about my age so I am not dwelling on the fact that I am 20 years removed from HS. I also do not have any trepidation about how my former classmates will judge how I look, the car I drive, where I work or any of the other specifics of my life right now. I like my life, I like who I have become and except for some poundage I am happy with the way that I look. So then what is the big deal right? Well, I think it comes down to the fuzzy past. You know what I am talking about, how the memory of how it was 20 years ago is so much better than it actually was. There is so much I have forgotten and so much that I am most likely mis-remembering. I do know that my perspective on things from that time is very different no matter how I remember it. We lamented that we were stuck in a dead end town, that life was passing us by, and that if these were the best years of our lives then we were not all that jazzed about the future. Of course what you can tell an 18 year old and what they will believe are totally different things. While I would not trade all of HS for the two greatest moments of my life (births of my two sons), HS was not nearly as horrible as we thought. The world was simpler either in fact or in perception due to our narrow worldview, and we were under no pressure other than what we brought on ourselves. So, getting back to now and the impending event. I am not sure why I have a few butterflies over this. Maybe it is because on some level, I would like to keep remembering the people I lost touch with as they were back then. That the room will not be filled with old friends, old enemies and old acquaintances, but with strangers who happen to have a 20 year old picture in my yearbook (yearbook - that is a whole other blog altogether). Twenty years. More on this to come.

Chistmas, New Year & my last resolution.

Christmas:
Well, the snow came, I worked about 60 hours in 4 days, came home exausted with a cold and completely not ready for Christmas (which came right on schedule a few days after). Christmas was wonderful and filled with loving family, good food, and the wonderful smiles of children who believe in Santa. The last week went so fast that I almost feel like I missed a day or two in there.
New Year:
A wise singer once wrote the following lyric - 'Guess I'll make a resolution, that I'll never make another one, just enjoy this ride on my trip around the sun.' I would be foolish to assume that Jimmy Buffet has it all figured out, but I am with him on this one. Resolutions are too easily caught up in the day-to-day craziness that is life and then we are left feeling like we failed or let ourselves down. I see the new year as an opportunity to be a better Father, Husband, co-worker and person that I was before. If I focus on this big picture, it will be easier to do all the little things that are usually wrapped up in 'resolutions'.
Last Resolution:
I encourage everyone to join me in proclaming the last resolution:

"I resolve to never make another resolution"

Feels good, doesn't it?

Zen and the Art of Snow Removal

Can you smell it in the air? Snow is coming. Staring down the barrel of the first snow event of the season is like getting on a roller coaster for the first time in 10 years - at least it is for those of us who have to go out and clear it as part of our vocation. Every storm has a personality, a life of it's own. You have to make fast friends with the snow or it will make your life miserable. In the end, it all goes away and we forget how good or bad it was because it moves so fast. I guess in a way, working snow is like many things in life. New events create trepidation, then acceptance and adjustment, and later the event passes, we move on and the memories fade. Until the next one comes along. Can you smell it in the air? I can.

Clarity

It is so very rare that we experience clarity these days. Everywhere you look there is someone or something pushing or pulling for your attention, your support, your allegiance and of course, your money. How do we clear through the clutter and haze created by this crazy world we inhabit? How do we walk our own path with so many fences and signs in our way? More to the point, is it even possible? Of course there are those who claim to have clarity and they want to share it with us - take us to where they are. Strikes me as being another layer of the clutter. I believe that clarity is a singular experience for each of us, one that cannot be shared. Because it sounds right to me to think of it as a journey rather than a destination. You can take someone to a place, but you cannot make them see and feel the exact things you did in the exact same manner as you did on the way there. Pretty deep stuff for a Tuesday, but it was on my mind. The end of the year always gets me to thinking how I could have done better and what I could have done different - more on that in the New Years Blog.

Clarity is the journey.

Happy trails!

Just me and my boys.

Today I was blessed to be able to spend the entire day with my sons. With my hectic work schedule I it is rare that I take a day off that does not involve travel, getting ready for travel or work around the house. Today was different since my job was to 'keep the kids entertained' while my lovely wife did last minute prep for a conference this weekend. Good news is, I have this job for three more days. These are the days that make fatherhood the best job on the planet - talking to my sons, watching them use their imaginations in wonderful ways, seeing how much they have grown, being able to help them when they get frustrated and getting the spontaneous hugs that kids give just because 'you are my dad'. I know it will not always be this way, that some day they will barely notice me as they are on their way out the door with their friends, but today is today and I had that rare moment to take it all in without an overriding schedule of places and things. Just me and my boys.