A Slower Pace

Today was my oldest daughter’s first communion day at church. It was a very nice service. An added touch was after each child received their first communion from the pastor, they would then turn around and give communion to their family who were standing behind them in a public show of support. It was a very special gesture and it was one more of these milestones that will choke me up on her way to adulthood. I am intent on focusing on these moments because I believe that in today’s day and age, they whiz by us too fast. I would equate a child’s life to a drag race. The anticipation on the line for the arrival is enough to make you go crazy. Then the green light and the race is on. The first few hundred feet while you are still accelerating are still captured in your memory. Their first crawl, first step, first words, first day of school. Sometimes those things can’t come fast enough. Then all those moments accumulate and become compressed in time as you careen down the track of life, accelerating as you go. Finally, before you know it the race is over, you begin slowing down and you can reflect back on what you thought you saw and the little that you captured. I am trading my dragster for a moped. It doesn’t look cool and it sure isn’t fast but it will get me there and ensure I don’t miss out on the beautiful scenery.

More notes for our wondrous day — in celebration, I fired up the BBQ smoker and added some more baby back rib experience to my BBQ knowledge. They turned out very good and we had a nice celebratory meal. While tending to the smoker, I was also able to enjoy the NASCAR race (although my driver was involved in the lap #1 wreck and never recovered) and a few of the NCAA tournament games, all in hi def of course. And U of L easily defeated Georgia Tech to make it to the Sweet 16. That will make things interesting for all of those fans here in the area. And finally, I got a little dirty changing the oil in the trucks and doing some needed preventative maintenance while the kids rode the scooter in the garage and played with the dogs. When the weather turns, a priority is getting a TV in the garage because there is nothing like having a race or game on while you are out there tinkering. All in all, a nice and productive day at home with the family. The big orange ball descending through the trees topped it off. It was so beautiful I had to come inside and tell my wife to look out the window.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Today was a day where we spent the first part of the day running errands around town and then came home and lazed around for the remainder. My oldest daughter had a meeting at church so we dropped her off there and continued taking care of all the errands “in the city”. Living out in the country, we always try to make the most of our trips into Louisville and consolidate shopping. Picking my daughter up took us to after lunch. When we got home I turned on the NCAA tournament to try and “get into the spirit” of March madness. It was kinda working as I enjoyed a part of the Utah/Okla game. Again, high definition TV made it extremely enjoyable. I was going to BBQ two chickens on the smoker but the rain made me opt for the rotisserie instead. It would mean less babysitting and hence, less me getting wet outside. Of course, once I got them going, the rain let up and it was kinda nice outside. I took a short walk out to get the mail. Very peaceful with it having just rained. I grabbed a shovel to take advantage of the wet ground and started slicing a trench where I needed to bury the dog fence wire. (see previous post here) I only got a few feet when I started chatting with my neighbor who was out working on some of his trees. This was the same neighbor I met with blood on my hands from the dog fight back when we first moved in. We ended up shootin’ the breeze for an hour. I walked back into my house and my wife said “We were looking all over for you”. She was surprised when I told her I was only 50 ft away outside.

After a nice roasted chicken dinner, we popped “The Incredibles” back in and had an impromptu makeup family movie night (see yesterday’s post). By the time the movie ended, my wife was asleep and all the kids went to bed right when I asked. I then took the opportunity to accept the afternoon’s invitation and head next door for the UK vs Cincinnati tournament game. It was nice to spend some time getting to know my neighbors and enjoying one of their favorite pasttimes. I was slowly getting into it and by the end of the game was picking up the players’ and teams’ strengths and weaknesses. CBS then switched over to the Wake Forest/W VA game that went into an exciting double overtime. I called W VA the winner if they could start making their free throws. I ended up getting home around 11:30p. Luckily, I didn’t have to walk too far to get home. It was nice to chat with them, get to know them and learn a little more about the folks in the area. It’s now way past my bedtime though.

So UK made the NCAA tournament sweet 16. I think I’ll turn on the U of L game tomorrow afternoon and get into the madness a little bit more. Hopefully they make the Sweet 16 too.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net