Happy Birthday?

Yesterday I was reminded of how many years I have been given on this planet. The time speeds on faster and faster with each passing year. I remember how long I seemed to have to wait for Christmas morning to arrive. Weeks seemed like an eternity and the days just dragged on and on. Time just didn't move faster enough. Just a few weeks ago I was introduced to facebook. I looked at this and sites like this site as a teeny-boppers haven, as a place to socialize and basically just another way to communicate without actually having to verbal communicate. As I started to find friends from past lives I was amazed at the speed my life was going at. It's been over 15 years since I have graduated high school. The days of feeling like Christmas is never going to come are over. My childhood was but a vapor and I have come full force into adulthood. I find myself with a wife, 2 children, 3 pets, 2 cars and a mortgage. Don't get me wrong, they are not penalties but rather rewards (except maybe the 2 cats). I look at my children and see them develop and get excited for Christmas just as I did when I was a boy their age. Their days drag on as if it will never come but before I can almost even blink they will be in high school and college and planning their careers and weddings and I will be coming home to a much quieter house. Time is one thing you can never be guaranteed of and one thing that you can not buy more of - once you have had your allotted amount you breathe your last breathe and sigh your last sigh here on earth. After that your eternity is spent with your creator or eternal separated from Him. I know it's basically impossible to live life like it's your last day everyday but with mine speeding by faster and faster, hyper-warping toward some end destination (date and time unknown) I would like to be able to say that the football game on TV or some work report or some new gadget or some yard chore was not more important than spending my time wrestling on the floor with my boys or building a fort in the back yard or reading stories or making up my own at bedtime. So happy birthday middle-aged man - are you misspending your children's youth? Are you misspending your life on the things that are meaningless and trivial? So my birthday wish for myself is to take stock of my own life and to make sure I am making the most of the time my creator has given me.

8 Years and Continuing

Susan and I celebrated our 8th anniversary of marriage yesterday. We went out to eat and enjoy some time alone without the boys. As Susan says...'being able to eat at a restaurant that ketchup is not already on the table or served in little packets is a nice change'. We looked back at the past 8 years and where the time has brought us. We reminisced about the places we lived and the memories that go along with each location. It's funny to think of stone and brick, wood and nails, paint and plaster as being apart of fond memories but it is a large part of our relationship. I am very thankful for my wife. She has helped me to become a better person, a better father and a better man. We have weathered some difficult times since we first met back in 1996. The road has been quite bumpy at times but I believe that those storms has caused our relationship to be even closer.

Wedding Crashers

Susan and I went to a wedding this past weekend - a wedding for the last of our unmarried friends. An Era has come to a close. I am at the age that my social life (no matter how small) now consists of at the very least married couples and soon my social group will mostly consist of couples with kids. I heard this morning a saying that made me think - 'The older you get the quicker times goes'. I find that looking at my children grow the time is but a glimpse, a whisper - here one moment and the next just a memory. It makes me think of the movie Click with Adam Sandler where he fast forwards through parts of his life and he doesn't realize where it all went. I don't have that magically remote but I feel that the time I have been granted is quickly falling through the hourglass of time that I have left. I, of course do not know if the time I have is almost over or half over (there abouts), but I do know that time does seem much more precious the older I get.

The wedding was very nice and it was good to be able to celebrate the coming together of two friends as one couple. It so much different going to a wedding than being in your own, of course more than the obvious - the vows and such. My own wedding was a blur. I do remember the first time I saw her on our wedding day coming down the aisle. I got emotionally overwhelmed to see how beautiful and wonderful she looked and that the prospect of spending the rest of my life with her made me weak in the knees. Being at friends wedding you get to relax and enjoy the food and company and are able to socialize and not worry when everything does not go just right. I am slightly sadden at the thought that I will not be able to celebrate any more joining of unions in my social network of friends because that part of my life has come and gone before I have realized it. Life goes whizzing by and the chances of getting off the merri-go-round are getting fewer and fewer. The opportunity to stop and step back and see how blessed we all are and taking inventory of what truly matters is so much more important as the time seems to go by faster and faster. The mountain of sand at the bottom of the hourglass can not be replaced at the top. Cherish the time you have been given.

Father/Son Camping 2008

This is the first year the boys and I attended the father/son camping trip to Sherando Lake with GABC. It was an incredible time. The boys really enjoy camping and they enjoyed it even more with so many old and new friends to explore and play around the campgrounds. The weather started off a bit wet as it had rained slightly prior to use arriving on Friday afternoon, but after thing dried out we could not have asked for it better. The very cool mountain nights where stayed off by our roaring campfire. Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows are of course a staple for camping and always a highlight for the boys. The cool nights gave way to warm summer days but the beach lake quickly cooled us off. We went hiking in the woods off the beaten trails and saw 4 deer and a skeleton of what I guessed was a former deer (perhaps). We tried our hand at fishing in the fishing tournament and Luke catch a small Blue Gill but Christian and I had no luck (just a few small bites). Saturday night the entire group (around 125 father and sons) had a cook out of hamburgers and hot dogs. After packing up Sunday morning our plan was to go to the morning worship service at the camp grounds amphitheater and then go to the lake for a few hours prior to heading home but the car wouldn't start so after getting a jump start from one of our camp mates, we decided head home instead and recover from the weekend. Sunday afternoon we spent the day resting and getting ready for the new week. We all had a really great time. I am already looking forward to going again next year. The time we got to spend together with my boys was something I will not soon forget. Also getting know so new father's and their sons was also nice. The time we as fathers have with our children is so fleeting and can never be recaptured. I am going to look back on times like these fondly.

