Just More of the Same

I've lost count of how long it's been since I posted anything.  The world has gone quite crazy and so has my travel.  I really thought I would get around to getting something done last weekend, but alas, no such luck.  I'm glad to report that Morgan Stanley still exists.  Hopefully, this isn't a temporary state.  For those of you who don't know or understand exactly what I do, I won't bore you with details but it is woefully tied to these now infamous "credit markets."  For the past month or so, I think I've been home about one day each week.  Our sermon series on suffering has been so well-timed and helpful in keeping everything in perspective.  Blogging has definitely taken a backseat to getting to the grocery store, sleep, and just seeing my boys.

That said, I've actually missed it.  Several of you do let me know you like keeping up with us via this medium so I consider it worthwhile.  And if nothing else, printing them out and sending them to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law makes it worthwhile indeed.  

Our pace of life really hasn't slowed down much.  School for the guys is as intense as ever.  I have come to find out that my family is much a reflection of my own personality.  We're intense and if we're going to do it, we're really going to do it.  There are several homeschooled children on Christopher's soccer team.  I overheard a couple of them talking about their schedules and their motivation for teaching at home.  I was struck by how ours was the same, but so much more.  James is doing algebra for goodness sake and Christopher's reading ability in second grade is just phenomenal!  (Also, his ability to think through issues.)  Even this morning, he wanted to know about the process for getting accepted to college.  We even got to the discussion about how there were some professors Mommy and Daddy might not be the craziest about because they had goals that went beyond teaching their subject matter.  His response? Maybe I supposed to be in those classes to challenge them!  He's seven.  I told a woman at church this morning that sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head.

Christopher has had his first spend-the-night company during this time that we've had nothing else going on.  Aaron is absolutely "to die for."  He was in my "Tater Tots" group when these guys were two so he and Christopher have been friends for a very long time.  They were so good.  We hardly knew they were there.  Until I was ready to go to bed.  Keith had been in 

bed for a little while, when at 11:40 I was beat.  They had told me they wanted to make it to midnight.  I had my doubts, so I went in and made sure they had on pjs and had brushed teeth. Aaron assured me he tucked himself in all the time and they could handle it.  I could go to bed and not worry about them.  So....I did.  I heard them whispering and giggling until midnight when I fell asleep.  Keith woke up around one and heard them talking quietly.  Christopher told me they were asleep by one so we're not sure exactly what time they went to sleep, but we do

 know Christopher got them up at 7:15 on Sunday morning.  Aaron can come over any time.

Sports continue on.  Christopher is doing great in soccer.  He was sick last week - sick enough we took him to the doctor on Saturday.  He had croup, but the doc said he wasn't contagious so he could do whatever felt like doing.  What did he feel like doing?  Playing a soccer game on Saturday and then again Sunday afternoon.

 

His coach from last year really keeps encouraging him to move up to a select team - he told him last year he thought if he worked hard he could make the national team one day.  Christopher just shakes his head and says he just doesn't love it enough to play year round.  His game yesterday was a great one.  We tied this team in the first game of the season - they are a really tough team with a superstar kid.  Christopher plays with so much heart and gets frustrated with his teammates sometimes.  He scored a goal this game and played some awesome defense. Yesterday, they got it all together for a 3-1 win.  In his freetime, he's also taking tennis lessons.

James, of  course, is still cycling.  He had a road raced yesterday and a criterium this afternoon.  An overall third place finish in the junior age group (14-year-olds and under) and second in the 10-12 age group in the road race.  Today he was working for another kid to win.  He had a valiant attack that lasted for two laps.  Crits are really fun to watch because you can actually watch the strategy unfold.  Later in the race he tried to slow the race down so our designated winner could have his own attack.  (His attack was a decoy to try to get our opponents to chase him and get tired too early in the race.)  What was most fun, though,  was hearing him say how used what he learned at Nationals in developing his strategy during the race.  Maybe all that money, planning, and just general stuff was worth it.   

Just Life

Well, I'm a little late in getting around to this week/weekend's blog.  As I read back over this, it has ended up being a fairly random, stream of consciousness blog.  I guess the week's events have done that to me.  Due to poor advance planning on my part, I was in New York the past two days.  I really should have thought about the financial world nearing crisis before I planned the trip a few weeks ago.  Fortunately, Morgan Stanley seems to be faring the storm as well as one could ask.  But to more interesting matters, the weekend was pretty crazy since Keith went to see his mom.  Weekend before last would have been their anniversary and he wanted to spend it with her, but with triathlons, etc, etc, etc, he just couldn't get away.

So, that meant that I had the wonderful opportunity of getting up at 5:30 AM to take James to a 50 mile ride.  Not that I have anything against taking James to 50 mile rides - I actually think it's cool that he does those.  It's just that, well, I'm not a morning person.  Ok, that's an understatement.  I hate getting up in the morning - really despise it.  One day James will really appreciate that I got up at 5:30 to drive 35 minutes or so in the dark.  There should be a law that on Saturday mornings while it's still dark, you should have to stay in the bed.  If I ever run for President (or Vice President), I think that will be my platform.  (Except when adopted parents come to pick you when you're in college to take you to The Waysider for breakfast on a Saturday.  I am pretty sure they never picked me up at 5:30, but it was pretty early and totally worth it.)

We successfully made it on time and I returned home to pick up Christopher so could take James to a 20 mile ride. To make the most of our day and to be highly efficient, Christopher and I took a cooler with us and went to the grocery store while James rode.  I bought some dry ice to keep everything cold (which becomes relevant later).  We rushed home with a small hope that I could catch a quick nap before Christopher's soccer game at 3:30.  (James graciously agreed to forego the 3:30 cycling practice since I just couldn't be two places at one time, particularly since they are 30ish minutes apart.)

