Cabin Weekend

Back at work today after a weekend that induced a bit of cabin fever due to the weather (see earlier post).  After running some errands Friday night I didn’t leave the property for the entire weekend.  This is the source of a little friction because my wife is retired (at my insistence) and she’s ready to get out on the weekends while I am more of a home body looking to recharge the batteries after a long week at work.  We usually do get out for several trips during a normal weekend – that was not the case for this past weekend due to the storm.  I found that I missed that, a lot.  I’ve written before that our house is too big for just the two of us and it was evident this weekend.  I’ve constantly moved throughout my adult life due to the military career.  I’ve lived in this house for six years now which is the longest I’ve lived in one place other than the house I grew up in.  I’ve kept waiting for a sense of “home” to settle in but that still hasn’t happened and now I wonder if it ever will.  I think most of that is due to the relative isolation of living in the country in a place we came to late in life.  While we have great neighbors, they are really the only people in town that we really know.  I think that is why I feel drawn back to the place I grew up – still looking for home.

Yes, Dear



Yes, Dear I will Listen Next Time

We've been married almost thirty years and at times we have disagreements, such as yesterday when she insisted I get my snow blower set up.  I obstinately refused as I felt she was wandering into one of the few areas in the house where I have absolute authority.  In addition it is a huge pain in the ass to rig the snow blower onto my lawn tractor.  We had a forecast for 6-8" of snow and this early in the season I figured most would melt on its own.  I walked out this morning and we had nearly 18 inches of snow on the ground.  My very first thought when seeing this was - boy am I going to eat a lot of crow this week.  About ten minutes into the back breaking shovelling I actually admitted to myself that she might have been right (I am a very stubborn Yankee).  After about an hour and half the next door neighbor came out and helped out with his snow blower - which was huge.  My wife, to her credit, actually came out and helped which is amazing since she absolutely hates snow.  We ended up having a great time outside playing with our dog and the neighbor's kids.  In an event that will allow me to mitigate my penance to a certain degree - my wife locked us out of the house when she came outside. I will be eating that crow all week with fond memories of playing in the snow with my wife for the first time in our 30 years together.  When she's right - she's right, which I will undoubtedly hear a few times this week - deservedly. 

My Wife and Buddy the Wonder Pooch

New York Sojourn

I’m just back from a very entertaining day in New York City.  On Wednesday we drove down to New Haven to catch the train to New York.  That was a bit of an adventure because we had to catch a certain train and when we showed up all the parking lots were full.  We eventually found a garage meant for hourly parking.  I thought I was going to take a big financial hit but we had to catch that train.  We were met by my daughter and son in law at Grand Central and walked to a restaurant just off Times Square.  We had a great dinner together and then we dropped off my wife and daughter to see the Hugh Jackman on Broadway show.  My son in law and I had no interest in being compared, both verbally and subconsciously, for two hours by our respective wives while they feasted their eyes on this paradigm of the male species.  My wife even made a risqué comment on Mr. Jackman’s posterior to my daughter, who of course immediately tweeted it to the world.  Meanwhile my son in law and I journeyed to a nearby bar expecting to watch a World Series game.  The game was postponed so we ended up just spending the time talking about, well,  just about everything and also consuming vast quantities of alcohol.  I had the best time that I had had in a very long time.  I love the fact that my children are at an age where we can talk with them as adults, from my wife’s butt comments to my long conversation with my son in law.  I’m not sure they are always as pleased at the increasingly, and sometimes inappropriate, familiar comments from their childhood icons (maybe?).   While I have a few beers each weekend this was the first time in a long time that I was really feeling no pain and it was fun to spend it with people I love.  I hope I didn’t embarrass them too much but this was a great vacation from stress.  I probably should have toned down my verbal assessments of our fellow subway riders but hey, no one got stabbed – at least in our immediate vicinity.  In the morning we rode the subway in with my daughter on her way to work and said goodbye at Times Square so my wife could realize a long held dream – to see Good Morning America.  She watches it everyday and is a huge fan.  When we walked up everyone was clustered around the weather guy so we stepped up to another window to watch the rest of the cast.  This turned out to be a great move because as soon as the weather was over they started prepping a set right in front of our window.  The exotic animal guy, Jack Hanna, walked in and sat down right in front of us.  The entire GMA crew came over and George Stephanopoulos even waved to my wife.  He was followed by a flamingo and a full grown cheetah, which made us think of our daughter (her favorite animal).  Our plan was to walk around New York but there was a steady cold rain that modified that plan.  We caught a train back to New Haven and I made the 10 minute trek through the cold rain to pick up the car, dreading the cost the whole way – we even pooled all our cash.    My wife waited at the terminal so I could make better time.  It turned out to be a non-issue and the cost even less than our normal parking spot.  When we both were back in the car we agreed that we really missed the freedom having our own transportation.  Owning a car in NYC makes no sense, but on a day like yesterday, we missed it.   A long drive through the rain and we ended up in Providence where we saw the movie The Three Musketeers – which was absolutely abominable.  We were then reunited with Buddy with predictable enthusiasm and a delicious meal with my sister.  The drive home turned out to be a real adventure as we were in the middle of blizzard like weather with a severe snow storm.  We made it home, exhaled and agreed – despite the weather challenges – a truly special day because of the time we had with our daughter and son in law; told you I was lucky.

