...and I still don't know what to wear!

Two days before I leave, and I have so much to do. Let's see:

1. work today...thanks to BoA, my day is now a bust (read the papers tomorrow).
2. work tonight...the AloeTerra project goes before the Planning Commission.
3. grade papers and answer student questions.
4. check in on Eric...I still haven't had a chance to call him since his surgery.
5. swim one last time...thank goodness that Cranbrook is open late tonight.
6. mow the lawn (in the dark?).
7. work tomorrow...labor negotiations, no less.
8. work tomorrow night.
9. Joe has football practice.
10. run one last time.
11. pick up my dry cleaning.
12. call my parents, and see how my dad is doing (another story for another time).
13. help clean the house.
14. pack for the trip...and I still don't know what to wear.
15. HELP!

I'm a little overloaded this week. Somehow it'll all come together. I just don't know how, yet.

Well, I gotta go...my 10 am conference call just called in.

Busy week

The past week has been remarkably busy. I thought we were supposed to start winding down!

What happened to tapering?

Oh, yeah, that only counts in training...life has its own set of rules. But I can't complain...well, I won't complain. My job is so varied and interesting, and this week was especially interesting.

The redevelopment of the former KMart Headquarters site is moving forward. And we've teamed up with LTU and the Chamber of Commerce on locating the AloeTerra house in the City of Troy. Both projects are so cool.

But I Digress
Well, our bikes were boxed up and apparently are on a UPS truck headed toward DC. And we enjoyed a team breakfast this morning, following our last team run (no bike...so, no brick).

Our last team swim is scheduled for Tuesday. But, work calls, and I'm gonna miss our last swim (the AloeTerra house). So, I've got to figure a way to get my last swim in.

And, THEN, we head out. Our flight leaves on Thursday morning (I've got to cut my post short, now...my battery is about to die).

seventh inning stretch

I love baseball.

I can't play the game worth a darn. But I just love watching a good game.

I even remember the first game my dad took me to. We were seated along the first base line, but well in to the outfield. Rusty Staub was in the outfield for the Tiger's back then. From where we sat, he was the only player I could really see.

Ahhh, the things we remember...
I still love going to the game. The sights... the sounds... the smell of hot dogs and popcorn across a warm summer night.

And thanks to the way the Tigers are playing, I love the sense of anticipation leading up to a game. It is fun to feel that buzz and excitement when walking toward the CoPa.

"So, who's gonna step up today?," is asked and answered by every third grade boy and his dad as they walk through the turnstile.

Its the same feeling I have training for this triathlon. "So, who's gonna step up today?," I ask myself. "What's your strategy, Murph?"

The answer is "Me, I hope." Quickly followed by "Strategy? Seriously? Heck, I'll be happy just to finish."

Seventh Inning
My version of the seventh inning stretch started this weekend. Right after practice on Saturday. Right after our last practice triathlon.

The seventh inning stretch is a wonderful moment. No matter how well or how poorly your team is doing, everyone at the game gathers in one beautiful, glorious, not-so-harmonic moment and sing America's unofficial ballad.

There was to be no singing on Saturday. But we all came together in one beautiful, glorious, and not-so-warm moment and celebrated.

We didn't celebrate how well or how poorly our Saturday practice triathlon went.

We celebrated where we've been, where we've gotten, and where we're going. We celebrated our friends and family, and thanked them for all their support. We celebrated our personal heroes, and prayed for them all.

It was a beautiful chorus of cheers and revelry.

I may never have stared down a pitcher in a baseball game, but I love the sport. I know you won't see me staring down from the winner's podium in two weeks, but I have loved the journey.

PLAY BALL!

I like it when a plan comes together

His bags are packed.

His toothbrush is in his dopp kit.

His reservation at the Yale Hilton is confirmed.

"Yale Hilton?," you ask, quizically. "I didn't know that Yale has a Hilton hotel on it's campus."

And you would be right. It doesn't. That's what Eric has taken to calling the New Haven/Yale Hospital and Medical Center.

Yale Hilton is a lot easier to say than the New Haven/Yale Hospital and Medical Center. Don'tcha think?

So, our boy heads out. Tomorrow.

"Tomorrow?," you ask. Yep, tomorrow.

The partial depth skin graft on his feet is scheduled for Friday morning. The doctors reported that they expect to keep him in the hospital through Wednesday. The graft, he says, should take about 6 to 8 weeks to heal.

After the feet are adequately healed, he will go off to the rehabilitation hospital and start therapy. The way it looks to play out, he should start therapy in November.

"So," I ask, in a sort of an acerbic, playful way. "Any plans for October?"

Turns out, the joke's on me. He goes in for hand surgery on October 1st.

