Groundhog Day

I sat down to write this and was astounded to note that it's February already! I date things most every day so I certainly knew that. But it's quite another thing to come to the sudden realization that January became history so quickly!

This winter, so far, hasn't seemed as cold as most, though you couldn't prove that by the last few days here. Typical of Tennessee, we are bouncing between extremes. A few weeks ago it was so warm that I cut the heat off in my portable and opened the windows all day. Two days later it was below freezing. Fast forward to this week, we had a snow day on Wednesday, but it was due to the extremely low temps that day rather than ice and snow, and we were probably following suit with all the surrounding school systems. And now, whether or not our groundhogs saw their shadows today, the temps are forecast to be in the 60s all next week.

I can sum up a major part of our lives this past month in one word: basketball. As of last night we have completed our regular season with a 15-7 record. The boys have fought hard to be tied in second place in our district going into the post season. Ben has played in 12 games since I wrote last, and it being his senior year we've been there to take it all in. (Well, I did miss one game when the septic line was clogged up and everything was backing up into the tub. It seemed important to get that fixed right away.)

Last night, being our last regular season home game, was also Senior Recognition Night (as well as Coming Home, the basketball version of Homecoming). It was a little surreal for Vicki and I to be parents on the floor with Ben this year as he was recognized as a senior player for the school. I have less than four months to enjoy driving to and from work in his company or to see his tall form moving among the mass of kids in the hall when classes change. Last night some of the other parents asked Vicki and I if we were sad. That feeling is certainly in the mix, but overall we're both content and excited for his future. This season for Ben is reaching its fulfillment in a good way and we're both happy with that.

Ben seems to sense this as well. Fortunately it doesn't look like he has the typical case of Senioritus, but we can tell he is making it a point to enjoy his friends and his last semester of high school life while being ready to move on when the time comes.

Nate has found a bit of new interest in basketball. He was asked if he wanted to film the boys games. The job pays him $20 per game so that makes him happy. I keep wondering if he will ask about keeping that job next year when Ben is not playing. That would certainly be a good little gig to earn some spending money.

Mom seems to be doing well. Sometimes I call to check on her and she doesn't answer. Later I find out she was doing some sort of activity. She certainly didn't have that opportunity at home. Speaking of her home, we're trying to get that ready to rent. We have made quite a bit of progress given we have only had  a few hours on Saturdays to work on it, but there’s still a lot left to do.

So there you go. We're just plugging away at school, work, and life in general. We still have the post season tournaments to go. Fortunately the first district game will be hosted at DA so we’ll enjoy a home court advantage against a team that is most likely out for our blood seeing how we beat them in overtime at their gym last week. If we go far February will be a full month as well.

Joe