Matching Tracksuits

Month: June 2022

Arrival 2022

Thursday 30 June 2022

The trip here seems endless — completely

Coming to Poland is always worse than returning as far as the travel itself goes. Returning to America, due to the time change, only feels like a really long day. The sun just never seems to set. Going, however, is deceptive because you have that night in the middle, but in reality, it’s not much more than a short nap at best. So you feel cheated, tricked — and your body does not appreciate it. It was not expecting one long day with the illusion of sleep in the middle.

Having a six-hour layover after an eight-hour flight doesn’t help much either. It seems like that will be long enough to catch up on sleep just a bit, but just like the night itself, it only teases.

So we board the plane from Munich to Krakow some twenty hours after we began the whole adventure with eyes barely open. K and L try to nap on the flight, but it’s of little use. E and I, each having a window seat, spend the flight looking out the windows at the shapes below.

Anyone flying into Poland with a window seat as we have knows exactly when we’re over the border. The shapes change immediately and drastically. The irregular, large shapes of fields and forest interspersed with houses and towns disappear, and in their place stretch long, narrow fields, one beside another. This is Poland from the air.

Departure 2022

Wednesday 29 June 2022

We’re in the air at the moment; I write this still sitting at my desk in South Carolina, the whole adventure still ahead of us all. The waiting, the sitting, the endless masks — they’re all ahead of us.

All our indoor plants are behind us — on the kitchen counter.

A small portion of the eventual garden

But best of all, Babcia awaits

Packing

Tuesday 28 June 2022

Tonight is our last night in the States for a little while. Four suitcases and four carry-ons are ready to go. The Boy is going around the house constantly saying, “We’re leaving for Poland tomorrow!” K is going around the house saying, “I can’t believe we’re leaving for Poland tomorrow.” I’m going around the house saying, “Does anyone know where the bladder for our backpack is?” And L — she’s been at work, so she hasn’t been saying anything this evening.

Driver

Monday 27 June 2022

The Girl got her restricted license today. This means that, once we have her covered on our insurance, she can drive alone during daylight hours.

It’s not that big of a change, I guess. She’s been driving for six months now. Ah, but it is a big change: she’ll soon be doing it alone.

The Boy learned about the joys of putting together furniture.

The Girl

Sunday 26 June 2022

When I got my current job teaching eighth graders, Nana said to me, “I don’t know how I survived your eighth-grade year. I wanted to strangle you every other day.” I can’t say that I’ve been as upset and frustrated with teaching eighth graders as Nana might have suggested. Indeed, I’ve come to love it, and I don’t really have any desire to teach any other grade.

My own child, though, was a different story. I began to understand Nana’s hyperbole. I haven’t written much about the Girl here because it’s been a typical period of growth, which means frustration for parents. What are we doing wrong? Why is she pushing us away? What can we do differently? We knew the answers to those questions (Nothing; Because she’s thirteen/fourteen; Nothing — just be there unconditionally), but that didn’t make it any easier.

Playing in a box — the Boy’s favorite hobby?

In the last few weeks (or even months), though, since she’s started driving, since she went back to work, since she’s made it through her first year of high school, it’s like she’s taken a deep breath and made peace with us and herself.

I knew it was coming: the transformation eighth graders go through is amazing, and I know it continues through ninth grade (until they’re sophomores and temporarily revert because they’re sophomores and know everything — or is that just a cliche?), but to experience it has been refreshing. To begin seeing what kind of an adult she will be: a valiant defender of anyone facing injustice, a friend who sometimes lets her love for her friend overshadow reason (not always a good thing, not always a bad thing), self-reflective and self-aware — to see this change really start to kick in just makes me smile.

Tonight, we finished watching Schindler’s List. The reason (other than it’s a moving film that everyone should see) is that L and I are planning on visiting Auschwitz while we’re in Poland, and I wanted her to have an idea of what the scale of the Holocaust in real, human terms. Tomorrow, we will watch Conspiracy, a film about the Wannsee conference so she can get an idea of the “logic” that drove the Nazis.

That I am comfortable letting her watch such a film is a testament to her maturity.

A return to badminton — a family favorite

Family

Saturday 25 June 2022

Aunt D is a national treasure. She is at least a treasure to everyone who knows her. Selfless and kind, she’s helped the family more than anyone I know. When her own mother-in-law was ill, she took care of her for several years. When Nana was ill, she came and spent alternate weeks taking care of Nana.