The hand specialist wants to decompress the nerves in his left hand and move some muscles and tendons in his left arm to see if they can improve the functionality of Eric's left hand.

"Oh," is all I could come back with. "Well, okay, then."

"Actually," Eric shares. "It works out perfectly."

Here comes the spin...the famous Eric Spin.

John Wayne has his trademark Swagger. Ricardo Montalbán? The classic "Corinthian Leather."

Eric has his Spin. So, let's hear it:

The hand surgeon expects the recovery to take about a month. Right around the same time that the doctors expect his feet to heal before he starts therapy.

This way, he can start working on both therapies at the same time.

"I like it when a plan comes together," he says.

"Not too much spin this time," I think to myself. "Kinda makes sense." I was flummoxed.

"Oh," I said. "Well, okay, then."

So flummoxed, I forget to ask the important questions. Like: how long will therapy take? will you get to go home for holidays? how are the kids taking the news? do you think the Tigers will make it in to the post-season?

I guess I'll have to find out later...

My Family Rocks!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. -1897 New York Sun editorial

It is only September. It's still Summer.

And, yet, it feels like Christmas.

That's how my weekend felt.

I skipped practice on Saturday morning to spend time with my family. We went to watch Joe play his first football game, followed by Alaina's soccer game.

The games were so much fun to watch. I think I have a future All-American on my hands in Joseph. And Alaina is a true delight.

She is the only person I know that will cheer for the OPPOSING team.

I can see it now: Alaina becomes the captain of her college's cheerleading squad. The team is on the brink of playing for the National Championship. All they need to do is win their final home game against their arch-rival.

Their arch-rival has the ball with :02 seconds left in the game. It's fourth down. 30 yards to the end zone.

The score: Univeristy State (US) 28 - The Heck with EM (THEM) 24.

The quarterback heaves a pass to the back of the end zone, and the star receiver comes up with the ball. THEM wins.

And what does the camera man catch? On national television? Alaina running to the end zone to give THEM's star receiver a hug for making such a great catch!

Back to this weekend

After the games, we lazed away the afternoon. We went for a bike ride. We tried watching the Michigan game.

Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday.

Church. Lazy afternoon. Family bike ride. Norah rode her own bike over a mile to the ice cream store!

And, it turns out, "reasonable hours" do apply to the weekend. So, I still was able to get away for a run and a swim without any guilt that I missed time with my family.

It really was like Christmas. I saw love, generosity and devotion shared this weekend.

I saw Santa Claus.

I never thought I'd like school so much

Labor Day.

The last day of our unoffical summer.

Ahhh...

And what a beautiful day it was. What am I saying? What a beautiful weekend! Three glorious days of sun. The temperature was just right to go to the boat, or bar-b-que, or...

Or, in my case, bike 30 miles, swim 2 miles, and run 4 miles. Arrggh.

It was more frustrating on Tuesday, as I stood next to the pool. That's when it hit me.

Finally, it hit me. "I'm done," I said to Andrew standing next to me. "I just want this race to happen. I don't know that I can keep training."

I thought, maybe I'm bored with training... maybe I'm just getting too worked up for the race... maybe I'm just jonesing for a huge bowl of ice cream.

Nope. (Well, I am jonesing for ice cream. I mean, really...)

I'm just a little frustrated that I'm mising time with my family. Here I was standing on the edge of a pool the night before my kids start back to school, and I wasn't with them.

Then I realized that I just spent the better part of a glorious weekend doing stuff without them. Ouch.

No, I don't own a boat. No, we weren't invited to anyone's cottage for a bar-b-que. No, we didn't have vacation plans. I can justify this any way I want...but the thing is, I miss hanging out with my family.

Thank God school's starting!

"What?," you ask. "What kind of moron complains that he misses his family, but can't wait for school to start?"

"Really, Murphy, you're a little off your rocker. Maybe you've starved your brain from all that hyperventilating."

I know, I know. It sounds weird. But I feel like it has taken some of the pressure off.

You see, I like training in the evening. Well, okay...I don't really like training in the evening, but I HATE training in the morning. So, I train in the evening.

With school starting, they have to get to bed at a "reasonable hour". Last week, they would stay up through the sixth rerun of High School Musical 2.

You don't know when that is? Oh, somewhere between 10:00 pm and 7:00 am.

This week's "reasonable hour"? 7:30 pm.

Its amazing what you can do in two hours. Re-grout the tile in the bathroom. Paint the basement. Run six miles (note to self: work on my run-time).

Most importantly: no guilt. Okay...a little guilt. But I was a lot less frustrated at the end of the week than I was at the start.

I am going to miss tomorrow's brick with my team so I can watch Joe play his first football game and cheer Alaina at her first soccer game. Hmmm...do "reasonable hours" apply on the weekend?