Setting His Pace

 Last week was fall break! It was good to have some time off and to have completed 40 days of school. Never before have I been so glad to see each day come to its end with normalcy. Fall weather is here, which we enjoy, and the leaves are starting to change colors.

I think some of the most exciting news around here happened at Nate's cross country meet on Monday evening of last week when he set a new personal record. It was a great day to run in and he completed the 5k course in 19:57, earning him the 19 Club distinction. He ran the same course again yesterday and got a time of 20:22. The three races before these were at the Wilson County Fairgrounds and the course there had been muddy due to recent rains. Several runners looked like they needed to be hosed off before being allowed in their cars to go home. Nate got some decent times at these meets in spite of the mud, humidity, and a sprained ankle. Nate has just a couple more heats in his season and we are looking forward to seeing what he can do in cooler weather.

Circling back to my comment about fall, this is the time when our farmers are curing their tobacco and picking their corn. The smell of a tobacco barn is the smell of home to me. Nolan, who had never been around this before, has become a fan. The other weekend Nolan and I meet Samuel Osborne over at one of his barns that has fire in it. Nolan quickly learned that the barns smell a lot better from a distance than they do from inside, but I think he was interested to see how the fires are built and how the curing process is done. We also looked around Will Ed's equipment and he got to see a combine up close for the first time.

Vicki and I had a little adventure Sunday before last (the 4th). We were getting ready for church when Vicki suggested we take a little road trip. We figured that since our pastor was preaching on divorce and remarriage we could miss that sermon. We wound up going to Smithville where we visited the cemetery where my mom's older sister, Helen, and her husband, JC, are buried. I had not been there since Aunt Helen’s funeral in 1980. And only in a small, rural town would I happen to run into my uncle’s first cousin there in the cemetery. From there we drove over to Burgess Falls State Park and did a little hiking, which we both enjoyed. It was a short little hike, the weather was perfect, and the falls were beautiful. Then we drove over to Cookeville for a quick visit with Ben and to check out the house he is living in. The house is an old barn that has been renovated and has a rambling layout. I can't see it being a good fit for a family, but it is perfect for a bunch of college boys. Ben is about 15 minutes from campus and out in the middle of the country with cows and chickens between him and the house next door. Speaking of Ben, it is so good to hear him talk about his classes with excitement. He also shared some pictures with us and it was nice to see him surrounded by good friends.

Jenna has finished her fourth term of school and moved right into the fifth. This term has a lot more clinical work in a couple of hospitals so while class time may be a little less, the clinical time is picking up. This will be her schedule until her Christmas break. She's a tired girl, but she is learning to balance life, class, study, and work which is good. It's really hard to believe that in six months we will be looking at graduations for both she and Nate.

Nate and I are back at school this week, and this is homecoming week at DA. I noticed several students who had been on voluntary distance learning have returned to campus and were visibly giddy with the excitement of being out of the house and reunited with friends. Given that our first quarter of school has been so successful we are attempting to do all the normal homecoming activities with masks and social distancing modifications. This may seem odd if you live in an area where COVID restrictions have not stepped down as much, and it may even seem a bit cavalier, but it is really good to see healing from the emotional toll the last six months have taken on our students. So far our cases at school, both actual infections and suspected exposures, have been few and infrequent. With care we can keep doing school and give our students a place to be students as much as possible. They need that. I’m certainly glad I can be part of it, because I need it.

Joe