Back from Oblivion

It is difficult for me to believe that it has been nearly two weeks since my last post, but alas, it has. I've missed this little community we've all cobbled together.

Much has happened. School started. I shaved my head. My son started soccer. My wife's fibromyalgia has gotten worse. And the baby is finally growing hair.

With the start of school I have been working full tilt really since September 1st. As I shared in a previous post, I am now department head and things are different. Colleagues are looking at me differently. In a good way, but different. I am constantly doing something when I am not in the classroom. Getting supplies. Sifting through stacks of old textbooks by the football stadium trying to find those missing U.S. Govt. books. Conferencing with new teachers. Distributing information to my peers. Rubbing shoulders with the administration(Good people, but it leaves a residue I find unsettling). So far things are going well. It has only been two weeks and I haven't screwed anything up yet. The weirdest part is. I like being department head. Not for any strange power trippy kind of way, but I like solving problems and helping teachers get the stuff they need to do their job the best they can. It feels good.

I shaved my head because. . . well, if you have seen me in the last ten years you know I'm losing my hair. I finally figured, why fight nature? Besides, I've got a good shaped melon. I think it looks good. So does my wife, and that is a really good thing.

My oldest boy started soccer this past summer and his team actually won their first game last Saturday. My boy is a very intelligent, opinionated and competitive person. I wonder where he got that from??? We thought healthy competition combined with the forced reality of team cooperation might be good for him. Besides, he loves the game. I took him to a Los Angeles Galaxy game this summer and now he wants to be the next Kobe Jones, dreadlocks and all. God help me.

My wife's fibromyalgia has got worse over the last few weeks for a lot of different reasons. If you don't know what fibro is imagine having the worst headache you have ever had, all over your body,pain piercing every muscle you have just under your skin for the last ten years. That comes close to describing her pain on a daily basis. Pray for her. We're going to try some new treatments to alleviate some of the pain so she can get back to doing her yoga which seemed to help.

I think I have realized how some people turn 50 and wonder where the years have gone. Life happens when we are not even looking because we are just too damn busy with the stuff of life to notice the passage of time. Some of it good, even great. Some not so great.

Temporarily retreating is regenerative. I was sitting in my backyard this evening bar-be-cuing and enjoying the scenery. Much of what we had to slash this summer to make way for the fumigators has begun to grow back already. I recently planted another tree in our backyard. I have been raising this tree since it was a 3 inch seedling. It is now a little over 7 feet and a beautiful addition to the private sanctuary I am determined to create. I can almost breathe in the refreshment of my wife's roses. Hummingbirds are everywhere back there. The mingling scents of jasmine, freshly cut grass and the mesquite from the grill are soothing. I think it was Pascal who wrote that man is both lost and found in a garden. I think he may have been on to something.

Be well all. It is good to be back.