Matching Tracksuits

the girl

Caving and Volleyball

Sunday 24 April 2022

The Boy and I went on a one-of-a-kind Scouting adventure this weekend: we spent the evening rambling around an enormous cave system, then spent the night in said cave.

We all met in the parking lot around six, gear in hand, all excited, with the adults (well, speaking for myself anyway) a little anxious about how all the details might work out.

Our first stop — our camp location. It was an enormous room, with a relatively high ceiling and a length probably five times or more its width.

After we dropped off our belongings, it was time to explore. We had what’s called a wild tour, which mean we got to go to places most tourists don’t see and crawl through passages and openings that left us covered in clay and dirt.

Finally, it was bedtime. It was then that the fun began: the echoing snores; the footfalls that reverberated throughout the cave as people plodded to the bathroom; and a whole host of mysterious noises.

We made it out at a little past seven in the morning — as instructed — and after breakfast, headed home.

The Girl was in Knoxville, playing volleyball.

After Dinner Play, Redux

Tuesday 19 April 2022

When your kids ask if we can do the same thing after dinner as we did yesterday, and it involves laughter and the dog, of course, you say yes!

The Day After, Again

Monday 18 April 2022

What is it about the day after Easter or Christmas that makes us want to do nothing? We do what we have to do, but it’s just off. And even if the day after is a day free from the obligations of work, it still feels off.

I’m not talking about hangovers — those are easily avoidable. Just don’t drink to excess. It’s undoubted the feeling of deflation, of everything coming down after building up for so long.

The party is over; the friends are gone; the spell is broken.

I want to say it’s because we don’t have anything to look forward to, but that’s not true. We look with anticipation and excitement at many things coming in our family’s near future: a camping trip, several tournaments, a summer trip to Poland.

Perhaps it’s the bustle of getting so much ready so quickly for a party, and then the sudden release of all that?

Or maybe it’s nothing…

Orlando Arrival

Monday 21 March 2022

We made it to Orlando about nine hours after we left the house. With three breaks along the way, I consider that pretty good time to go a little over 500 miles.

When the kids saw the pool from our hotel room, they immediately decided that all else had to wait until they had time to swim. Only in Florida — swimming in an outdoor pool in March. When texting with K, she expressed some concern about the temperature, but we assured her that while it’s windy and thus cold out of the water, the pool itself is warm — a heated saltwater pool.

Then the Boy saw the arcade, and the next destination was set — no question about it.

“Daddy, can we please go to the arcade?” What was I to do?

A good way to start our short spring break vacation.

Sunday on the Trail

Sunday 6 March 2022

The Boy and I were alone for most of the day as the girls were in Rock Hill for the tournament — three tournaments in three weeks means we’re just about sick of them.

Breakfast of an omelet with bacon — a guaranteed clean plate

E and I had decided to go back to Southside Park to do some more riding. We first, though, had to perform a bit of maintenance. His bike developed a flat yesterday, so we had to get a new inner tube. That done, we headed out.

We went over to the improvised “Power Line” trail because that was what E had been dreaming of all week. At the start of it, I realized I’d lost my water bottle. We went back the way we came but to no avail, which meant a bit of judicious water bottle sharing: in short, I drank only when my throat was raging because the Boy always finishes his bottle and wants some of mine.

After 11 km of riding, we started back when suddenly, E got such a severe puncture that his rear tire — the one with the new inner tube — deflated almost instantaneously. Had to walk 2 km back to the car…

Successful Saturday

Saturday 5 March 2022

The Boy’s soccer team won 2-1 with a literal last-minute goal.

The Girl’s volleyball team won all three of their games in straight sets.

A good day in sports for our family.

Her Discovery

Friday 4 March 2022

I was in L’s room playing a game of chess with her, E looking on, when she decided to put some music on. “Who knows what this could be,” I thought, but said nothing. Imagine my surprise when the opening lines of one of the best albums of the 1990s, one of the best albums of all time, Radiohead’s Ok Computer, began. It turns out, she’s discovered this masterpiece on her own.