Families

My family spend the weekend with my sister's family this past weekend. Jake got to see his mother and father for the first time since moving away from home to his new adoptive family(ours). Jake (on the right) was very excited to see all the other Cavaliers running around. Although he was not to keen on the 5 puppies. Jake looks a lot like his father Rocky (center). He is not quite as big but close enough to keep thinking one was the other and vice versa after a quick glance. Jake's mother Sophie (left) has very curly hair but you can tell in the face Jake is her offspring.

The other offspring (my boy's cousins) really enjoyed seeing each other as well. My sister's home was full of children and pet dogs. The breakdowns and fussing were at a minimum and with 5 young'ems what more could you ask for. The weather was very nice and we were able to spend the day at Smith Mountain Lake Park where it was $0.99 Day because Q99 was broadcasting live on the beach. The water was refreshing and I managed to keep from getting burned to bad other than my face a bit. The floating raft at the lake had a new slide added to it. That was a huge hit with my boys. Spending time with my sister's family helped me to remember that your core family is the most important earthy thing and should be cherished. Before you have children you think how can I live with them and after you have them you think how could I live without them.

Our Hero Jake

Our little puppy is turning one this Sunday. We have had him around 10 months and he is now one of the family - like he has always been with us. The day we brought him home he fit in my two hands. He is not a large dog by any means but compared to what he was - it's quite a change. His snobby AKC registered name is 'Our Hero Jake'. It comes from letters from everyone name in our immediately family (although the 'J' in Jake caused us to go to my middle name). Jake, as he goes by, is my second dog. When I was a boy I had a beagle/basset hound name Henry. He was a great dog, but short on common sense. Of course, much of his day was controlled by scents through his nose. We lived out in the country and when he was let outside he would run as fast as he could, body flat to the ground and his ears flapping along sided him as he bayed at whatever scent caught his attention and no matter how loudly I called after him, his one track mind was off to the races. I guess as a kid I didn't mind or notice his natural odor, but now as an adult, I see what my mother complained about when it came to Henry. After a few weeks Jake gets pretty ripe. As cute as he is when he gets up in your face when he hasn't seen you all day and breathes his dragon breathe on you, it's any wonder we have domestic pets at all. But we would not trade Jake for anything. He is apart of the family for good. We also have two cats. Anyone want one?

Music Camp

The boys participated in the M.A.D. camp last week (Music and Day Camp) and they had their music performance Sunday night. They both got small action parts. Luke was a bumblebee and Christian was one of the bug catchers. Susan also participated in the camp. In the morning she worked on the set and props and in the afternoon she worked with the photography group. All in all the camp was a success and everyone had a good time. The musical (called Life School Musical) was done very well and the boys really enjoyed their parts (although I know they wanted some lines of their own). The summer is quickly slipping by and the days of sleeping in and going to bed late are coming to a close. The chapters of their childhood seem to literally be flying past me and I am not taking enough chances to read each chapter carefully and in enough detail. Susan has spent many hours putting together scrap books of the life events of our family and looking back at these memories stirs up happy and sad feelings and shows me just how precious the time is that we have with our children.

Changes

What does my darling wife and one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Larry Bird,
have in common? Other than both being extremely dedicated and hard working her age now matches his retired jersey. Her birthday got me thinking about the time I turned 30. Susan threw me a surprise birthday party but I was not in the mood for the celebration. I looked back at the past 30 years and thought life is basically over now. I dreaded the change. Being 29 was as least still being 20. But being 30, well I thought I might as well buy a grave plot and put my name on a waiting list for some nice retirement home. Even though I had children of my own I still thought of myself as a child of my parents. How had 30 came so quickly and how did I get so much responsibility and how did everything get so expensive? I remember when it was eighty-five cents for a gallon of gas, one dollar for a gallon of milk and what happened to wacky wafers? I remember being dropped off at the community pool (which only cost a quarter) and being able to spend the day without my parents having to worry about who or what was going to happen to me. I think of simpler times and that was only 25 years ago. What is the next 25 years going to bring and how much more complex and in a hurry is everything going to be?

Baseball in Richmond

Last week Susan and I took the boys to see Pawtucket play down at the Diamond. The R-Braves won the first game with a bases loaded wild pitch in the 7 inning. It was quite a let down and somewhat uninspiring win. Pawtucket did come back and win the second game. It was a double header game because the Monday night game was called because of poor field condition from some rain Sunday night and early Monday morning. The weather was awesome for a game in July (low humidity and a nice breeze). We sat right behind the 3rd base dugout (1 row back). There were quite a few Red Sox fans out to support Pawtucket. Even the guy running to be the governor of Red Sox's Nation for Virginia was in attendance. The boys really enjoyed the game but to tell the truth what they wanted the most was to catch a fly ball or have one of the players throw them one during the inning change. We are going back to see at least one more game at the end of July before the R-Braves leave Richmond at the end of this season.