For years she hosted the family Thanksgiving gathering, cooking for the whole family. Of course, everyone brought something, but she cooked enough herself to feed everyone.

She’s generous almost to a fault.

She’s always buying things for people: she sees something that she thinks someone would like, she buys it and gives it to them.

Now she’s taking care of her own husband, Uncle M. He’s facing his own health challenges, and he’s stubborn: that would be more than a challenge for most, but Aunt D is sly and caring.

Photo by the Boy

That’s a combination to be reckoned with.

Photo by the Boy

She always refers to the Girl and the Boy as “my babies.”

“How are my babies doing?” she’ll ask when we talk on the phone.

“Where are my babies?” she asks when she arrives at our house for a visit.

Photo by the Boy

She’s the kind of aunt everyone should be fortunate enough to have.

Monopoly

Friday 24 June 2022

Some of E’s friends came over for the day. They ended up playing Monopoly — at last, someone to feed the Boy’s addiction. I always feel a little guilty not being willing to play that game with him, but I swear we’re all so sick of it that we’ll be happy if we never play it again. All except for the Boy.

Orlando Traffic

Thursday 23 June 2022

Going to the convention center where all games took place, we traveled on Interstate 4. No matter the time of day, it looked like this:

Orlando Return

Thursday 23 June 2022

Driving back from Orlando today, I got to thinking again about the writing project I’ve been considering, and I came up with yet another organizational idea for it. Indeed, not just another organizational idea, but a somewhat altered focus. So two initial drafts get shoved aside for a third. Fortunately, I was only a few thousand words into the other two drafts, so there’s no real loss there. I’m excited about the new approach and began jotting notes on my phone as I took the dog for a walk.

But the whole way, I think the Girl relived the highlights of competing in nationals.

Orlando 4

Wednesday 22 June 2022

Our first experience with nationals is now over. The Girl’s team finished 124th place out of 200+ teams. That’s not great, but it’s not terrible.

It represents the end of a strange volleyball season, one of several ups and downs, thrills and disappointments. The Girl improved a lot, both in her sense of court real estate (knowing and moving around the area of the court in a smart, effective manner) and ball handling.

The end of this year brings a bit of sadness with it, as do all endings. In this case, it’s due to the fact that it’s very unlikely these girls will play together again. Everyone will be going their separate ways from here. Since they don’t go to high school together, they’ll probably be opponents if they’re on the volleyball court again.

So the third year of L’s club play is officially behind us, and what lies ahead? The Girl has big hopes, big dreams. She wants to come back to nationals and win it — or at least place in the top ten. She wants to play college ball, using her academic success with her academic skill to work her way through college.

Teams Scattergories

In the end, though, the true friendships, whether among players or their families, will always last.

Orlando 3

Tuesday 21 June 2022

Another day, more games, more frustration. It’s tough watching the girls not doing their best, but there’s something admirable in their effort, no doubt.

Orlando 2

Monday 20 June 2022

Day 2 in Orlando didn’t go quite as well as day 1. We have two more days, but the girls have a bit of a hole to dig about out of tomorrow. The girls are capable of it. It’s really just more of a question of will, perhaps. Or maybe there’s more going on.

Orlando 1

Sunday 19 June 2022

Today was a mixed bag for the girls in their first days at nationals. They lost two and won one, but they should really be able to compete with a lot of the teams here. They didn’t get their butts kicked: instead, they got outplayed a little and kicked their own butts with silly errors that gave their opponents too many free gifts.

The Girl got some really big hits, and she got at least one monster hit that shot like a bullet to the back corner, the sound of the contact still echoing when the ball hit the court. It was a great hit.

The Boy discovered the joys of riding up an escalator and back down and back up and back down and back up and back down.

Planning Rides

Saturday 18 June 2022

This summer, I’m hoping to get back on the old mountain bike I left at Babcia’s and ride a bit of the old areas I’d covered so many times in the early 2000s. Much of my riding then was on a road bike, which I don’t have in Poland (or America anymore for that matter), but I rode a fair amount off-road as well.

To that end, I’ve planned at least a few rides I want to complete — three of them completely new.

