2011: My Year in Review
For me, personally, 2011 was a remarkable year. It started out pretty rocky; much more so for others than for me, but for this post, I’m being fairly self-centered.
January was marked by Amy’s absence to attend to her dying grandmother. For me, the month was something of a blur. Juggling the kids, work (with a large jury trial approaching), and a dying dog was pretty hectic. Brooksey was really the key ingredient in making this month very trying. She had lost control of her ability to know when and where to go to the bathroom, and every time you left her alone or heard her move, there was a decent chance you’d have an awful mess to clean up. I will forever be scarred by an evening where the DeWitts, knowing our family situation, very kindly invited me and the kids over — a little time off with a meal and the kids occupied by their kids. I put Brooksey in the laundry room (which is upstairs), figuring it would be easier to clean up than her crate when I got home. It was bed time when we came home, but, coming in the door, I could smell the foulness all the way from upstairs. Every inch of the laundry room was covered in fecal matter. Brooksey had pooped and then proceeded to pace back and forth across the laundry room until every inch of the linoleum floor was covered. I told the kids to go play in Cole’s room; carried Brooksey to the bathroom and bathed her; then got on my hands and knees with bleach and water and scrubbed the laundry room floor. Then, I finally was able to put the kids to bed.
During this period, not including the laundry room incident, I remember savoring about a half hour to myself at the very end of the day – kids in bed, Brooksey exhausted and emptied – with a glass of Jameson’s and a few rounds of Angry Birds. Again, my problems were secondary – I wasn’t dying, and I wasn’t losing a grandmother – but, it was tiring. Amy’s grandmother passed away in January, and we put Brooksey to sleep not long after, in February. And, just to cap things off, I fractured a metatarsal in my foot, probably from overusing my Vibram Five Fingers; which stopped my running but didn’t otherwise limit me.
But, as the winter passed, the year got decidedly better, and we headed to Disney World. The trip was much needed. We drove down to Kissimee, Florida where we shared a condo with Suzie and Kenza, hitting up the Disney properties and a couple of beaches, including one excellent day with our good friends, the Feichtners, at St. Pete Beach who were in another part of Florida at the time. We also had a very nice afternoon with a couple of Suzie’s friends in Winter Park that included a nice lake tour. But, my favorite part of Florida was Mainely Lobster which we went to for Amy’s birthday dinner after a day at Cocoa Beach. She liked the place o.k. but it was clear that I was enjoying it the most.
At the end of March, we got Ollie, our new puppy. I could have waited a little longer before getting another dog, but Amy was smitten by a good looking boy with enormous paws. Mostly, I’m happy we went ahead and added him to the family. He’s a good boy, but in the mornings when he’s most energetic and I’m least, sometimes it occurs to me that I wasn’t quite ready to care for a dog again. I’ve been pretty resolute when the subject of a second dog comes up. In March or April, I also had the honor of escorting Harper to a Daddy-Princess ball; and I’m pleased to say that she has kindly extended an invitation to the 2012 ball.
April and May was the run up to the trial in my big pig case. This had been dragging on since August of 2006, all attempts at settlement and to get it knocked out early had been unsuccessful. Getting everything ready, I started working crazy hours and, I’m afraid, I wasn’t too much of a family man. It culminated in a moment in the White Circuit Court, the jury had come in, and the jury foreman was preparing to read the verdict. That might well be the most intense moment I’ve ever experienced. They found in favor of my client but, regrettably, returned a big verdict against my client’s co-defendants who we were quite fond of and against whom we did not feel like the complaints were well founded. So, my win was not an unmitigated joy, but still, I’d done my job successfully, and it’s one of my proudest professional accomplishments.
Oh, and did I mention that our basement started flooding with the spring rains? This featured one especially foolish moment where I was using the shop vac outside in a thunderstorm with tornado sirens blowing in an effort to drain the window well where the water was getting in. Ultimately, I solved the problem with some very minor landscaping and by extending our downspouts away from the house.
Things relaxed over the summer. We had gotten a new liner installed in the pool, and opened it up for business. Happily “business” meant a series of visitors, family and friends; and it was nice to have them and be able to entertain. One very small addition to our house that made me inordinately happy was placing a wall mounted bottle opener on the porch next to the beer fridge.
August was a great month. We went to South Dakota to visit the Ficks, I got back to running, I started coaching Cole’s soccer team, and, most remarkably, and had an amazing surprise birthday party for my 40th birthday that Amy threw me. Completely stunned me. My buddies took me golfing to get me out of the house; humored me when I suggested we go to DT Kirby’s after the golf; and then, when we got home, one of them had a fairly believable pretense that got us to enter through the backyard gate, and BOOM! Lots of people there to wish me a happy birthday. Very touching. The weather was nice for the party, and things had wound down before a severe storm front blew through — it was the same front that would kill several people by blowing over a music stage at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis.