The Wife and I at the Restaraunt

 Two Very Special People - Daughter and Son in Law

Enjoying the Night Life - Lucky Guy on the Left

Gotham Getaway

Today my wife and I head to New York City to visit my daughter and son in law.  He gave my daughter tickets to see Hugh Jackman on Broadway and she in turn invited my wife to see the show with her.  I thought this would be a great opportunity for them to spend time together until they both started campaigning for me to come along and hang out with my son in law.  I initially resisted because I thought this was being forced down my son in law’s throat only because my wife did not want to make the drive. I mean, who wants to hang out with their father in law?  My daughter eventually convinced me that he did, in fact, want to – I wrote earlier about how lucky I am in the son in law department.  So last night we took Buddy to stay with my sister, which he loves, except when we sneak out without him.  On the way home we stopped off and saw the movie 50/50, a movie about dealing with cancer.  I really enjoyed it, sad but ultimately uplifting.  Gordon-Leavitt is going to win an Oscar some day – he’s very good.  The movie had a real ring of truth to it instead of going for cheap sentimentality.  Angelica Huston really delivered as the smothering mother.  Today, in order to make the early afternoon train, I came into work very early.  I do this every couple of months to check on my early morning crew.  I always enjoy the reaction.  I did miss my early morning talk with Buddy.

Tempus Fugitive

Something I’ve noticed as I get older is how much faster time seems to pass by.  I can remember the four years of high school and then college and how long a period of time that seemed.  One of the reasons I joined the Army was that I could not bear the thought of a whole three years more of law school.  That seems ludicrous now although I’m sure I made a better soldier than I would have a lawyer.  Time just seems to have accelerated – it feels (almost) like yesterday that I was a young guy with two small kids.  Now those “kids” are closer to thirty than to twenty and I’m left trying to figure out where all the time went.  I assume, at my current age, I’ve got at least fifteen good years left and that’s kind of scary with the way time seems to have sped up.  I think this phenomena occurs because as you get older you fall into more consistent rhythms and routines which causes the days to kind of run together.  This isn’t an “Oh Woe is Me!” declaration, merely an observation.  I’m generally pleased with what I’ve done in my life.  I’m married to the love of my life, I’ve got the two very best children a father could hope for, I’ve seen most of the world, been in a movie, met one of America’s great presidents in the Oval Office, and excelled at a profession that I truly loved.  I’m happy to see both of my children making the most of their youth – getting out and seeing the world and experiencing life.  I think that’s one of the most important lessons a parent can pass on – an appreciation of life and not to waste it.  While faced with the implacable march of time I’m not going to sit back and watch.  I’m finding that you can slow that stride by simply looking around and savoring what life has to offer; find those special moments that are all around us every day.  It’s, in a way, re-discovering the wonder of youth when almost everything was a new experience.

