The 43

(After posting about about the Pope in 1979 , here's another fall memory, 27 years later.) In the fall of 2006, I was stressed out. Work was stressing me out, the demands of a new baby were stressing me out, and my worrying brain was making it worse. My friend John was getting married in Chicago that September, and Michael and I flew out a few days early to spend some extra time with my family. The trip was a much-needed break from the stress I was feeling. Unlike our usual trips to Chicago, this one wasn't packed with things to do. One evening, Michael and I were looking for something to do, so we went with my father to my 11-year-old sister's club soccer practice on the fields outside of Taft High School. While she practiced, Michael ran around and kicked a soccer ball with me. He seemed so big back then (and was kicking the ball well), but I must remind myself he wasn't even 3 (Michael will always seem so big to me, no matter what age I'm remembering him at...

The boys are off school today, and I'm typing this from Kangaroo Zoo , an inflatable playland in North Salt Lake. The day off was such a rare, revered occasion in my youth that I wanted to make sure they had fun today. My plan didn't go as smoothly as I hoped. I originally wanted to take them on a train ride at the Heber Valley Railroad . The changing leaves in the mountains are peaking, and we hadn't been on this train in since 2008 . Alas, our Outback needs a new water pump, which are replacing on Monday, but I didn't want to tempt fate. My next idea was Cowabunga Bay , a waterpark that is open for one more weekend. The temperature today is in the low 80s, so weather wasn't a concern, but the park wasn't open until 3 (and then closes at 7). I still think it would be fun to go this weekend (tickets this late are cheap), but it just wasn't going to work out today. So, we ended up at Kangaroo Zoo. We had some passes and took one of Michael's friends...

(With summer ending and fall approaching, I'm recollecting some autumn moments over the years. Sweatshirts, football, red and yellow leaves, cross country meets, new Old Farmer's Almanacs and bite-sized candy bars. No, fall isn't so bad.) In the fall of 1979, my mother had signed me up for a soccer clinic at Norridge Park. The clinic basically was to introduce kids to the game, and Mom must have thought I would enjoy a new sport (I already was sports-obsessed by age 8). Even just a decade later, I probably would have been playing soccer at age 6, but in 1979, it hadn't invaded suburban (or in my case, the middle-class neighborhoods inside the fringes of Chicago) youth sports. I don't remember much about the clinic, which was one or two days a week for a few weeks. I obviously wasn't that enamored with soccer, because if I really took to it, I probably would have asked to keep playing. That's too bad -- I think if I was born 20 years later, soccer would ...

Fall began today. Summer was still yesterday. I don't go much by the official seasons when I think of what is summer, what is fall, and so on, but astronomically, we are now in fall. I didn't blog last night after being just worn out at 10 p.m. Yesterday started out well but descended into frustration and antsy-ness. The boys didn't cause this, but after they got home, any fatigue I had been battling all week finally caught up with me. I just felt blah, and instead of being productive, watched two episodes of "Law and Order: SVU." Yes, that's the way my mood turned. We did go outside for a little while and watched a movie as the boys fell asleep. But I was dragging and went to bed by 11. I'm not sure what's up. I shouldn't be this tired -- I slept OK all week (though overnight Thursday, I did have a bad dream in which I temporarily couldn't find Ben). I ate like crap all week, too (though I managed salads the last two days). The routine, th...

As hoped for, I had most of the day to myself. I went to Kohl's and Harmon's, did some stuff around the house and ... not much else. That's OK -- I needed a little time to relax. I ran soccer practice for both teams in the early evening, then the boys and I went to Red Robin for dinner. They were hungry after practice and gobbled down their food. Despite being out later than I would have liked, we got home by 8:30 and the boys were in bed by 9.  Bring on Friday -- another day to myself. I'm hopeful.

