Catching Up: Surfer's Healing 2011

Watching Noe surf at Surfer's Healing Camp each August is my own personal renewal ritual. Seeing his little brown body amidst the vast blue ocean, anticipating the thrill of an approaching wave, watching him rise up on the board and ride on top of the water, all smiles and giggles. It fills me with unlimited possibility and hope.

Catching Up: When God Sends a Flood....

Make Some Mud!!!

After the Big Earthquake and Hurricane Irene, came Tropical Storm Lee, which actually hit us the hardest of the troublesome trio. Reston received over ten inches of rain in a 24 hour period. Streets flooded, bridges collapsed, and creeks overflowed. Our basement flooded, too ....Ed and I spent eight continuous hours in our basement bailing out water and dealing with cleanup. We haven't even started the process of replacing our flooring yet. For the boys, it was one big party.....school was canceled, the boys ran around in their swimsuits and rainboots, and the neighborhood boys had the mother of all mud fights. Meteorologists said that this rainstorm was a 1 in 500 year event for our area. Lucky us.

Catching Up: Mt. Vernon and My First Quasi-Feminist Conversation with Asher

In late August, Ed's parents came to visit. To keep everyone busy and happy, Ed planned some day trips. Unfortunately, I was at the height of my summer work chaos, and missed out on the fun.

Ed hypothesized that his parents would like Mt. Vernon, and he was correct. What surprised both of us was how much the boys enjoyed it as well. Asher had a lot to tell me when I arrived home from work after their visit.

"Did you know that George Washington has a great, great big house house next to the river and she helped fight the Reds and make the country free, and she was our First President......"

Hold on. She? Asher, George Washington was a man.

"Really? But she....um I mean he....had really long hair."

Asher, that was how men wore their hair a long time ago. They grew it long and wore a braid.

"Oh." (pause for thinking) "Well, why can't a girl be a president?"

Of course a woman can be President.

"Well, have there ever been a girl President." (Yeah....we need to work on grammar and proper gender identification)

Not yet.

"Well, why not?"

I'm not exactly sure. It is hard for some people to want a woman president. They think it is a job only for a man. But they are wrong. I think we will have a woman president someday soon.

"Well, I hope so."

I do too, Asher.*

*as long as she isn't a right-wing Republican

Catching Up: Asher's Triathlon Swim/Bike/Rundown

It was a long summer training for Asher's first triathlon.

I signed up Asher for the race, thinking it would be a fun goal for the summer. I had no idea it would stress him out so much. The questions: "What if I don't win?" "What if I drown?" "What if I get hit by a car on my bike?" "What if I get too tired?" "If I don't win, do we still get pancakes at Silver Diner?" "What if a snake bites me while I'm doing the race?" Huh?

We informally trained throughout the summer. I had him swim a few laps every time we hit our neighborhood pool. We went on bike rides. I would have him run laps around the neighborhood before bedtime, or if he seemed bored. For most of the summer, he spent more time talking about training than actually training. We rarely made our running loop around the neighborhood without Asher chatting up several neighbors about the race.

The last couple of weeks, we stepped it up a notch and did some more serious bike rides and runs. The week before the race, Asher and I biked and ran the exact course of the race together. We talked about resisting the urge to chat with everyone he saw along the race course. We also went over transitions, which are tricky for the best of triathletes. Finally, we discussed strategies to keep going when he got tired (singing the ABC song and naming kinds of dinosaurs). I told him that he shouldn't worry about winning the race, but he needed to finish and he couldn't stop.

Race day was a lot of fun. Asher surprised us all by finishing 2nd place for his age, not so much with his speed, but with his grit. When I met him at different points of the race, I was taken back by his little competitive spirit. And most important of all, we ended the morning with pancakes at Silver Diner.

Visit Asher's blog for a "photo gallery" of the event here.

Anniversaries

Time: 2AM last night
Scene: Our bedroom

[Ed is arriving home from work. I am half-asleep in bed (long story --- I am usually long asleep by the time Ed gets home). He lays down on our bed next to me and whispers in my ear....]

Ed: Jen, do you know what today is?

Jen: Oh no, not this game again....I think, while drawing a complete blank. August 25th....what happened on August 25th??? Come on, Brain!

Remember the Cosby Show when Claire is always testing Cliff's memory about their courtship? Well, in our relationship, I am Cliff to Ed's Claire.

Jen: Ummm....what Babes?

Ed: It's the 11th anniversary of our first kiss!

Jen: Of course it is! (slight sarcasm......because we have only kissed what.....a million more times in the past 11 years??? Although that first kiss sure was nice.)

A much more noteworthy anniversary would be our 10th wedding anniversary, coming up next week. I will work hard not to forget that one.

It is fun to tease Easy Ed about being the sentimental one in our relationship. But after eleven years together, I appreciate that he keeps those early milestones in our relationship alive. In our current life of kids, jobs and responsibilities oozing out at all ends, it is soothing to remember that once upon a time, for a very short chapter of our life together….it was just the two of us.

Exploring the Park Blocks....and later, Central Park, after work. Talking into the early morning hours at his Portland apartment....and then in our first little NYC apartment. Driving to the Oregon Coast to watch the sunset on a whim. Playing his guitar late into the night on rainy Eugene nights while I crammed for one business school test after another. Sharing hot dogs in Battery Park....trying to imagine what the rest of our life together would look like.

I hope we find ourselves back there again. We weren’t finished with that chapter.

'Cause I love him forever.