Decisions, Decisions

I’ve written before about considering other jobs.  Another opportunity has arisen that I am looking at.  It’s actually going back to a place I worked at directly after leaving the Army.  I have really fond memories of the place and I loved working for the guy that hired me.  I left because the overall administrator didn’t like my boss.  He did like me and I felt if I had stayed that I would be a threat to my boss – again, a guy I really like and respect.  My departure had the exact effect I had hoped for, the administrator realized what a treasure he had in my old boss and they now get along well.  I still get together with my old boss occasionally for a couple of Friday night beers.  Last week, over the latest installment of those beers, he said my old job was open again and would I consider coming back.  I told him that he couldn’t afford me, due to the hefty pay raise I got when I took my current job.  Shared with him what I was currently making and he agreed, so we continued enjoying our Friday night.  Last Monday he called me at the office and said, “What if we could afford you?”  Apparently the administrator heard I might come back and said he would kick in the extra money to get me back, paying me what I am making at my current job.  I was very flattered and talked this over with my wife who knows me better than anyone and knows I missed working with my old boss.  She also was excited that I would no longer have to spend two hours every day commuting as the old place is much closer to home.  This would be step back career wise but as I think about it, do I really care?  I worked hard and was very competitive in my first career, rising near the top in that profession.   Following retirement I embarked on my career pledging to spend time on a family and wife that the military didn’t always allow me to.  As I prospered in the new job and basically doubled what I was initially making I started getting that competitive urge again – especially when I saw the competition.  The question again arises – do I care?  At this point in my life I think I would be happier in the old job working with a boss I like and admire, in a job I can do in my sleep.  If I was twenty years younger I probably wouldn’t give the old job a second thought but, as I am reminded on a constant basis, I’m not that young anymore.  Can I really put on price on the enjoying whom I work with everyday and extra time at home?

Wedded Brrrr

I went to a wedding last night in a nearby town, the bride a former co-worker of my wife.  I went under mini-protest because this was the weekend of an annual festival in my home town that I look forward to all year.  Needless to say I lost that argument.  I had a good time at the wedding but I spent part of the time thinking back to the time I was missing.  I was a huge hero with my wife by recommending she wear her warmest coat.  This was because the wedding ceremony was outside and the reception in a tent right next to it.  Note to all future brides – late October in central Massachusetts is too late in the season for an outdoor wedding.  The entire wedding party, with the sleeveless gowns had pronounced goose bumps.  While the tent had two underperforming space heaters, our table was right by the entrance with a huge opening allowing a steady breeze.   My wife had initially decided to wear a short, stylish jacket and I told her she should go warmer.  As we sat at the reception and the temperature fell into the thirties she kept thanking me over and over again.  My wife, a native of Panama, does not handle cold, or even cool well.  Something I’ve noticed over the last few years at weddings is the interminable wait while the photographer takes the official wedding photos.  Granted, there is usually a cocktail hour while everyone else waits, something I am personally a big fan of; however I think it’s gotten a little out of hand.  I know most photographers are very creative types and they have most wedding parties at their mercy for that time period.  Last night it was really noticeable as everyone shivered waiting for them to finish up.  When we went up for the first dance I almost fell on my face during my first move, such as it was.  I did not realize that my feet had almost frozen being in the breeze from the open door.  My wife assumed I had spent too much time at the bar but I went on to redeem myself as the feet warmed up.  I also noticed how disjointed a reception can be with a bad DJ and the one last night was egregious.  Despite all of this we had a good time which I attribute to my date – she has the ability to elevate what would be less than ideal circumstances – I get the assist with the warm coat recommendation.  We ended the evening with the wife driving home, I did spend some time at the bar, which is always an adventure (her driving, not my time at the bar, well sometimes…).

