Late most every evening I take our dog out for a walk. The official reason is so the dog can take care of her "business", but as with many of life's patterns the walk has had other unintended benefits for me. And no, its not a time for me to take care of my "business" in the same sense as the dog. But it is a time to sort through the day, contemplate the heavens for a few minutes and end the day with a breath of fresh air.
So, the other night our evening excursion took place during one of those horizontal snow and sleet flurries. Normally I find myself hunkering down and focusing on getting out and back as quickly as possible in lousy weather like that. But, halfway out to the "business" zone it dawned on me that I had been enjoying the gentle (though persistent) pitter-patter of snow and sleet on the back of my coat and hood the entire walk. I was reminded that life is like that sometimes. Occasionally we come upon these little stretches when the wind is at our back, the trail is downhill or we're paddling with the current. Pleasant times all, and wonderful respites from what inevitably follows.
These moments when the wind is at our backs provide us a chance to pause and experience feelings of peace, tranquilty, connectedness and gratitude-for warmth, protection, health, family, and the many positive influences in our lives. And in these moments we can also grow in appreciation that we are blessed with the strength, capacity, insights and patience for what lies ahead. For time passes, tomorrow follows today, and before long it will be time to turn back and face into the shifting wind again.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Snow Days
So, the phone rings this morning at 5:30am. Since the phone is located on the night stand on my wife's side of the bed I nudge her to "pick up the phone". Always an amusing thing to watch because it takes my lovely wife a minute or two to figure out which planet she's on after waking up. Next thing I know she's climbing over me to turn off the alarm clock (which is quietly minding its own business on my side of the bed). I gently redirect her to the still ringing phone on her side and she picks it up. No early morning seminary today is the message, huh? I walk to the window expecting to see either a howling blizzard or an ice coated wonderland, but all I see is an uneventful winter morning. The roads are clear and there's nary a cloud in the sky.
I wander downstairs to deliver the message to my teenage son that seminary is cancelled. He groans because he's already up and showered and then asks me the same question I'm still asking myself- "why"? Neither of us know but oh well, he was up already and needed to go early for Jazz band anyway so he'll stay up and do a little extra reading. 20 minutes later teenage daughter flies into the kitchen announcing that school's been cancelled for the day. She too is wondering why because she has already showered and dressed for the day.
And while this explains why seminary was cancelled, it still leaves unanswered the question of "why" anything is being cancelled. I mean really, its a manageable 28 degrees, nearly clear skies and completely driveable road conditions.
This isn't the first time school has been cancelled on a morning when there was no adverse weather going on. Seems our local school district has a fixation with predictive cancellations. Some people actually think there's a chance the weatherman will be right when he says "there's a huge storm barrelling down on us later on this morning". Don't mind bothering with the inconvenient truth that weathermen are only right 50% of the time and then only about 50% of what they predicted actually happens. So, for example, if a weatherman predicts freezing ice followed by snow starting at 11AM today, what that actually means is that it might not freeze at all, it might not snow at all, or all of the above might happen- tomorrow.
Just how this "predictive cancellation" wave got started in our district is a complete mystery to me. Sure I understand the need to keep country kids safe on their bus ride in from the boonies around town. Sure I understand that weather is a fickle creature and forecasts are more like "technology backed guesses". But come on people- being overly cautious is contagious and leads to a generation of people that are afraid of life's risks. And what sort of educational message are we sending here? That "the going might get rough today so we're all staying home (just in case)?" Yikes.
P.S. Well, its now several hours later and I have to partially concede that the weatherman guessed right this time. Yes, it did start snowing hard at around 12:30pm and now at 2:30pm the roads are getting pretty slick. However, this morning the storm was predicted to start as early as 10am and was to start with freezing rain. Like I said- 50% of the time weathermen are 50% right. Oh, and I still think its a good idea to check the driving conditions yourself and then decide if its safe to drive.
I wander downstairs to deliver the message to my teenage son that seminary is cancelled. He groans because he's already up and showered and then asks me the same question I'm still asking myself- "why"? Neither of us know but oh well, he was up already and needed to go early for Jazz band anyway so he'll stay up and do a little extra reading. 20 minutes later teenage daughter flies into the kitchen announcing that school's been cancelled for the day. She too is wondering why because she has already showered and dressed for the day.