“What’s your favorite song on the album?” I asked.

“Exit Music,” she said.

Good choice.

Atlanta 2022

Sunday 27 February 2022

We spent the weekend in Atlanta — it was, in short, an emotional roller coaster for the girls on L’s volleyball team.

The first day was excruciatingly tough. They lost their first game in straight sets, but it was even more discouraging because they were winning set 2 by 9 (14-5) before ending up losing 19-25. That means the opponents outscored them 20-5 at that point.

The second game didn’t start any better: they lost the first set 13-25. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a tough loss. It prepared them mentally for the loss in the second set 14-25.

By then, they were wasted — done. The third game went down just like the second game: 12-25 and 14-25.

Today, we parents all wondered how things would pan out. I was worried that they might not win a set the whole weekend. The teams at Atlanta were just much stronger, as a whole, than what they were used to. In addition, they were broken mentally. How would it go?

The first game started out just as we feared: they held it together but at 19-19, it seemed like they were falling apart. They pulled it back together, though, and took it into extra points, but they ended up losing 26-24. So close. Set two — would it continue? At one point, they were down 10-16, and I thought, “Well, there’s another one. And if they lose this set, I’m afraid the day is done.” But they kept fighting and ended up taking the set 25-22. They cheered like they’d won a medal.

In the third set, they were tied at 14 and L made a huge hit to put them within one point of winning their first game. But it wasn’t to be: the opponents tied it up. The next play, L made another monster kill and they had another game point. Again, they lost the next point. It kept going like this, but the finally managed to convert a set point, winning 21-19. It was as if they’d won gold in the Olympics.

The final game of the day followed the same pattern. They lost the first set 20-25 but tied it the second set after almost letting a 23-19 lead slip through their fingers: they won 25-24. And finally, in the third set, they dominated: 15-6.

More Pics from Savannah

Saturday 26 February 2022

We’re in Atlanta currently, and I’m not sure I can post from here, so this is pre-posting to keep up a meaningless streak: 797 days at this point.

Sevierville Volleyball

Saturday 22 January 2022

The girls spent the day in Tennessee playing volleyball — well, one playing, one watching.

The boys woke to the promised dusting of snow,

and ended the day with a dinner of chili, corn chips, and ice cream.

“That was a pretty good day,” the Boy concluded.

Snow Days 2022 — Day 3

Tuesday 18 January 2022

Today was an e-learning day — the first would-be snow day that transmuted into a strange school day spent sitting in front of a computer. For an English teacher, a math teacher — for numerous subjects, it’s a fairly straightforward thing. But how do band teachers do e-learning days? What assignments do PE teachers give? “Go play in the snow until you’re out of breath!”

In the afternoon, I finally left the house — the first time since Saturday. I found shelves mostly empty in the poultry section. There’s probably some metaphor here, but I’m going to leave that for you to construct.

Snow Days 2022 — Day 2

Monday 17 January 2022

I start to head upstairs to get the Boy to put his guitar away and get to bed when I look down and see he didn’t clean up his cars. I nudge the boxes out of the main walkway and head upstairs, thinking that there will come a time that do something like that — push his toys out of the way — for the last time, and I likely won’t even know it when it happens.

When the Boy finally gets into bed, I lie down with him to snuggle a little. He’s been putting himself to bed lately, and a couple of nights ago, it broke my heart when I realized that he’d gone to bed without even getting a goodnight from anyone. The day will come, I know, when he’ll be too big for a cuddle like that. There will be no more plaintive requests to “rub my back, please!” Those days kind of slipped by with the Girl — she was suddenly just getting herself to bed without a single minute of reading or cuddling, and now they’re long in the past.

As the Boy gets his bedtime music going — a mix of softer Beatles songs — “Let It Be” comes on.