Teeming

Something I’ve observed over the past few years is just how crowded we’re getting.  I know the population has doubled since I was a kid and I am noticing it in a bunch of small ways.  I can remember long drives from my youth or early in my military career when I would have the road to myself for long stretches of the late night or early morning.  Nowadays that is rare.  I was out at 3am a couple of weeks ago and the roads were semi-busy.  Last week I was driving through some really remote regions and there were houses everywhere instead of the long stretches of uninhabited roads I grew up with.  Those days are gone.  This isn’t a nostalgic rant carping for the good ole days; it’s just that there are a lot more people than there used to be.  A lot of 1970s science fiction movies predicted that society would fail and descend into apocalypse by this time because we wouldn’t have the space or food for the burgeoning population; typical 1970s apocryphitic thinking.  I’m encouraged that we seem to have found a way to feed and house almost everybody despite doubling the requirement.  My mother always cajoled me at the dinner table (I was/am a very picky eater) as I was staring down at the rapidly cooling brussels sprouts that – “There are starving children in India that would love to have that food”.  She was less than impressed with my suggestion we send all brusells sprouts and lima beans to them.  I know there are still areas struggling with hunger but not the extensive famines that permeate my memories from childhood.  I think the end of the cold war had a lot to do with that.  I’ve always hated being crowded but I guess we’re stuck with it.  At least we’re handling it better than anyone predicted.

Dogged Conversations

I am an unabashed lover of the canine species.  I was raised around dogs and currently have a black lab with a lot of personality. Although I like most animals, with a strong exception of canaries, dogs will always have my unabashed love.  There is a primeval connection between man and dog that goes back to Cro-Magnon days.  A dog will always be happy to see you, even if the last thing you did was yell at him.  A dog is great company, like a lifelong friend, silently content just to be in the room with you – no conversation needed.  Dogs seem to sense when you’re down and need some affection.  Maybe I’ve been lucky in my life with the dogs I’ve had.  The only down side (other than feces patrol) is having to say goodbye at the end of their all too short a life span.  A couple of years ago we lost two absolutely beloved golden retrievers and I was affected for months – I can still tear up remembering them.  Over the last few days, my current dog, Buddy (I’ll cover how we acquired each other in another blog), has decided he wants to have conversations.  Last night as I was trying to watch a movie he apparently thought I was being too sedentary and launched into a long diatribe or barks, whines, and other vocalizations I didn’t realize he was capable of.  He just came in from outside so he wasn’t asking to go out again.  I started answering him and before long we were having an actual conversation, of course not understanding a single thing the other was saying.  At the end we both sat back in contented correlation.  My wife sat in bemused audience of this performance, I’m sure wondering if I had finally gone over the edge.  God, I love dogs.

Date Night Interruptus

I have a 40 mile commute each way to get to work. Last night I had just gotten home when I received a call that there had been a serious accident at work that required my return, right back into the teeth of afternoon rush hour traffic.  Tuesday night is my traditional date night with the wife.  Those dates are usually a dinner and a movie in the local area.  In an effort to salvage something I offered to take her with me and drop her off at a mall that she loves but is too scared to drive herself to.  She thought this was a great idea despite the fact she had already been shopping all day with friends.  My wife can shop.  Seriously, we’re talking world class ability here.  She is currently on a quest to find shoes to match a dress she is wearing to a wedding we’ll be attending this weekend. While I dealt with issues at the office she scoured this high end mall.  We met up and decided to grab dinner at a nearby restaurant, which we did, after stopping at four other stores in a fruitless attempt at securing the elusive shoes.  I usually hate shopping with a white hot passion (no exaggeration), but last night was kind of fun just hanging with the wife.  We ended up having a great time at dinner and were able to talk during the long drives there and back.  Bad situation at work, forced into shopping, no success in shopping, extra long drives transformed into a great evening – go figure.