And while this explains why seminary was cancelled, it still leaves unanswered the question of "why" anything is being cancelled. I mean really, its a manageable 28 degrees, nearly clear skies and completely driveable road conditions.
This isn't the first time school has been cancelled on a morning when there was no adverse weather going on. Seems our local school district has a fixation with predictive cancellations. Some people actually think there's a chance the weatherman will be right when he says "there's a huge storm barrelling down on us later on this morning". Don't mind bothering with the inconvenient truth that weathermen are only right 50% of the time and then only about 50% of what they predicted actually happens. So, for example, if a weatherman predicts freezing ice followed by snow starting at 11AM today, what that actually means is that it might not freeze at all, it might not snow at all, or all of the above might happen- tomorrow.
Just how this "predictive cancellation" wave got started in our district is a complete mystery to me. Sure I understand the need to keep country kids safe on their bus ride in from the boonies around town. Sure I understand that weather is a fickle creature and forecasts are more like "technology backed guesses". But come on people- being overly cautious is contagious and leads to a generation of people that are afraid of life's risks. And what sort of educational message are we sending here? That "the going might get rough today so we're all staying home (just in case)?" Yikes.
P.S. Well, its now several hours later and I have to partially concede that the weatherman guessed right this time. Yes, it did start snowing hard at around 12:30pm and now at 2:30pm the roads are getting pretty slick. However, this morning the storm was predicted to start as early as 10am and was to start with freezing rain. Like I said- 50% of the time weathermen are 50% right. Oh, and I still think its a good idea to check the driving conditions yourself and then decide if its safe to drive.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Along the road
Any journey begins with the first step. As I have ventured onto the blogspaces of others, I've found myself wondering about whether I could create enough content for one of my own. Lots of people write blogs. Lots of people are more interesting and entertaining than I am. But I suspect that there are a few that are actually less. It's not my style to ramble on about myself and my life but I have been looking for a new outlet. Dabbling on Facebook and other public social networks partially satisfies my need for pithy, one-line communications, but I'm looking for something more. I'm looking for something that mixes the right blend of challenge, opportunity and creativity. And for a 40-something year old guy living up north where winters are cold and protracted, an indoor hobby-blog might be just the ticket! Time will tell.
My first goal will be to write about things that are of interest to me. And while it may seem pretty obvious that this is what I should do, the task of actually finding things that I'm interested in enough to write about will likely be a challenge. Ticking off my calender of daily events or gossiping about who's doing what won't cut it. And I'm not that fond of people who drone on about controversial topics, politics or current events.
Its not that my life isn't full of exciting ideas, experiences or topics worth writing about. But finding the right words and then making the time to do so won't be easy. Like you, my mind lives in the data drenched world of 2009 and so I often find my mind multi-tasking to the detriment of serious, focuses reflection. I suspect I'm not alone in wondering how to deal with the dilemna created by having too much information. So my intent would be to identify ordinary events that have deeper meaning. Wanderings, if you will, that will show a window into my life and (perhaps) offer a glimmer of insight to anyone else willing to wade into my world. Hopefully the effort, with occasional motivation and encouragement from others, will result in a meaningful focus of mental energy as I attempt translating thoughts into entries that capture and preserve the essense of my experiences. And with this, the first step has been taken!
My first goal will be to write about things that are of interest to me. And while it may seem pretty obvious that this is what I should do, the task of actually finding things that I'm interested in enough to write about will likely be a challenge. Ticking off my calender of daily events or gossiping about who's doing what won't cut it. And I'm not that fond of people who drone on about controversial topics, politics or current events.
Its not that my life isn't full of exciting ideas, experiences or topics worth writing about. But finding the right words and then making the time to do so won't be easy. Like you, my mind lives in the data drenched world of 2009 and so I often find my mind multi-tasking to the detriment of serious, focuses reflection. I suspect I'm not alone in wondering how to deal with the dilemna created by having too much information. So my intent would be to identify ordinary events that have deeper meaning. Wanderings, if you will, that will show a window into my life and (perhaps) offer a glimmer of insight to anyone else willing to wade into my world. Hopefully the effort, with occasional motivation and encouragement from others, will result in a meaningful focus of mental energy as I attempt translating thoughts into entries that capture and preserve the essense of my experiences. And with this, the first step has been taken!
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