The Day I Never Even Bothered To Hope For

My wife screamed, and I came running from the bathroom to see her with the sports section of the newspaper held up in both hands. All I had to see was the photo of a ripped young man in track clothing running towards the camera and the caption, but she kept reading the story anyway. Once I realized who he was and what it meant, I was pretty choked up. It was Marvin, the very guy that my website and music was about. The guy who knows nothing about me, but someone we talked about a lot when he was little.
When he was in my wife's kindergarten class and I was working in public schools, I saw up close and personal about the haves and have-nots, and wondered what would possibly happen to this kid with off-the-chart intelligence coupled with the worst-possible environment I could imagine in this town. Would he end up in jail for murder or would he succeed against all odds, against everything people know about education? To me, it was some kind of fundamental quest, wondering what it takes to do such a thing. We hear stories like this all the time, but this time, I was there. I read it in the paper when the police killed his dad while he was reaching in his pocket for his cellphone. I was there when another public school refused to accept him because of his behavior (I didn't know they could do that!), and all along, I wondered could his brain overcome everything else?
In a really strange twist, it must have, because it decided that sports was what he needed....just google Marvin Boone Sprinter...to read about the story I am celebrating today, the sunniest day this year yet.

Somehow I know This Won't Be The Last Time

So, yesterday it was a nice letter in my mailbox, asking me to please move my floodlight so it didn't shine in the neighbor's bedroom. That seems like a reasonable request. The only thing is, this is the second complaint since they moved in a few months ago, and probably the 4th in 28 years. My guess is the lady has delicate sensibilities. I never thought about asking somebody to move a light because it bothered me, I just rolled over. I've never thought of telling someone to shut their dog up or anything at all. Not saying that people shouldn't do it, it just never occurred to me to do that. I'm sure this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, one that will grow by tossing objects back and forth over the fence and saying mean things in the nicest possible fashion. If only I could find an upper class British citizen to give me some lessons....

The Neighborhood

What not to do when you first move into a new neighborhood: complain to your next-door neighbor about his dogs. I was out working on th VW when he approached, nicely complaining about how my dogs bothered him. The dogs were in the backyard with my wife, but they had been barking a bit before, at the movers, I thought. After he left I wondered if that was just a ruse to get me used to him complaining a lot...the thing is, they hadn't lived in the house for a day when he came over.
I thought about that a bit, trying to not make any noise when I was outside, except for deciding that a lot of stuff needed pressure cleaning, like my whole driveway. I was considerate about it, I waited until 8am on Sunday to do the work.
Then something strange happened last Saturday. The neighbor on the other side of his house drove by on a Harley, early in the morning while I was out working in the yard. I don't know why exactly, he must have had engine problems or something, because he stopped in front of my neighbor's house and revved the engine for at least 5 minutes......

The Vantage Point

This last weekend was nice,but normal in many ways, until I thought of all the people in the world that might disagree. We were attacking Libya, Japan was still reeling from the earthquake, tsuami, and the nuclear reactor meltdown. The moon was up and bright, the closest to earth in 18 years. All of this, and I was out surfing, mowing the yard, and watching videos with my wife at night, just moving right along, looking forward to a vacation in the near future. It really just depends on where you happen to be sitting when it all goes down. I am gladly accepting the distance this time around..

The Gift (from 9/8/2001)

It has happened again. One of those moments I have that won't be forgotten. Once my family was friendly with another family that had children the same age. We participated in our children's sports together and generally hung out at the events. As we grew to know each other, I found that the father and mother were very modest, in fact I had known them for a while before I found out that the nursery they owned was in fact a chain, like Home Depot. Once I realized they were wealthy beyond my wildest imagination and just visiting us normal folks, I changed and felt a little jealous that I could never provide for my family like that or give gifts they could afford to buy. My life was changed again when we were invited to their house for dinner.
She cooked everything from scratch and he doted on us like the perfect host. I thought, what more could anyone give you than their time and love? She could have called the best caterer and have them bring one of everything without blinking, but instead we ate family style, and every bit of it was authentic food that she had made.
Note to myself: Make sure my kids get that lesson as well!"

Looking Back

As I find myself recovering from another form of the flu, the knowledge that being healthy is not something to waste, comes frequently to mind. I can look back at some of the physical things I did this year, and realize how lucky I was to be able to even want to do those things. Right now, it would be risky to walk on the treadmill. I can't wait for the energy to come back, but in the meantime I can reflect.
Life has been interesting for sure. My house is really getting fixed up after years of neglect, and music has been a strong force the whole time. A lot of surfing, mostly due to having young friends that wanted to go all of the time.
2011 will be the year Dusty gets his CD out there, and we'll soon find out whether I'm a pessimist or a realist. I'm predicting a closet full of unsold CD's, but the music sounds awesome and I would just love to be wrong...and it wouldn't be the first time.

What The Flu Is Good For

Man, if you ever needed a reason to quit complaining, a good bout of the flu will do it. I'm finally starting to feel myself again. Do you remember feeling so sick that you didn't even care about what you were missing? It didn't matter if it was the prettiest day of the year, all I could think of is, what if you never got better? What if the rest of my life was feeling that bad?
I'm starting to feel cheerful now, still coughing enough to make most folks show the sign of the cross and move farther away, and still trying to recall how I could jump up every morning and run 5 miles. Trying to think about how I don't have enough stuff, enough money, the best job, all of those things that just seem to be one big WANT.

Yup, the next time I wake up feeling like a good 5 mile run, I'm going to remember that THAT is the thing I really wanted...