24 and there's so much more

"Old Man look at my life, 24 and there's so much more."
Written by Neil Young at 24 years old (talking to the caretaker - the "Old Man" - of his ranch) bemoaning his confused lot in life, shy and uncomfortable with relationships (especially with women) and uncertain if he will be able to live out the favored life that appears to be laid before him. Of course he had no way of knowing how fortunate (despite some avoidable and unavoidable hardships along the way) his life would eventually become.

"4 and 20 years ago I come into this life. Son of a woman and a man who lived in strife, he was tired of being poor."
Written by Stephan Stills at 24 years old, bemoaning his confused lot in life (he keeps switching from 1st person to 3rd person story-telling throughout the song). Of course he had no way of knowing how fortunate (despite some avoidable and unavoidable hardships along the way) his life would eventually become.

"24"
the TV show detailing the intense and suspenseful (and seriously hard to believe) events that unfold in a 24 hour period, leading you to believe that at the end of 24 hours the story is complete. Of course the show has run for many seasons, meaning that of course the story never ends - it just transforms and expands and finds new angles.

At 24 years old I felt very much like Mr. Young and Mr. Stills (without the Rock Star fame and fortune and drugs and groupies). But I had the good fortune at 24 to meet the Hanlon Family and in particular, Susan Hanlon. Of course I had no way of knowing how fortunate (despite some avoidable and unavoidable hardships along the way) my life would eventually become, but very fortunate it's been. Susan was 8 years younger than me - 16 when we met, 18 when we dated, 20 when we married on August 27th 1983.
And now it's August 27th 2007 - and I'm the old man looking at my own life after 24 years of marriage and there's so much more (yet to come). This show has had it's share of intense and suspenseful (and seriously hard to believe) events unfold in a 24 year period, possibly leading you to expect that the story must be just about complete. Of course the story never ends - it just transforms and expands and finds new angles. Having already lived through the many dramatic and humerous and suspenseful and romantic and unlikely and unbelievable "drama/sitcom" events of our life, I can only imagine and can't wait to see what the next 24 years will have to offer. I'll be 76 years old at that point, with grandchildren (Mary will be 47 and Joe will be 34 so very possibly no Great-Grand kids yet), and I fully plan to still have my much younger "Trophy Wife" (remember, Sue is 8 years younger than me - and she will make sure you never forget- so she'll only be in her sixties) who will still be pushing me to keep up. I'll still be insisting that I'm the one leading the way and pulling her along in my wake (maybe not - at 76yrs old "Wake" is not a word you want to use much). I plan on being much more gracious about allowing Scott and Margo and Paula to express their amazement and admiration over the depth of our love. I suppose I will still have moments when I frustrate and infuriate Susan, and then she will get annoyed at herself because she still gets that school-girl-in-love feeling of excitement in her stomach as she waits for me to come home. I will still be getting annoyed at her as she wonders when that baby urge will go away. I hope she's still eagerly learning new things. I hope I'm still finger-picking Helplessy Hoping on my 1955 Martin (no - I should hope for a 2015 Martin bought for me by my kids for a 60th birthday present). I hope I'm still physically fit enough for Sue to be justifyably mad at me for not dancing with her enough at our anniversay party. I hope that over the next 24 years I will finally figure out what the right thing to say is and when to say it. If not, I hope I still remember the words to Jim Croce's "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song" - I promise you she'll still remember the first time I sang it to her (and where we were sitting and what color shirt I was wearing - Some things will never change).

Through the years as the fire starts to mellow,
burning lines in the book of our lives
Though the binding cracks and the pages start to yellow
I'll be in love with you
(Longer by Dan Fogelberg)

It's the Time Of The Season 4-H'ing

Mid-August

Time to put up the 4-H Fair tents at the East Middleboro 4-H grounds. After 8 years or so, we have gotten pretty good at this. Last weekend they put up four tents without us -- this weekend we put up five tents in three hours. Pay particular notice to the undoctored photo of Corey swinging a sledge hammer. Friday August 31st the Fair opens with the first night of the auction (poor country folks ebay the old fashioned way) - Saturday during the auctions 2nd night Corey should receive a scholarship ($100 - $500) for all his years of participation and work (yes, I said Corey and Work in the same sentence) - Sunday morning when we would normally be working at taking it all down, we will be instead driving Corey to Northeastern University to start his college career.

Cheryl at work always views it that this is THE sign that summer is almost over - when she drives by on her way to work and suddenly the tents are up.

4-H tents and back-to-school.

Last Call for summer fun because no matter what your calendar say's about September 23rd being the Autumnal Equinox -- you only have one week left once the tents are all up.