Déjà Vu Bliss

My daughter and son in law, both really nice people (even if I am a little bit biased), gave me the ESPN series 30 for 30 for Father’s Day.  I have been making my way steadily through the series of great documentaries about sports over the last thirty years. I wrote earlier in the blog about how disenchanted I was with sports in general after a lifetime as an avid fan.  These movies have helped as they capture some of the real drama and important life lessons sports can provide.  Last night was special because I finally reached the one about the 2004 Boston Red Sox which chronicled their impossible comeback against the hated Yankees. Anyone who grew up in New England as a Red Sox fan will always remember that October as one of the most special times of their lives.  People outside of New England cannot understand the impact this had.  The Red Sox, especially after the impossible dream season of 1967, were beloved and that love was rendered despite the repeated heartbreaks.  There was always a feeling that they would find a way to lose, usually in the most devastating fashion, but there was always hope, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.  Those October nights in 2004 were the last time I was actually over the top crazy about a sporting event, literally screaming in delight over those lovable, self styled idiots.  There is another documentary made by HBO I believe called Reverse the Curse which goes into more depth about what winning it all meant for the people of New England.  It shows people visiting cemeteries to share the moments with departed Red Sox fans and usually composed speakers being unable to adequately describe their feelings because they are overcome with emotion.  Well last night, thanks to the two special people who gave me films, I got a chance to relive those moments again and I choked up all over again.  

Early to Rise

One of the biggest changes serving in the military made with me was getting up early in the morning.  I have always been a self-described “night owl”.  I hated to going to bed at night and would commonly stay up well after mid-night.  Prior to the military, this meant I usually wouldn’t get up until 10am, at the earliest, unless I had to.  Needless to say the military did not agree with my civilian biorhythms.  It probably helped a great deal that the first exposure to my new military lifestyle involved non-optional early morning wake ups by drill sergeants.  These drill sergeants always seemed really pissed off that we were still in bed, even though it was 4am, probably because they had to get up even earlier.  Throughout my military career I rarely slept later than 5am, usually in order to get up for physical training.  When I retired I looked forward to sleeping in more but alas I have been permanently altered.  I find I cannot sleep later than 7am, I always wake up thinking I’m late for something.  I still stay up later at night than my wife would like but she understands.  Nowadays I get up at 4:30 every day so I can get out for a run prior to leaving for work.  As I was running this morning I reflected that it didn’t even bother me – now that’s kind of scary.

The Road Not Taken

My Wife at the Waterfalls

 

The Flower Bridge

Yesterday was my sightseeing trip to the Berkshire Mountains with my bride.  I took the day off from work and we had a fantastic day although the weather was a little dreary.  The best part about the day was the complete lack of schedule or itinerary.  We wandered through the yellowing woods.  The scenery was beautiful wherever we turned so I made the effort to follow back roads instead of the major highways that would have delivered us more quickly.  We saw so much more using the back roads and were able to talk since traffic was not an issue.  We stopped in a small village at a diner for lunch and the village had some impressive waterfalls and an old bridge that had been converted into a flower garden.  We saw the massive damage caused by the Hurricane Irene flooding.  It warmed my heart to see my fellow industrious Yankees hard at work repairing the damage. These are things we would have missed if we had stayed on the major roads.  We ended up in southern Vermont and stopped by a mountaintop where we had spread my mother’s ashes a few years ago.  We were so close to my home town by the end of the day that we dropped in and surprised an old friend for dinner.  It was a magical day, taking those less traveled roads did make all the difference.