We took Lori to the airport early this morning. Really early. I picked up McDonald's for the boys at the nearby location, and our order was only screwed up twice. Luckily, I caught the gaffes before leaving. We got home, had breakfast, and I managed 10 more minutes of sleep before getting us all ready for school. I drove on Michael's field trip to Silver Lake, up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The excursion was fun, the weather was nice, and we were back by 12:30. I drove home and managed a little nap, finished the freelance project I had been working on and took Popcorn on a quick walk before returning to school to get the boys. We lounged a little at home, I made them ravioli for dinner, and Lori and the boys Skyped. We took Popcorn to Petsmart and came home. The boys were in bed by 9. I've been watching TV and finally got my laptop out to blog. I'm planning on going to bed soon. Another parent in Michael's class called asking if I could possibly sub  as a co-oper tom...

I co-oped all day, and it went well, but I got home and was tired, only to discover Popcorn had chewed into her bed again and a punk kid coming home from the nearby school felt it was OK to ride his bike over everybody's lawn. I shook a fist and yelled at the kid, thus tiring me out more. The boys and I made a quick trip to Shopko after dinner, and both boys read for me. I shouldn't judge a day just by how tired I am and by how tired I foresee the next day being. I'm helping drive on a field trip tomorrow, and though it should be fun, I'm kind of wishing I had the whole day to work out, finish the freelance project I'm working on (almost done) and get Popcorn out for a long walk. I will try to appreciate all the good and know the fatigue is worth it.

I haven't blogged in a few days, and I'm not sad about it -- I think I needed a break, especially after getting so sick a week ago. This week, I'm striving to post every day, and not just to get back on the wagon. With the routine settling in, I want to chart what I do every day for one week and see where I can be more productive, more efficient. So here was my Monday. I worked late last night but was up this morning, and after the boys went to school, I drove Lori to the Enterprise so she could rent a car to take to Logan for the day. I came home and went back to sleep for a while, then woke up and ate lunch. I took the dog on a walk. I worked on a freelance project while sitting on the front porch (the weather has been gorgeous the last few days). The boys came home from school, and I worked a little more on the project. Lori came home, and we returned the car. I went to a soccer coaching clinic at Sunnyside Park. I got home, ate dinner, played War with Ben, listened to...

I didn't blog Saturday night simply because I was tired. Sunday I worked late. Monday was just bad. After going to sleep Sunday night, I woke up about 3:30 a.m.with a song on my still-playing iPod in my dream. Within a couple minutes, my stomach started churning. Two nights earlier, Michael had thrown up in the middle of the night without even being awake to realize he was about to hurl. He was sick for about 24 hours and was fine afterward. I began to worry that maybe I was falling victim to the same bug. I couldn't fall back asleep for long because I was so queasy. I couldn't lay on my stomach because it upset my stomach even more. Finally a couple hours later, I began to throw up. Then again an hour later. Then again another hour later. Then, about 9:30, the grand finale: All the remaining food that had been in my stomach from the last 18 hours had been expunged. Michael was lucky -- he just threw up once and went back to sleep. Mine was prolonged for hours. Then, ...

There are weeks that seem unproductive. There are weeks that are nonstop. Somehow, this past week felt like both. I'm not sure if it was just the shortened week or all the extra things that got thrown in, but I'm glad we have hit the weekend. But that doesn't even provide a reprieve: I'm at work tonight, coach soccer tomorrow and work Sunday. I don't mind the soccer, of course, but what kind of bad luck gave us a doubleheader for Michael's team tomorrow? I wanted the beginning of the school year to provide a fresh start to my routine, to the things I want to get done those hours the boys are learning. This week, that just didn't happen. An extra co-op shift, a vacation that got planned, two parent meetings, the first official soccer practices of the year -- it all added up. And then today, the I was home, but the day sped by while I felt stuck in slow motion. More soccer matters to take care of, another call to DirecTV to find out where our new DVR is ...