Ride 1

The first ride I want to do — though not necessarily the first ride I will do — involves crossing over the border at the top of Lipnica Wielka, the village where I lived for seven years. I’d always heard there were villages on the other side running somewhat parallel to LW, and I discovered getting to them is fairly simple. Since one can cross the border freely now, there’s no risk of getting in trouble coming back into Poland without any documentation of entering Slovakia.

Ride 2

Next up would be a ride that begins the same ride four — one I’ve done a few times but instead of turning left in the fields, I’ll turn right. I never went right because I didn’t know where I might end up. Turns out, I’ll end up in Chyzne.

Ride 3

The third ride is through the fields of Lipnica Mała and Lipnica Wielka. It goes along the top of a ridge I’d looked at countless times when riding in Zubrzyca but never bothered to explore. I’ll explore it this summer.

Ride 4

The small loop through the fields, I rode this route a few times in the past. It’s a fun one, especially that climb at the start.

Dice

Friday 17 June 2022

For whatever reason, the Boy has become interested in dice — as in, the game. As in the gambling game. I’m not sure where this came from. He just came back from a trip to Target with K (or some other store) with a pack of six dice.

He learned how to play by watching a video after he bought the dice.

“How do you even play?” he’d asked.

“I’ve no idea,” I admitted.

So he’s learned and been playing betting with Monopoly money.

It’s been entertaining watching him celebrate when he wins and get playfully frustrated when he loses. We’re glad to see he’s not really taking it too seriously — that might be problematic for all kinds of reasons.

Today, I picked up where K left off in their game and promptly lost all my stash of $500 bills I’d inherited from K. “It’s not real betting: why not just go crazy?” I thought.

And then I promptly won them all back. And then all his $100s. And his $50s. And his $20s. In short, all his money. His response: “Well, happy Father’s Day!” with a smile.

Thursday

Thursday 16 June 2022

We’re approaching our departure of nationals — the biggest volleyball tournament of the year. We’ll be going to Orlando for almost a week. So I’m trying to get the last bits of the to-do list completed.

Sunset While Walking the Dog

Wednesday 15 June 2022

First, this, of course — two weeks to go. We’re all getting excited.

Then this — a simple image from this evening’s walk with the dog.

The List Updated

Tuesday 14 June 2022

“Those trees really kicked my ass,” I texted our neighbor, “but I finally finished them today.” I was letting him know that I’d returned his beast trimmer that’s a holdover from his lawn care business. It’s a Husqvarna 525HE3:

That is to say, it’s an expensive, heavy hedge trimmer that is great for reaching high places. And our neighbor G is kind enough to let me borrow it whenever I need it. And when I’m trimming the Leyland Cypresses, I really need it. At first. Once I beat back all the smaller branches, I have to top the trees — or at least I had to this time. And lacking a pole saw, which costs about as much as the 525HE3, I have to use a reciprocating saw (I am not going up there with my chainsaw — no way I could hold it with one hand as needed) to cut out the thicker branches that have grown into mini-trunks.

So today, I finally finished trimming the trees. They look awful — they always do because I assault them. But they always grow back and everything is fine.

So now the list looks like this:

  • Trim the Leyland cypresses (a two-day job in and of itself)
  • Clean the outside of the house
  • Pressure-wash the deck
  • Apply ample coats of water-proofing to the deck
  • Pressure-wash the concrete portion of the drive
  • Complete the furniture assembly for the remodeled basement

And that’s a good feeling.

The Boys in the Creek

Monday 13 June 2022

E’s best friend came over for the afternoon today. At first, they did what boys these days do: play video games. However, we have no gaming console in our house at all. No Xbox, no Play Station, no Nintendo Switch. In fact, I only know those things exist because I hear students and teachers talking about them at school. And of course, E brings them up occasionally.

And it’s a little surprising, to be honest, how many adults with no children or with grown children still invest time and money into gaming systems. To each his own, I suppose, but I always thought there was a time when people outgrew video games.

Not having a gaming system has several advantages, not the least of which is the simple fact that since we don’t buy games for our PC either, E’s gaming options are severely curtailed. Which means he and his friend grow tired of them eventually and head outside to find other things to do.

Like catching minnows in the creek behind our house.

As for the Girl today, she was out of the house for most of the day: physical therapy, volleyball strength training, and driving instruction took almost all her day.