Flogging Daddy

Yesterday, I successfully avoided starting my car (no, I didn't drive the Rover and didn't drive wifey's car instead). Well, ok, this isn't entirely true, I did start my car to pull it back into the garage when the day was through.

Anyway, this isn't about not using dead dinosaurs. Because I did run my gas grill for about 2 hours making a beer can chicken.

Not about gasoline...not about gasoline.

Yesterday, Hope began making plans for lunch and supper in the morning. I took one look at her pregger belly and said, "why don't I handle getting/prepping/cooking food."

Emiko immediately took to this as it was a chance for her to head to the store with me. The two of us agreed that we would take our bicycle and trailer to our local grocery store.

The ride down was easy. Shopping left me very nervous as I had left a very rare titanium Yeti ARC locked in the parking lot for all to see. Not to mention the trailer....

But this story is about the ride home. Emi was quite content in her trailer as we left the store with a chunk of Babybel cheese in her hand. She was a talking up a storm as we climbed the first hill on the way home.

As we crossed Easley, she asked me to sing her the same song we sing when we turn onto 60th in our car.

"We're almost to Emi's house
We're almost to Emi's house
We're almost to Emi's house
We're almost there.

We're almost to Emi's house
We're almost to Emi's house
We're almost to Emi's house
We're almost there."

And then she will tell me which names to substitute in. Daddy. Mommy. Gibson. Jeffy. Baby Bear. Etc etc etc.

So I sang to her. In between each line, I'd take a breath and try to willfully slow my heart beat.

And then.

Emi began to yell, "faster faster faster" from her trailer. Right as I got passed by some schmo on a full suspension Trek. Who proceeded to blow up about 50 yards out in front of me. He must have heard me singing to Emi and decided, "I'll put the hammer down and pass this goofy Dad/daughter." But he couldn't hold the speed and I upped my output while still singing to Emi. I was still closing the gap when I turned into my neighbourhood.

When we got home, Hope looked at me and asked why I was so worked.

I replied, "no reason..." and collapsed on the couch.

My Brother-in-Law Kicks Ass

No really. He does!

Special Forces NCO of the Year. Thank kind of kicks ass.

Read this.
And know that he mowed our lawn this weekend. SpecOps Lawn Service. He mows with tactical precision.

Did I mention he kicks ass?

Connections

Business and pleasure.

Coworkers and friends.

Life.

It all becomes intertwined. The line of business associate and friend gets blurred over time. People I talk to on the phone are not strangers or disembodied voices, we talk bikes, we share stories about our families and we discuss life in general.

These connections, no matter how tenuous, become so important and so routine. On Tuesdays, I call Bob every morning. I generally expect to see Fred a couple times a week in our front office.

There are two stories today...

...

My morning to call to my best shop in New Hampshire and possibly our best shop on the east coast resulted in me listening to a broadcast message about a family emergency. When I got through to the owner, I found out he had lost his brother.

I was at a loss for words. So I tried to get him to talk about his brother, what he did, where he grew up. Simple math puts his brother in his mid-40's. The death was unexpected. But we shared a few chuckles and did our best to forget about work for those few moments.

My heart is with you, my friend. And I reflect a bit on the fact that as I continue to grow older, it will ultimately be my friends and family I will have to say goodbye to.

"Don't stop this train..."

...

I was reminded that there was a brief moment in time when I thought about joining the military. I had just read this article about the son of the buyer at our best US dealer. His father did not sleep for days after reading the story.

As graduation from college grew close, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life and I was looking for career opportunities. I was interested in EMT and Paramedic fields but was worried they would get boring over time. As I continued to look for potential jobs, I considered the military and found a group in the Air Force whose motto was, "That others may live." That drew me in and as I began to see the training they went through, I thought if there was one part of the military branch I could go into, that would be it.

Seems like a long time ago....