We unloaded the groceries and then slowly, but surely the fascination with the dry ice began.  Before I knew it, we had our entire kitchen island covered in "fog."  (Don't ever cover your entire kitchen island with dry ice "fog."  It quickly condensates and becomes water all over your kitchen island.  If you don't notice it quickly because you are having too much fun being fascinated with the dry ice, you will have a very big mess to clean up.  Not that I know about that first hand.  Really.)  Next thing I know I well beyond having a chance for a nap and now needing to rush to get to soccer.  Have I ever mentioned that my younger child is not one to be rushed for anything?  We successfully get transitioned from dry ice and get to the van.  As I am thanking them for being so cooperative and helping get ready, James very innocently asks, "Why are we leaving at 2:30 for a 3:30 game?"  We frequently leave over an hour before cycling practice, but only 25-30 minutes early for soccer.  I just had to laugh.  The soccer game ended up being a doozy.  I think the final score was 12-0.  Our coach finally took a guy off the field and would only let one kid play offense for the entire last quarter.  At first I really felt sorry for the kids on the other team until I realized that the kids on the other team really weren't paying attention.  I forget that not all little boys like to compete.  All the time.  Even if it's just to see who finishes brushing teeth first. 

Sunday didn't seem much better - church, a skills practice for James (to make up for the one he missed - that guilty mom syndrome) and a group at church we're a part of.  I fell asleep waiting for Keith to get home and watching Wall Street collapse.  That really made me appreciate the sermon we had on Sunday morning about suffering and its role in our lives.  Bottom line was it's all good, the suffering that is.  If you're interested I'll hook you up with a CD or something.  It was really worth hearing if you're curious.  Monday was a crazy day to be in NY.

I wasn't really sure how to title this week's adventures other than Just Life for the Todds.  Over the past couple of trips to NY, I have had random people tell how important it is to enjoy these moments because they go so fast.  A gentleman last night told me he called these years the "sweet spot" years.  I think I understand why.

Can't Get Enough Sports

Well, this has been quite the week.  Since last chatting with you, Keith and I went to the that incredible Alabama game.  I had forgotten how much fun an Alabama game can be.  Over 30,000 people singing "Sweet Home Alabama"...wow.  It's just very cool.  This morning our pastor was explaining the difference in hope and expectation.  I thought the Alabama-Clemson game would have been the perfect word picture.  We all hoped we would win.  (Of course, here the "we" are Alabama fans for the many of my friends who aren't Alabama fans.)  But, I'm not sure how many of us expected Alabama to win.  Those victories are that much sweeter.  To top it all off, just before the game started I looked over to see a couple that I knew from Tuscaloosa.  Keith had asked me if thought we would see anyone I knew - "Nah, what are the odds that we would run into to someone?!"  Gary's (the guys of the couple) parents were/are like a second set of parents, especially when I was in school.  Their daughter Mary Barton was a frequent "playmate" when she was a tiny thing up until I got my first job.  I even got to campaign for Gary in his first run for City Council way back when.  What are the odds, but I am glad that we saw them and had a chance to briefly say hi.

Sunday we had the  criterium where we got to see my cousin Lisa and her family.  I want to  give a big shout out to her son, Nathan, who had an excellent race.  He won a very hard fought one - it came down to the finish, real cat and mouse end.  It was fun to watch and we were all proud to see him come out on top.  (He has the green kit on in this picture.)  The Frazier team was happy for him, too, since they had been to camp with him (and probably because we didn't have any guys in his age group if truth be told.)  I enjoyed my visit with Lisa.  It seems none of us really keep in touch the way we would like.  

 Maybe that's why this little blog  continues - I feel like I might be doing a slightly better job  with that now.   James came in 2nd in his race after learning a bit of strategy.  He had a teammate who 

refused to work with him the way a teammate might, i.e., the teammate did more drafting off James and another teammate than taking his turn.  It was good because James was able to talk to his coaches about what to do in that circumstance and how to force the issue.  (In case you're wondering, you just sit up and slow down to 2 mph if you have to.  Especially, when the leaders are so far ahead as they were in this race.)  I am always amazed at how much strategy there is to this sport.

The weekend brought a triathlon for James and Christopher.  Some of you know that triathlon is how James got into cycling to begin with.  He was in 4 or 5 last year (I can't remember).  He gave them up to focus on cycling.  Christopher decided he wanted to try it.  Christopher usually participates in sports to: 1) make friends, 2) have fun and 3) get exercise, not necessarily in that order.  During t-ball when he was little, he used to remind of that on the way to practices.  I think sometimes just to remind me he wasn't James, who was all about keeping score and winning.  About Thursday Christopher had a wave of anxiety and nervousness, which first seem to be about the swimming.  He had never swam 4 laps at one time.  After a very long discussion, I found that it wasn't about swimming or about finishing, but about WINNING!  Where did this come from?!  Had my children somehow been switched?  No, James was still concerned about winning (even though he hadn't swam laps all summer because of the broken arm).  It was an interesting window into the soul of my second child, whom I thought I knew so well.

 It was a tense 48 hours- would he do it or wouldn't he?  We lived through it and we were all at the transition area by 6:45 am on Saturday.  Both boys did very well.  James won the junior division for the 2nd year in a row.  (The junior division is 10 and under so next year he moves up - we'll see if he still wants to do it.)  Christopher, my sweet, non-competitive Christopher, came in 2nd in his age group and 11th out of 53 in the division!  We were so proud of both of them, but especially Christopher.  He has had a year of facing his fears and conquering them.  From there he went straight to a soccer game - I don't know how he did it.  He kept giving his all even though you could tell his tank was totally empty..

 

Maybe now our fall can get to a normal schedule.  For us, I'm not sure what that means, but I am sure that it will be something sports related.  Stay tuned....