My Wife on the Flower Bridge

Ethical Work

I was raised in New England and one of the bedrock values was the importance of a work ethic.  Since returning I have noticed the very real erosion of that value amongst New Englanders.  It could be that this is because I now reside in that near communistic morass known as the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.  There seems to now be a culture of entitlement where healthy, capable people take advantage of a system set up to ensure the truly needy were taken care of.  I’ve been to a number of public hearings where people are allowed to speak to local government.  Almost invariably the most strident of these speakers proudly proclaim they are living on disability or welfare.   There is no shame and a very definite sense of = the rest of you owe me a living.  In most places in the US the hardest working people are the immigrants – struggling to make a life for their families in this truly best of all countries.  Here in Massachusetts, the generous welfare system has led to whole families coming here – not to work.   This is the danger of one party rule, such as we have here, where the genuinely good intent of these programs are abused.   I’m sure that more than a few of our “rock ribbed” forbearers are looking down and wondering what has become of us.

Starry, Starry Morn

As the season moves on it is getting progressively darker in the mornings when I go out for my run.  When I went out this morning the very bright moon of last night had set and the stars were so brilliant and clear that I had to stop and wonder at the stark beauty of the sky.  This is one of the benefits of country living, away from city lights.  I especially enjoy going out on the deck late on a cold, crisp winter night. On a clear night it’s almost as if you could reach up and touch the stars.  It was a great weekend for star watching.  We had some old friends up for the weekend and we were out on the deck Saturday night sitting around a fire, cooking marshmallows for smors and enjoying the occasional shooting star.  I was reminded of a night long ago in Central America.  I was just a lieutenant and we were on a training exercise in Honduras.  We were dropped off, exhausted and soaked, by helicopter on top of a stone peak that thrust out of the jungle.  As I lay down, trying to find a comfortable position amongst the rocks, the clouds cleared and the most brilliant night sky came into view.  The moon was so large and bright that I understood how ancient societies came to worship the moon as a deity.  For a cold, tired lieutenant, that night, it was divine.

Favorite Thought

At the risk of getting esoteric, I was swimming last night and my thoughts wandered (trying to ignore the somewhat desperate messages my arms were trying to send to my brain).  I latched onto a memory of something that really struck me as a child and continues to have that ability – something I refer to as “my favorite thought” (I told you – I was young!).  That thought is – how amazing it is to actually exist, how fortunate we all are to be alive. I can clearly remember when that thought first hit me; I was in junior high and was not all that contemplative.  It shook me to my core to consider just how lucky I was to be.  For some reason, I existed, the choices, thoughts, and desires were mine alone – I was unique.   This may be why I am less sympathetic than I should be to people with suicidal thoughts.  No matter what issues you are confronted with you are still blessed with life.  I am inadequately trying to explain exactly what this thought embodies and  how much impact it has had on me. When confronted with some of life’s inevitable challenges or disasters, I always hark back to this thought and experience the gratitude all over again.  Last night as I was painfully striving to remain afloat this thought came back to me.  How wonderful life is and how precious that gift is.  A gift that should be cherished and nurtured not wasted or minimized.  Enough obscurity – it’s Friday – that means pizza and beer tonight!

How Low Can TV News Go

I am struck each day by the continuing dissolution of the TV news industry.  I understand that mine is the last generation that will read a daily newspaper; something I still enjoy.  I guess you can say I am in the bridge generation because I used to enjoy watching the news on television as well.  As with most people nowadays, I do get most of my news over the internet, especially sports news.  As newspapers die, the sports section seems to be one of the first appendages to go.  In the face of the internet onslaught television news, for me, is approaching the ludicrous.  We are in the midst of an actual shooting war, with Americans dying almost every day and a very serious economic crisis.  Despite this, the lead story was about the freedom of a potential murderer in Italy, with breathless narration of her flight back to the U.S.  Television news has evolved into a personality business.  Watch the news and note how much of the content is “analysis” which is, in fact, thinly disguised “opinion”.  All the reporters and the anchors are struggling to package the news to make it memorable – even if the base story is not newsworthy.  They are clearly in the entertainment business.  I miss the days when editors actually exercised some control over the on air “talent” and when there was a clear line between editorial opinion and actual facts.  Instead of a thoughtful presentation of the facts we get a rushed package of sound bytes.  One of my favorite fables is the one where several blind men touch different parts of an elephant and then describe it based on the part they are touching.  Reporters rush to get someone to say something memorable for their newscast – even if that someone is a complete “idiot”.  The only medium that allows for a true examination of the facts is the written word.  Maybe there is hope in the internet with its written content and maybe that is why television news continues to descend into irrelevance.  Newspapers are not really dying – they are transitioning into the electro-magnetic spectrum of the internet.

