Fresh Air

After two days of rain and limited time outside, I need some fresh air. I cannot imagine living my life without time outside. I need to get outside and breath in the fresh air. Can somebody stop the rain?
Just venting, thanks.

Relax

Stress. We all deal with it. I think it is really about the threshold that people have for what life throws at them. Different things lead people to get overwhelmed in their life but I would venture that it is of their own making. Kids, jobs, and relationships are challenging parts of our life and yet quite often, we put ourselves in that position as a parent, employee, and spouse in the first place. Life is of our own making and we are to make the most of it. At least that is what I think.

Working with your hands

I spent a couple of hours yesterday with my son spreading bark mulch. Actually, he managed the back of the truck while I wheeled wheelbarrow fulls of mulch around the yard and spread it in our flower beds. Cool for him and therapy for me.

When you do a job that is mostly interpersonal and somewhat sedentary, the opportunity to work with your hands and get dirty is refreshing. I can't say I do enough of it. Mind you, shoveling snow fits into this category but I had more than enough of that this year and I need therapy after this winter.

With a weekend of yard work ahead, I should be in a good mental state. My physical state may be a different situation.

Watching Your Child Perform

A wonderful 9 year old pitcher took the mound on Monday. Dressed in his "Rockies" uniform he confidently warmed up and was ready to pitch his one inning of relief in a hotly contested match up against the Cardinals. Starting with a strikeout, he quickly fell behind the next hitter and when he walked him, the nerves showed through. Another walk and some frustration brought his coach (and father) to the mound. "Remember you leg kick and slow yourself down" were the words of wisdom from Dad. The inning continued with a couple of infield hits and a couple of runs given up and the 9 year old was deflated. "No worries" said his coach, "This was your first time pitching against live hitting. You did well." Oh the pressure of being perfect! This 9 year old had to be perfect for himself and everyone watching.
It is hard and wonderful to be a parent watching your children perform whether it be on the field, stage or wherever. You want to take the difficulty out the situation and make it go well for them, but you can't. The effort put into the performance makes it worthwhile. The challenge for parents is to not live vicariously through their child's experiences and allow them to struggle through these performances.
The next time on the mound that 9 year old struck out three and walked one without the dad/coach there. No living vicariously on this occasion. There might be a lesson in that too.