All tagged Crazy Life
Well here we are, a few days removed from the election, and no clear-cut winner. Personally, this comes as no surprise – something about 2020 just feels like this is right on par for everything else that’s happened this year.
But as I look around, I notice an interesting phenomenon: I see more people than ever before, genuinely fearful about what will happen if the other side wins.
Two years ago, almost to the day, my wife and I had the privilege of visiting the isle of Iona in Scotland. What stood out to us, other than the incredible beauty of this small island, was a small abbey perched along the southeastern shore.
This abbey was built by St. Columba sometime after he landed on the island in 563 AD after fleeing persecution in his home country of Ireland.
In front of the abbey stands St. Martin’s cross, built around 800 AD.
It’s been one of those mornings. Disrupted is really the only apt descriptor.
It started with waking early, as is my custom, to go to the gym for a light workout.
(I’m in the process of rehabbing from a ruptured Achilles tendon, so my “workout” consists of walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes while being flanked by silver-haired old ladies who like to sprint. I’m not making this up. I think they derive great pleasure from watching a “young” mid-forties man struggle to sustain 3mph on the treadmill. I’m pretty sure it’s the feature story in their afternoon knitting groups.)
But the workouts help set my mindset for the day. I’m doing something to grow, to improve, and to clear the cobwebs that the morning cup of coffee was unable to do.
This morning, however, I walked into the gym to find that the blustering morning winds had knocked out the power and they were sending everyone home.
Wonderful. Disruption #1.
I’ve found I have two gods: Comfort and Productivity.
Comfort often takes the form of fun and pleasure, while Productivity is often masked as efficiency.
A few days ago, those gods were exposed in a single, painful act: while playing basketball with some friends, I felt something hit the back of my leg, just below the calf. Simultaneously, a loud sound, similar to that of a softball hitting a wooden wall, emitted from the same spot on my leg.
In mid-crumpling action, I glanced behind me to see what hit me, and when I realized nobody and nothing, was there, I immediately knew: the Achilles tendon had just ruptured.
We recently had the opportunity to join some beloved family members at Six Flags for the day. Given that we have three boys who jump at any whiff of adventure, we trekked over to what used to be called Magic Mountain (now Six Flags California) for a day of fun.
One ride, in particular, caught my attention:
It’s the new version of Freefall – redone from the days of my youth to be four times taller, and a million times more thrilling.
If you’re mornings are anything like mine, they look something like this:
Alarm goes off; hit snooze; feel guilty for hitting snooze; peel yourself out of bed; make coffee in a quiet house; savor first sip of coffee in a quiet house; smell of coffee wakes children up; kiss them good morning; stare blankly into space until caffeine takes effect; caffeine kicks in just in time to feebly attempt to keep brothers’ hands and feet off each other in the living room; attempts fail; brothers fight over blanket; brothers fight over couch space; brothers fight over who can breathe who’s air; use “getting the paper” as an excuse to escape the noise
