matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

g

Eleven

Saturday 15 August 2015 | 0 Comments

Had I been writing in MTS eleven years ago (it didn't even exist, of course), I wouldn't have written about our wedding until the next day, at the very earliest. I doubt I would have done more than a picture and a few words the second day, because it too was filled with festivities. While we didn't have a Polish two-day wedding, our Sunday was still quite busy with friends and family. So perhaps that's all an elaborate excuse for not writing yesterday about our anniversary when it actually was our anniversary.

Eleven years make 132 months or 572 weeks or 4015 days.

Last Few Days

Friday 14 August 2015 | 0 Comments

Around the house the last few days.

Choices

Wednesday 12 August 2015 | 0 Comments

K walks out the door first today, and we're chatting in Polish. I turn to the kids and continue in Polish: "Hurry up and finish eating because we're leaving soon." Emil responds in Polish: "Not in Polish, Daddy, in English. Mama's not here."

A Rainbow, Some Circuits, and Cars

Tuesday 11 August 2015 | 0 Comments

We've had rain every afternoon for the past several days. After such a long streak of dry weather, it is certainly a welcome view, even if it does prevent the kids from going outside. But the rain really only lasts an hour or so in the late afternoon, so it's easy to work around. Today, though, we got an added bonus: our own personal rainbow.

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"Do you think there's a pot of gold at the end?" L asked, and it occurred to me that we might actually be able to make our fortune if that were the case as both ends the rainbow seemed to be within our property lines. We wouldn't even have to worry about claims of the property owner once we tracked down the gold. Sadly, though, before we could go out and hunt it down (or perhaps both down -- who knows whether or not rainbows have treasure at both ends), the colors faded.

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But the rain really wasn't even a problem for the kids: everyone had something to do. L was busy loading apps on the tablet she bought for herself with the money she's been collecting. I won't quite say "saving" because it's been burning a cliche hole in her pocket, and she got most of it in one go. Still, she managed to hold off on spending it in Poland, likely because Babcia kept her financed and all the friends who came to visit brought little knickknacks as well

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As for the Boy, he was, as usual, content playing with his cars.

Uneventfully Full Sunday

Sunday 09 August 2015 | 0 Comments

Mass, lunch, a bit of planning (school year's starting up soon), dinner at the neighbors' house -- sounds like there's plenty to write about, but going to bed early is more appealing.

First, Last, Only — Tired

Saturday 08 August 2015 | 0 Comments

The real challenge in trying to live each day as if it were the one day you chose to return to and relive — in other words, to live each day as if it were your first, last, and only day on Earth — is how utterly tiring it is. If you wake up and say to yourself, “I’m going to live today like it’s the only day of my existence,” you’re going to want to try to squeeze every drop of life out of every single moment. You’re not going to want to waste time sitting around, doing nothing.

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When you go to the pool with your family, for example, you’re not going to sit in a deck chair, slowly drifting into near-sleep, with the only thing really stopping you being the fact that you have contact lenses in. You’re not going to sit on the side of the pool watching your family have a good time.

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You’re going to get in and swim, like E did today. Even though he was exhausted. Even though he’d had no nap and so was incredibly exhausted.

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It’s not that you’d live that day always on the go, but it seems like quiet moments of the day would be at the very least contemplative and not sleepy.

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And you certainly wouldn’t waste any part of precious final evening watching some silly show from the History Channel about the supposed evidence that ancient civilizations created all their glorious monuments with the aid of extraterrestrial assistance. Sure, you might have the thought when you see the show on Netflix, “Hum, I wonder if they’ve tightened up that little theory since von Daniken popularized the theory in the early seventies with books like Chariots of the Gods?,” and you might be tempted to watch it to see if von Daniken himself makes an appearance (he doesn’t). But you wouldn’t actually watch it

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But since it’s not my first, last, and only day on Earth, I do get another shot at it tomorrow.

Steps

Friday 07 August 2015 | 0 Comments

On a whim, L and I bought a couple of cheap-o pedometers at Wal-Mart while doing school shopping today. Five bucks each didn't seem like a bit expense. Put them on in the early afternoon and did over 5,000 steps by now, nearly bedtime. I'm eager to see what happens during a normal school day.

Plans, Rain, and Barszcz

Thursday 06 August 2015 | 0 Comments

It's usually not until the end of the day, when it's too late, that I realize I haven't been living my life that day as if I had chosen, out of all days, to relive that one day. It's not until I'm with L, working through our examen (which we have re-initiated with our reunion after a summer break) that I see that I've been going through the day relatively blindly. I look back on the day at that point and realize I wasted time and energy wallowing about in this or that negative emotion, letting this or that frustration take control. I look back, I see these things, I promise to do better the next day, and I promptly forget.

During tonight's, though, it occurred to me that I'd been constantly aware of how lovely the day was as it unfolded. I rode my bike to school and was pleasantly surprised at my average speed. I had a long productive meeting with the other teachers on our instructional team, planning a multi-disciplinary unit that might not only teach some academic skills but also affect change in the kids' lives. Despite the afternoon rain, I made it back to the house relatively dry. I had a lovely dinner with my family, marveling at how the kids both devour beet-root soup, which seems unimaginable given the pickiness of L. We had a pleasant walk after dinner, with the kids scooting ahead and returning on their various vehicles.

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And then, during our examen, I looked down at our wiry, energetic (often frustratingly so), intelligent daughter, and I realized that simply being around all the wonderful people in my life should be enough to make me aware of the marvelously blessed life I have. I have incredible colleagues at work; I always work with a great group of students; I have children that make me beam; I married a woman that constantly astounds me; I have parents that give to our own family unconditionally. I am lacking nothing. We are lacking nothing. Nothing of any importance. Simply being aware of this is the trick to having a great day, day after day.

Tiring

Wednesday 05 August 2015 | 0 Comments

Since everyone has returned, the trampoline in the backyard has seen a lot of action.

It's good for everything: exercise, laughs, and coordination.

The Boy especially has improved his coordination.

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The Old Man has regained a skill or two as well.

Tuesday

Tuesday 04 August 2015 | 0 Comments

I always maintained that Tuesdays had nothing going for them. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not about to suggest that Mondays have a lot going for them, I would continue. Mondays, though, have the force of the weekend behind them and the sheer necessity to get going. You push through Monday like you push through a two-kilometer, 5% grade climb at the beginning of a long bike ride: it’s not pleasant, but you still have the energy to do it, so you just do it.

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Wednesday carries the advantage of being the mid-way marker of the week: make it through Wednesday, and it’s all downhill from there. Thursday is almost Friday, and Friday is Friday. Only Tuesday has nothing going for it.

This all carries the assumption that the only enjoyable part of the week, the only part of the week really worth enjoying, is the weekend. In the summer, for a teacher, that just isn’t true: every day is the weekend in a sense. Every day can be a day of exploration, a day of getting stamped with anti-bug, anti-wild-attack-cat antidotes. Every day can include some discovery and rediscovery with one’s children.

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That’s the easy part. The challenge is getting that to carry over into the school year, to think, “‘Tuesday has nothing going for it’ is nonsense because all days have something going for them.”

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To live each day as if, given a choice of any day in your life to relive, you chose today.

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At this point in the year, less than two weeks before the kids head back into the classroom, I’m always confident that I’ll succeed. Last year, that confidence didn’t even make it through the first week of school, so challenging were a couple of classes. But in the end, that too is a choice.