First Day of School (Cricket, is that you?)

Great! I slept like a rock, and didn’t wake until 5:45am. Of all days to oversleep. This was the first day of school, and consequently I needed to be punctual. However, I didn’t panic. I knew that I could easily regain the minutes lost. I’ve purposefully designed my mornings as such. Trim a little here, trim a little there, voila’! I did just that. I pushed through my exercise routine then took only a quick glance at my PC to get an idea of the current temp. It was 62 degrees. Nice. I didn’t bother with a jacket. Our walk took us west. Zone #1 was finished. We had an easy (dry) pass. Back home, I poured two cups of coffee, one for me and one for Mindy. This was day one of the normal school year routine – 2009-2010. She asked to be up by 6:15am. I woke her with coffee then headed back downstairs to continue with my routine. I read the Daily OM then headed to the family room for meditation and stretching. As I dressed for my run I realized that I should shut down the irrigation system so the plumbing system wouldn’t become over taxed with lawn watering and Mindy’s shower. In fact, I should really reprogram it to start an hour earlier for the reminder of the watering season. For now, however, I simply turned it off mid-cycle. I planned to restart it once back from my run. I headed out the door by 6:35am. It was a gorgeous morning for a run. It won’t be long before the start of my run is once again under the shroud of darkness. I’m about a mile or so into my run before the sun creeps up. The run went exceptionally well, and I finished feeling really strong. At home Mindy was busy in the kitchen, a seen I haven’t seen since last May. My lunch was packed and our eggs were on the stove. Everyone planned to enjoy some eggs. That made life easy. Today the pressure wouldn’t be as intense as tomorrow and beyond. Mindy had permission to be late so she could see the kids onto the bus for their first day of school. While Mindy finished cooking breakfast, I unloaded the dishwasher, in part to make room for more dirty dishes. We were all done eating by 7:35am. I was off to the shower. I did stress a little over the mess in the kitchen, something I haven’t had to contend with beyond what I make myself since spring. But Mindy ensured me that it would be taken care of while I showered. I was done and ready by 7:53am. Perfect! We spent the next ten minutes measuring & recording Jacob & Bella’s height and weight just as we have the past two school years. Jacob measured 58” and 76.5 lbs. Last year he was 55” and 68lbs. Bella measured 44.5” and 43.5lbs. They’ve both grown three inches in the last year, and about six over the past two years. Mindy entered the data in their ‘special books’. Time for pictures and the bus stop. We took pictures just outside the front door. The kids aren’t much for posing, however, especially Jacob. I did my best. Makayla hollered for Bella once she saw her in our drive. Both Kenny & Chrissy were waiting with her. They had their camera out too. I took a number of shots at the bus stop marking this momentous occasion. Soon they were off. Kenny mentioned being off work, and also asked if I was off and golfing. No. had to work. But I did request Thursday off as my on-call comp day. I was only home long enough to gather my gear before heading out to the BM’er. I wished Mindy well with her first day of school and then headed off to work. It was a lovely drive in. I arrived around 8:35am. Work was moderately busy for most of the morning, or the first half of my day. I planned to make a drive to Best Buy and perhaps even Golf Galaxy at lunch time. I wanted to take another look at the HP & Dell laptops and desktops. I headed there at 1pm. It’s not even a mile away. I spent a lot of time checking out the few models they have on display paying close attention to the additional bells and whistles. I left BB convinced that I’d need to custom order, which is fine by me. But I am still truly torn over whether to go with a laptop or desktop. I am actually leaning towards buying a loaded desktop and supplementing it with a lesser laptop. There are a few good reasons to do so. One, laptops are historical less reliable, perhaps a product of their mobility. They’re also prone to over heating, and most non-business laptops don’t provide true docking capabilities anymore. More and more, I like the idea and security of a fixed desktop along with a lesser laptop for my on the go needs. Plus, most of my use is at home – probably 95%. I am typically not one of those café surfers. After checking out PCs, I looked at wireless all-in-one printers and 1TB external HDs. I still had some time after leaving BB. I stopped in Golf Galaxy to see if they might have some new used left-handed wedges, more specifically, a 60 degree. They didn’t. I headed back to the office. The afternoon moved along fine. My boss stopped by around 5pm to let me know that taking Thursday off work was a go. Wahoo! That made my afternoon. I talked with Mindy shortly after to discuss soccer practice. We’d be meeting there at 6pm just like last spring. Since it’s so close, I stayed at work until 5:45pm. I arrived at the Hilliard soccer fields at 5:55pm. It was sunny and 82 degrees. Mindy and the kids were already there and on the field. I walked out to greet them. Bella ran up to meet me. Said her first day of school went well. The first thing I noticed was how strong, green, and lush the turf was. There’s no way mother nature was doing this. After a cursory glance around the huge facility, I spotted what looked like huge portable watering pumps. My suspicion was later confirmed. They water the soccer fields. Not a big deal except that there are about 25 soccer fields making up the complex. Mindy went to fetch a blanket from the Honda since she forgot the camp chairs. She didn’t bring snacks either. Shoot! I was starving, having eaten only veggies and fruit earlier in the afternoon. I laid down on the blanket and napped quite nicely while the boys practiced their soccer drills. They were down at the far end of the field doing boring drills. Not a whole lot to watch.

One of the coaches assistants brought her pet terrior. It reminded me of Cricket (see below).

Practice went on for 90 minutes. The coach admitted being a first timer, and actually started to end it at 7pm. He caught his mistake and took the kids back out on the field for more action. Crap! We were all ready to go. I stood and chatted with Matt, the father of a kid that plays soccer but also goes to Grandma Sharon’s, until soccer practice was finally over. Jacob said he didn’t enjoy practice and seemed in a sour mood. Meanwhile, Bella was happy and asked if she could ride home in the BM’er with me. Up to Mindy. Mindy said up to me. Then, yes. Bella and I zoomed off, but not before Mindy and I agreed that she’d stop for a Minielli’s pizza along her way home. I also spotted four or five more of those giant watering machines placed around the complex. Still not sure what they use for a source though. We beat Mindy home by a substantial amount of time. During the quiet, I prepped tomorrow’s coffee and rinsed and loaded my lunch containers into the dishwasher. I even had time to change into my PJs and tend to my poison ivy. Still no Mindy. I was hungry so I broke out the chunk cheese and Sun Chips. Finally about 20 minutes later Mindy & Jacob got home with the pizza. She explained that they forgot to make her pie after her call. They treated both to drinks and took $3 off the order. Cool! We all ate some pizza even though the kids ate dinner before leaving home for practice. We ate the entire thing, too. That’s rare, but it was only a large. Generally, we get an extra-large. After pizza Mindy ordered the kids upstairs for showers. I heard Jacob sobbing after his shower but didn’t have a clue why. At first, I assumed it because Mindy made him turn in early. It was only 8:35pm. She later shared that Jacob was bothered by the fact that he’s the only third grader on his soccer team. Most of the other nine year olds were in the 4th grade. And to make matters worse, this team is comprised of kids up to age 12. I guess the stigmatism of being a third grader left him feeling inferior. In fact, he admitted feeling the same way on last year’s baseball team, which might explain why he faked the leg injury. He said he avoided the inevitable question regarding what grade he was in at all costs. I knew that must’ve been really hard on him. He pretty much cried himself to sleep. I tucked Bella in after spending ten minutes working on an “I Spy” book. The very book I mistakenly referred to as a “Seek & Find” book.