A Much Needed Break

The fall weather has finally arrived, and when it did there was no moderation. We went from hot to chilly practically overnight. There are signs that the trees are about to turn, so we're looking for the pretty colors to explode in the next few weeks.

FALL BREAK
This week has been Davidson Academy's fall break. This was a week I had set my sights on some months ago for rest and relaxation and it was all I had hoped it would be. Friday after school I cleaned up my classroom, locked the door, and walked away, mentally as well as physically. Our homecoming game was that night. Vicki and I had signed up to work in the concessions stand, so enjoyed the tailgating fun until it was time to go serve hamburgers and hotdogs.

A quick aside, the Bears are enjoying an undefeated season this year. We've scored over 60 points per game in a four game stretch. Our cousin, Wil, is having a good season. Our homecoming game was televised locally. Jackie called me at halftime to say that Wil had caught a beautiful touchdown pass.

Last Saturday we headed out for the lake house once again. I enjoy the lake house. When we are there time seems to come to a stop. It was so nice to wake up later than I normally leave for work. It rained the majority of the time, but we were content to stay in, simply relaxing and enjoying time together. Jenna came up with us, skipped her Monday classes, and returned Tuesday. The rest of us headed home on Wednesday.

SETTING RECORDS
We had a cross country meet in Dickson last Saturday. The boys and I went to that before heading to the lake house. (Vicki and Jenna went to a funeral in Camden and then met us at the lake house.) With only two races left in the season, Ben wanted to to beat his personal record of 19:55 that he set last year before graduating. All the kids have run well this season, but given the 85°-90° temperatures, breaking personal records has alluded most of the team. Saturday morning was a glorious 54° and just about everyone set records, Ben included. He clocked in at 19:12!

I don't want to ignore Nate here. He came in at 22:10, beating his season record by 8 seconds, but seeing the mud covered boy come around the corner and head into the funnel toward the finish line told the story before I heard the tale. Somewhere along the back of the course he tripped and fell. He bore the bruises and scrape marks from that one for several days. Getting back up from the fall wouldn't have taken too much time, but what really cost him was looking for his glasses. Nate normally runs without his glasses---and this race was no different---but his reaction after the fall was natural enough. He estimates he lost about 30 seconds in a panic looking for his glasses until it dawned on him that he never had them on. Disappointing as this was, he took it well and even left the mud on his face for a while as a battle scar.

CAMDEN TRIPS
I mentioned above that Vicki went to a funeral in Camden. She has a good high school/college friend, Angi, who now lives in Bowling Green. They get together periodically. It was Angi's mother who had passed away.

This weekend she and Angi returned to Camden for their 30th year high school reunion. I was going to go, but when other husbands started backing out I opted to stay home. As it turned out, she and Angi had a big time making it an overnight trip and shopping on the way home.

THE BOB ROSS MUG
Last Christmas one of Ben's friends gave him a coffee mug as a gift. It has a picture of famed PBS artist Bob Ross on one side and a quote from Ross on the other that reads "We don't make mistakes. We have happy accidents."

Now Ben is a man of few words. You have to weasel the information out of him to learn anything. So Vicki was naturally curious when Ben pulled his mug out of the dishwasher one evening and set it out by his backpack and gym bag. I will skip the interrogation that followed for the sake of brevity, but the bottom line is that we were all shocked to learn that every Friday Ben drinks hot tea in his English class as they discuss literature. Who knew? Neither of us saw that one coming. I think he'll be switching to hot chocolate as we return to school, since he really doesn’t enjoy hot tea.

THE GREAT POP-TART RITUAL
Since the boys and I ride to school together most mornings (and are leaving about the same time when we drive separately), I get to witness what I call The Great Pop-Tart Ritual. I'm more of a cereal guy, but I am fascinated each morning as I watch the boys consume their breakfast pastry. I'm sure I could go into a deeper examination of what all this means for either boy, just as people do who examine the order in which folks put on their socks and shoes. Rather than overanalyze my breakfast table, I'm just going to report my observations.

Nate will sit down and very carefully break off and eat the edges of the Pop-Tart, the short edges are first, followed by the long edges. Then he will consume the center of the thing in 6-8 bites. Ben, on the other hand, will carefully break a Pop-Tart in half, and then into quarters. When this is done he will pop a quarter into his mouth and chew thoughtfully. Both boys are alike in that they do this one pastry at a time.

So, that's my morning amusement while I munch on my Cheerios or oatmeal. Even teenagers are creatures of habit.

Joe