Military Mindset

I’m often asked by well meaning friends how I’m adjusting to civilian life. It’s not something I think about a lot.  I am very proud of the time I spent in the Army; it has, more or less, defined my adult life – so far.  I was ready to leave when I finally decided to take the uniform off.  My next assignments would keep me behind a desk until I reached mandatory retirement age – that’s slow death for an infantry officer.  If I was going to sit behind a desk, I was going to do it on my own terms back where I considered home (see earlier post).  The odd thing about “adjusting” is that soldiers are not some brainwashed automatons that some liberal and conservative writers would like to pigeon hole us as.  We are you – Americans who decided, for a variety of reasons to serve their country.  I have hundreds of military friends and we run the gamut of political, personal, and individual beliefs and attitudes.  I’m pretty much the same guy I went into the Army as, except I have a lot more self-discipline.  There are codes that the military lives by that do become ingrained – a sense of personal honor and truthfulness.  Honesty is the coin of the realm for most in the military because telling lies to each other can get someone killed in a combat situation. I think that is what separates us from “civilians”.  So, in terms of “adjusting” – I haven’t. I continue to try to live my life by the same codes.  The union leaders that I am required to deal with in my current job have learned that the very worst thing they can do when dealing with me is to lie.  This was a very difficult adjustment for them but in the long run I think they appreciate that they can expect the same honesty from me.  

The Great Outdoors

I realized back in June that I had let myself get seriously out of shape.  I decided to climb Mount Monadnock, which should not have been difficult, but found myself seriously out of breath a few times.  It was mildly to seriously embarrassing.  It's tough being a civilian and staying in shape.  When I was in the Army we took an hour and a half out of the work day each day to work out, not optional.  I have learned that civilians expect a full work day; granted the civilian work day is only eight hours long, instead of the ten to twelve hours the normal Army day was, but still.  Any hoo, I started running again, 5 days a week, and swimming, 3 nights a week, and am slowly rounding back into a shadowy semblance of shape.  I have learned its much easier to pull muscles as you get older - who knew.  I was out running this morning and was reflecting (hoping to dull the pain in my left calf) about how much I love being outside.  We live on a country road in central Massachusetts and there are a bunch of local trails I can run on.  I reflected on the fact that I loved being outside when I was growing up, camping out, hiking - the complete boy scout experience.  I found that the Army robbed me of this love.  I ended up spending so much of my time outside as an infantry officer that it became work and drudgery.  I was usually dead tired, sweat soaked, and operating without lights at night (thank God for NVGs).  As I was gently pounding the pavement this morning, thoroughly enjoying the early morning mist and quiet if not the running, I realized this is something I should get back to.  I'm adding hiking to the list of things to pick up again this year.  The great thing about it - no 50 pound pack to carry as a civilian.  Oh yeah, back up Monadnock again before the snow flies.

Empty Nest Again

We just returned from the airport where we dropped off my mother in law and another house guest.  We've basically had guests staying with us since May and now we get a little breather.  We have talked that it is challenging at times to have long term, non-family guests.  This guest was an absolute pleasure to have around, quiet as the proverbial church mouse at most times but she really dug in and helped around the house.  The good thing about having guests is that you're motivated to get out and see the local sights.  We spent almost ten years in and around Washington DC but the only times we went to the Smithsonian was when we had visitors.  Without guests, you can always find other priorities in life instead of seeing the great attractions all around us.  The house will seem really empty for a while but we're already planning on getting out to see New England's great foliage in a couple of weeks.