Pondering a decison I never thought I would have to make

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Busy weekend went really well.  Final baseball games are out of the way, and went as well as can be expected.  Kim survived a pretty hellish work schedule.  The kids & I enjoyed the birthday party, reuniting with people we haven't seen in a couple of months.  Made some new progress on finishing the living room project, around the same time we are plotting new ones.  And enjoyed a nice afternoon visit with family.  Now having to make a choice about something I never thought I would have to decide on. 

Family

Family first, as always.  Poor Kim ended up working swing shifts Friday & Saturday, then a short turn around Sunday morning, and then her overnight shift last night.  So her physical schedule is all messed up.  And the kids & I had to make the best of things while she was either at work, or resting.  Made for some disconnected time, so glad to have the events to fill up the time.

Baseball is done for the summer.  James had a good game, but again I think we will probably skip baseball next summer.  Daniel announced that he wants to play soccer this fall, rather startling for him to announce that with no warning or prompting.  So it was fortuitous for one of the BV parents to ask if I was willing to co-coach a team that Daniel would be on.  That will make things much better for Daniel, to have both of his parents and at least one kid from school on his team, the key is to make and keep it fun for him.

We all really enjoyed the birthday party on Saturday.  Emily got to go out and run around an play on the trampolines, and generally have a really good time.  And I got to reconnect with some of the fellow BV parents that I really enjoy spending time with, in fact I'm not sure who enjoyed the time more: me or the kids. 

The family barbecue on Sunday was very nice, seeing family and family friends that I haven't seen in a while.  It was a good time.  Although one thing I have noticed is that the days of every family gathering having some large athletic activity have largely ended.  Partly due to the group having aged, partly due to a change in location.  I think we will have to make some effort at the next such event to drag people out to the park for some play.  Kim & I are just no longer satisfied with just sitting around and talking, even with interesting people that we rarely see.

Projects

Sunday morning I did some cleaning and decluttering, then when Kim got home I sat down to cut out the sections of the floor for the heat vents in the living room.  And then we put in the transition between the living room and kitchen.  That was a bit of a struggle, due to tiredness, and some misreading of instructions on my part and a bad measurement.  But we got it done, and I challenge the casual observer to notice the imperfections.  So hopefully next weekend we can finally get the baseboards done and move on to other projects.

Running and Decision time

Here's the thing I alluded to earlier.  I have to decide between 2 races to run in August, as they are both on the same day.  One supports Car & Share, a worthwhile organization that helps fight hunger.  The other is supporting cancer research, an issue of personal importance to me based on the number of people I have known or know who have suffered from cancer.  Now if you had told me a year ago that I was debating about which 5K race to enter I would have laughed at you.  Which is the great thing about where I am right now.  Of course at the party on Saturday a couple of the parents were encouraging me to run in a series of races this fall that I also would have never contemplated doing either.