I'm calling it. Summer is over. The first game of the NFL season was tonight, which, in my book, officially kicks off fall. Summer 2012 is done. Today was busy, and I never seemed to get a break. Haircut in the morning. A welcome lunch with Lori (the highlight of my day) at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant to commemorate our annual tradition of sushi to celebrate the school year starting again. A meeting at work. I picked up the boys. At home, I tried to rest, but the broken email account finally could be fixed. I then attempted a 10-minute nap only to be interrupted three minutes in by a phone call concerning soccer. We hosted a parent meeting for Michael's class. Then, I got a call asking if I could sub as a co-oper in Ben's class tomorrow. See, that feels like fall, down to the fact that I was looking forward to relaxing tomorrow and get to something on my new list and now likely won't. Yep, summer is history. Summer was great. I am glad I blogged it. I w...

September is football. Sitting in the bleachers on a Friday night. Bright Saturday afternoons with marching bands. Watching NFL highlight shows for Week 1 and thinking that there are 16 more weeks of this. The feel of your fingers on the laces right before you try throwing a perfect spiral. September is begrudging acceptance. Summer has ended. School has begun. Winter is coming. Might as well enjoy the present because this will be the most pleasant month over the next six. September is dreaded, but once it gets here, it's not so bad. Things change is September, or at least get ready to. Schedules change. The daytime changes. Leaves begin to change. Wardrobes change. But September is also new. New friends. New routines. New TV shows. September is coming and going at the same time. "Total Eclipse of the Heart," Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" and "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies are September.  So is "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire. ...

The sun might be bright and the temperature warm, but after spending all day in school, then going to a parent meeting at school in the evening, today felt anything but summer. Maybe that's for the best. This has been a great summer. Time to move on. I co-oped all day at the boys' school. I'm happy to report I wasn't tired or stressed -- the day was enjoyable. Michael's teacher seemed a little stressed -- her class wasn't listening to her (or the gym teacher for that matter). Michael was, thankfully (luckily). I think the start of the new school year, even though we are two weeks in, combined with the fact it still feels like summer has kids fidgety. They will settle in soon enough. I got home to discover the soccer league that I coach both boys' teams managed to schedule both openers at almost the same time. I spent awhile trying to figure out how to avoid the conflict and alert all the parents of the new schedule, and afterward, I barely had time to re...

Today was Labor Day. I labored. Fortunately, my breathing wasn't labored. I'm barely feeling the cold that pummeled me Friday. With my new energy, I mowed the lawn, pruned our out-of-control wisteria, hung laundry, organized all the soccer equipment and took the dog for a two-mile walk. And, I'm planning to get to bed early enough tonight to wake up with energy for a long day tomorrow. So I'm declaring, it was a good Labor Day. No, I didn't approach it as a last gasp of summer and tried to do summer activities one last time. Things needed to be done around the house, and with Lori and me feeling better, we did those things. I know I'm so focused on the 108 days of summer that I calculated (but for some reason, am coming in at 107; I think I miscalculated), but we still have September -- and I don't see the heat cooling off any time soon -- to do summer things. The JCC outdoor pool is still open all month. The leaves won't start changing colors for we...

The cold I had been fearing Thursday overwhelmed me Friday. After a rough night in which I kept awakening with stuffiness and a sore throat, I slept late, woke up, went back to bed. I woke up, ate some breakfast, went back to bed. I woke up, at a little lunch, went back to bed. I woke up, then only had a short while before work. I was so wiped out. I made it through work, got home, and tried to get as much sleep as I could before having to wake up early the next morning for soccer practice. My idea was to get an unofficial soccer practice in for both boys' teams before practice officially starts this week. I didn't know how sick I would be the day before. But I woke up Saturday morning and made fulfilled my commitment. I didn't know if it was just adrenaline or perhaps the worst of the cold had passed me by, but it wasn't so bad. My throat did start to hurt from coaching, and I didn't run much (and made sure not to shake any parents' hands), but I survived...