VT Dad’s fight vs. inertia & flab

Before the conference even started my youngest joined me at services at the conference site, where she met a 7 year old that was attending the conference with her grandmother.  They hit it off, my daughter had fun, and she decided to attend the conference.  The grandmother attended kid friendly workshops, bringing along her grandaughter and my daughter.  My daughter had a blast at the conference.  On Wednesday afternoon the 2 young ones joined together to belt out 2 songs at an open mike during the lunch hour.  Later that evening they were the only 2 kids in a 36 member chorus made up of conference attendees, onstage in front of an audience of 1200+.  Later they volunteered to play air guitar during another song.  What an experience.  How cool is that.

It’s officially summer in Burlington, VT, Ben and Jerry’s free outdoor movies are back, Tuesdays at dusk through August 19th.  Tonight was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  It’s a fun night, a free movie and an ice cream treat.  Unfortunately, they were unable to get the third reel up and running tonight.  As they sent us away with their apologies, they gave everyone coupons for free cones.

You can see online photos from the VCM.  My bib number was 118.

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=31319&BIB=11
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I’m reading Bart Yasso’s book "My Life on the Run"  I wanted to share this quote and philosophy of life that he shares, and that I’ve tried to embrace.

"Winning is a nice reward- don’t get me wrong- but glory isn’t the payoff.  This may sound cliche, but the reward is living the lifestyle and embracing the journey.  I’s not only about finishing, it’s about moving forwards."

The local Fox station did a feature about me and my goals for the VCM.  Here’s a link to their web coverage.
http://www.fox44.net/Global/story.asp?s=8374149
They did a nice job with the story, but I hate watching myself on TV.  I kept thinking about how much I am beginning to look like my dad.

Our Mother’s Day Traditions include taking my wife out for brunch (I tried to sample a lot, but keep my portion sizes down), and going out to play miniature golf to celebrate another friends birthday.  My youngest and I participate in the birthday golf, allowing my wife all afternoon to putter around in her garden, and to become one with mother earth.  About 20 people participated in the birthday golf tournament.  I got off to a bad start, and started doing what many golfers do, curse the ball, themselves, and their putter.  I never knew my competitive side was so dark.  After the first 5 holes, I settled down, and played better golf, and enjoyed myself more.  The birthday celebrant brought 4 trophies to this event: low score, most holes in 1, best shot, and most improved.  I ended up in third, 4 shots off the lead, but shaved 8 strokes off last year’s total, earning most improved golfer honors.

I just wanted to share a link to an inspiring story about a high school kid with terminal cancer. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08125/878966-85.stm

Today my daughter was named a Presidential Scholar, one of 139 HS seniors throughout the country so honored.  There will be some type of ceremony in DC about a week after her graduation.  I just wanted to use this forum to publicly say how proud of her I am.

Right now the PE class which I attend with a special needs kid has been doing rock climbing.  One of the walls in the small gym is a climbing wall.  My kid is autistic, so any change in his routine can be problematic, so it was interesting to get him to try rock climbing.  With some coaxing Wednesday, I was able to get on his harness.  We then proceeded to the wall, where fellow students helped secure his harness, and prepared the rope.  I helped my student get his foot holds, and pushed him upwards, urging him to reach for hand holds.  He proceeded upwards, and onwards, reaching and striving, as his feet approached 4 feet off the ground, and his hands were reaching nearly 11 feet skyward.  He reached his limit, and clung on for dear life, until I convinced him to let go, and that the students with the rope would help get him down.  He reached the floor, but his head was still in the clouds.  

Today we went to the wall again.  It was a little easier to get the harness on, and he was able to get an additional hand and foot hold higher.  He may not have been flying, but everyone in that class was uplifted.

I didn’t get to sleep early enough to be able to run to school, so instead I took what was scheduled in my book, a rest day.

Throughout this past week my daughter, had been hearing from colleges.  Until Friday all the news had been positive.  On Friday she was wait-listed at Georgetown.   Today she was to hear from Harvard, Yale and Princeton.  First she heard from Yale, it was her first rejection.  Next she looked for Harvard’s response, she was wait listed.   My daughter was a wreck.  Since she visited Princeton last April, it has been her first choice.  She couldn’t check the website until her mom was home for support.  Even then she inched slowly to the computer, and summoned the courage to look.  The first word was CONGRADULATIONS.  She got into the school of her dreams.  Now comes the scramble for how to pay for the dream.

Hopefully soon sanity will return to my household.