Goodbye Summer!

The BUSY SCHEDULE competition - my turn again

Some people just never get it – you can never one-up us with the busy schedule card.

3:45pm left retreat house in Wareham refreshed and relaxed
3:50pm receive call from oldest daughter Mary saying she is waiting at the house for her birthday
4:15pm stop at Shurtleff Park to pick up sound equipment loaned to music group (only to find out they didn't actually borrow it so I didn't actually need to make this stop)
4:20pm entertain Mary & friends at house
4:45pm get Sue to bed (has to work at 11:00pm)
5:15pm remove cap from truck
5:30pm head for Hanson to pick up Queen Size Bed platform from Nenna’s house
(no small feat – Henry built it, and if you knew Henry you know what I mean)
6:00pm discover Red Sox BLEW another game to Baltimore and the Yankees won
6:45pm return with bed, pick up Julie and head to Kohl’s for back-to-school shopping
8:15pm finish shopping and treat Julie at Friendly’s
9:00pm return home to unload bed from truck (again – no small feat)
9:10pm send Corey out to gas up truck while I prep Sue’s supper
9:30pm wake up and feed Sue
10:15pm send Sue off to work
10:20pm send Corey & Julie off to purchase essential feminine products
10:30pm shower
11:00pm type letter
11:30pm bed
6:45am discover Phone message left at 6:30am about cat getting spayed today (we thought it was tomorrow)
7:15am call Sue (who’s driving home from work) to update her on the morning issues
7:20am return call to spay person – left message
7:25am return call to Chicken inspector to verify his visit later today
7:30am find cat carry cage
7:45am pick up Jamie from sleepover (because we thought the cat thing was tomorrow)
7:55am answer return call from spay people to verify the cat will be there between 8:00am & 8:00am send Corey to Duxbury with cat, send Sue to bed, send Jamie back to friends house (Corey insisted he didn’t want Jamie’s help)
8:05am leave for work (1/2hr late)
8:35am arrive at work (1/2hr late)
8:45am relax and start work
(total 17 hr time span)

cost incurred for above noted events: free retreat $50 (and well worth every penny btw), birthday (nothing YET - wait 'til wednesday), gas for van $30, bed $ hernia, Red Sox $ my sanity, Kohl’s $50, Friendly’s $12, gas for truck $20, feminine products $10, gas for car $10, the letter $ Sue’s sanity (ok – initially it will be lost but eventually saved), cat spay $65, chickens health check $5 (total $252)

Hello Corey (the original Corey)

So Corey (the one my son Corey is named after) moved away many years ago and is happily married and living in Monticello, Indiana. Long ago - before wives & kids - we played hockey & softball together, coached softball together, hiked together, hung out together - typical 20-something buddies. He was an usher at my wedding. At that time he was living in PA and we stopped to visit him on our way home from our honeymoon. Then he and Beth got married and moved to the midwest where she was from. They did come to visit once when Mary & Tim were very little, but I haven't seen him in about 20 years. Every couple of years we (I) would randomly call to say "hi" and we'd chat for half an hour - mostly about the good ol' days. Eventually I got hold of his email address and we would occasionally send a note - mostly notices about major events (Sue's parents deaths, Mary's wedding, etc...). The last couple of times we emailed, it ended up with about 10 responses back and forth. I told him it would be so much easier if he just signed up for IM. Lo and behold, the next day he emailed me to say he did. Ok - so I had to email him back to request his screen name - but now we can just chat. It's been a long time since we just chatted, but IM'ing is so great for that - you simply spot that the other person is "in the room" so to speak and if you have something to say - you do. So maybe it's sad that our first IM chat was still "do you ever hear from so-and-so" and "do you remember when...", but it's nice to think that now we can stay more current more easily. So many times he has talked about coming back to Ma. for a visit, and Sue and I were even ready to go visit him on our way to a rabbit convention - but for various reasons none of the trips ever panned out. He say's he wants to come here next summer, and for some reason I feel like it will actually happen this time. Maybe cause with IM, we can stay on top of the plan better (i.e. I can harrass him daily)! So day 2 of IMing with Corey - I've probably created a monster but what the heck, Corey is kinda like the big blue monster in Monsters, Inc - just big and friendly and well meaning - a sort of lovable gentle giant. Always has been, and after all this time and distance - it's nice to get a friend back considering that too often in life they just leave. So even if we only ever talk about the old softball team or old friends and good times, who cares - I often think about them, so why not have someone to talk to about them who lived through them with you. Welcome back, my old friend.