Day: September 15, 2014

Frankly, I’m exhausted, but I still gotta get a post in. We spent the weekend at the Canyon, which I detailed in the prior post. A second day in the Canyon meant meeting more interesting people and learning more about that lifestyle out there. The boys earned their Jr. Ranger badges and we spent many hours on the road driving home. I think the drives are the hardest. Short of ‘Are we there yet?’ drama, the drives home consist of three extremely boisterous boys alternating singing, laughing, fighting, and crying in the backseat–all at a volume that makes the vehicle want to autopilot to the side of the road slowing just enough to safely eject the three through the moon roof. Of course, maybe that’s just me putting my wishes upon the tribe.

Come Monday I’ll sink back into my natural world and struggle put together something resembling a valid work schedule. I’ve been getting things done rather well, but I cannot say I have a legitimate schedule to work off of. I have the class schedule, the office schedule,  and the practice schedules, but everything in between in up in the air.  As I age–and my body is telling me that this aging thing is happening with greater rapidity–I find I need more of a concrete idea of when to do things in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. Somewhere in the back of my mind I’m still convinced I have a reset button in me that, once pressed, will shake off a decade of tough living and just put me back on my game 100%.

I wonder if the Giants have one of those? They could use one, because they’re making me look like a fool for loving them…

I returned to the Grand Canyon for the first time since the trip with the guys. This trip was a family affair. The five of us slipped away late Friday night and drove halfway. In the morning we rose early enough to reach the Canyon before the sun grew too fat in the sky. Here is something I didn’t know: My mid-kid is deathly afraid of heights. I spent the majority of the trip holding his hand and coaxing him to at least look at the canyon. Here is something else I didn’t know: My body is a wreck. We didn’t walk but 2 or 3 miles and I wound up with pinched nerves and feeling pain and numbness all down the right side of my body. If this is what getting old feels like then I’m out. I need to find that magical tea Kevin Hearne keeps writing about and wipe away this nonsense.

Generally speaking the trip is a success. It represents the first time we took an extended family-only vacation, so there’s that. More interestingly we discovered an entirely separate culture there in the woods. The company that runs the Canyon operations, Xanterra, has created a very interesting multicultural environment of woods-people and small town dwellers. I’m interested in learning more and learning how to use this pocket culture as an example in my sociology courses.

Some Thoughts:

1. Canyon tech is limited, so this won’t be posted until we get home tonight. By then the Giants will be 1-1 and the Jets will be 2-0. Here’s hoping!