“Hold on!” I cry, grabbing his phone to load the album itself. We’ve been watching Get Back this weekend, a little here, a little there, and like most fans, I’ve found it fascinating to watch the songs evolve from little snippets to the masterpieces we grew up listening to. It doesn’t have as much of an impact on everyone else in the family because they don’t know the songs as well as I do, so it occurred to me that they should at least listen to Let It Be a few times as we watch over the next little bit.

As I’m lying there with him, “Across the Universe” comes on.

It is, without a doubt, far and away my favorite Beatles song. Not even a close contest to any other song, in my top 5 all-time favorite songs. Period. As perfect a song as ever created.

Suddenly I’m transported back to the late eighties, sitting in my best friend’s basement listening to records, when he puts on Let It Be. The first two tracks are great because, well, it’s the Beatles — and then “Across the Universe” comes on, and I’m flattened. From the first time I hear the opening chiming guitar I know it’s going to be a favorite song for the rest of my life.

Those magical days listening to music and eventually playing music with a guy I still and will always consider my best friend are now over thirty years ago. My daughter is the age we were; his children are all older than we were.

It’s a constant theme in my thoughts and writing, I know — how quickly time passes, the transitory nature of it all — but it comes into sharper focus today, the second of our snow days here in the south. Snow is so rare and rarified here in the south that each day with snow on the ground sparkles like the snow itself does when clouds pass and the sun begins melting it all.

“Nothing’s going to change my world,” John sings in the chorus “Across the Universe,” and the key to maintaining that attitude must be the skill of living in the moment and not worrying that it’s going to pass before we really realize what it’s worth. It’s pushing that box of toys out of the way with a certain tenderness at the thought that it won’t always be in the way instead frustration that the kid left the toys out yet again. It’s treating the quirkiness of teen behavior with patience and tenderness because even those frustrating moments will haunt us once they’re gone.

And of course, it means going out to play in the snow as often as possible when you’re in the south.

Addendum

January 17 must be the magical day for snow here in the south. We had a snow day on that date in 2008

Snow Day!

and then again ten years later!

Snow Days 2018: Day 1

 

Snow Days 2022 — Day 1

Sunday 16 January 2022

Take 1

I could hear the ice striking our windows in the early morning. “It’s not supposed to start until early tomorrow afternoon,” I thought. Still, I got up and checked.

We had about three inches on the ground already, and it was still snowing.

The Boy had only one thing on his mind: “Daddy, when can we go out? When can we go out?” Since it hasn’t really snowed since about 2018, this is the first snow he’s experienced since being in kindergarten.

He certainly made the most of it during our morning session.

Take 2

In the afternoon, the girls finally joined us.

And the dog had a chance to play.

Take 3

Evening — one must take a walk in snow in the evening.

Snow Approaching?

Saturday 15 January 2022

Heavy snowfall is nothing new to K — she grew up with sights like this:

March 2004, Jablonka

Snowfall after snowfall all packed up, settled, and repacked to show just how much snow has fallen in the last few days.

We never get snow like that here, but rumor has it, we could get significant snow beginning tomorrow afternoon:

A winter storm warning and an ice storm warning for parts of our area is in effect until Monday morning.

  • A winter storm warning indicates that heavy snow of at least 6 inches in 12 hours, or at least 8 inches in 24 hours, is expected. It can also be issued if sleet accumulation will be at least half an inch.
  • An ice storm warning indicates that ice accumulation of at least 1/4 inch is expected. (Source)

It’s been years since we had any significant snow here. Last year’s snow didn’t even last a day:

Snowfall 2021

In 2020, we had a dusting of snow after the major flooding of our basement, but it was gone by the end of the day, I think:

And then snow

Earlier in 2020, we had a snowfall that lasted all morning and amounted to nothing — not even an early dismissal.

Snow and a Change

We have to go all the way back to 2018 to find significant snowfall:

Snow

So we’re all hopeful, but cautiously so.

“I flushed some ice cubes down the toilet,” L informed us?

“Huh?”

“Yeah, and I’m going to sleep with a spoon under my pillow — superstitions for snow!”

We all do what we can.