Through the fall, I had a great time coaching Cole’s soccer team as well as getting my running groove back. In October, I ran with Chris Bangert in the Wabash Heritage Trail 15k — that was a tough one. In November, I ran the Monumental half marathon with Amy, finally breaking the two hour barrier that had been a goal of mine. And, in December, we went to Las Vegas and ran another half marathon along the strip, as well as meeting up with some good friends. In November, I was also privileged to have an opinion column published in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
And, the end of the year has featured a pleasant string of holiday gatherings – Thanksgiving at Gran’s and Amy’s parents; a Christmas gathering at Gran’s; Christmas at our house with Amy’s parents visiting; and, finally, a New Year’s Eve gathering at our house.
I’m sure I’ve missed plenty of important stuff in there; but I have to say that, despite a rocky start, 2011 turned into an awfully good year for me. The Hoosier in me says to brace for a downturn in 2012 just by way of payback, but I’ll hope for the best.
Read MoreChristmas 2011
I confess, I’m always relieved to be out the other end of the Christmas season. Somehow it’s more exhausting than it seems like it ought to be. And, I don’t even do most of the work — Amy does the vast majority of the present buying, baking, decorating, etc. etc. etc. Still, the traveling, altered schedules, and the other parts wear me down somehow.
That’s not to say the holiday season was unpleasant. It was not. Last weekend, we went up to Goshen where we celebrated with my Dad’s family early. We got to see my mom & dad and Cindy and Katie along with the rest of the Goshen side of the family. The major downside to this visit was that Gran was not feeling at all well. She had a cold or flu or something and, at age 90, any patch of illness can be worrisome. She stayed at her house and rested while the party was moved to Aunt Susan and Uncle Jack’s. The ham loaf was tremendous, as always; IU beat Notre Dame; and Amy’s cake was a big hit. And, it was good to see everyone.
Christmas Day this year was at our house. It’s nice to have Christmases at home from time to time. Growing up, between going to Hilton Head, Goshen, and, at least once, Maryland; I can’t remember many Christmas days in Richmond. Christmas Eve gave me second thoughts about this whole Santa Claus business. Cole had internalized the warnings about how Santa wouldn’t come if little kids weren’t asleep — a device using Santa to manipulate easy bed times for generations. It backfired in this case. Cole, a rule follower by nature, was trying so hard to get to sleep that he couldn’t do it — sleep is one of those things that gets harder if you’re trying. So, he called out on a couple of occasions because he was exhausted, frustrated, and scared that Santa wasn’t going to come. It really bugged me that a lie we had told him was causing him so much distress.
But, eventually he got to sleep, and Christmas morning came. Harper had my favorite line of the morning when she saw that her stocking was filled: “O.k., now I *know* I’m not on the naughty list.” The kids were very happy with their gifts. In particular, it was nice to see how much they appreciated the afghans that Amy spent many finger-cramping nights crocheting over the past couple of weeks. One bummer was that Harper’s DS isn’t working. We’re thinking it might be a battery issue; but we’re not positive.
Later on, Amy’s parents came up and had dinner with us. I was happy to eat one of Amy’s turkeys. She brines them and cooks them with an orange and onion inside. Yum. Afterward, Grandma sewed Harper’s build-a-bear and Grandpa played Mastermind with Cole. (Santa kind of wasn’t thinking when he brought our color-blind son a game dependent on identifying colors.)
By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted; and we were all quite ready for bed.
Read MoreThanksgiving
Thanksgiving 2011, as has become traditional, a two dinner occasion. Thursday, we went to Indianapolis and ate with Amy’s parents and a good chunk of her mom’s family. Then, on Saturday, we went to Goshen and had a second Thanksgiving with Gran and a lot of the Guipe family. One day, I guess I would like to have Thanksgiving at my house and not chew up the holidays driving all over the place. But, our families are so spread out, there is really no way to keep in touch without turning into road warriors. And, as it is, I only get to see a small chunk of my family.
In any event, it’s nice to see those family members we can. Both events were a little more lightly attended than they have been in years past. I think some of that has to do with kids getting older and moving away; maybe some of the former attendees becoming more established as families and hosting their own feasts.
Podcasts have made the traveling easier. Normally, the drive back from Goshen is the killer — the second drive of the weekend, usually raining or snowing, the rest of the family asleep, and State Road 25 isn’t the most entertaining drive under the best of circumstances. This time, I listed to the Nerdist interview with Jonathan Coulton. We were home in no time.
Read MoreDoktor Kaboom
Yesterday afternoon, we took the kids to the Doktor Kaboom show at Purdue’s Loeb Playhouse. It was really fantastic. It was a good mix of comedic patter, cool experiments, and generally positive lessons for the kids; including an introduction to the scientific method and an insistence that kids take pride in being smart, being creative, and knowing things.
I remember being introduced to elements of the “scientific method” in, I think, ninth grade. At the time, I equated “science” with learning stuff in a particular field. As such, the “scientific method” seemed a little peculiar to me. But, I was just viewing it in the wrong frame. It’s a hugely important tool for humans to understand and explain the world and, while we take it for granted now, it wasn’t always so intuitive.
Generally speaking, it consists of coming up with hypotheses, guesses about how something works. The hypothesis has to be falsifiable — you have to be able to test it somehow. Then, the results of the test have to be repeatable. If you combine these steps, you have probably learned something true about the world. As Doktor Kaboom taught the kids, it doesn’t really matter much if your hypothesis was right or wrong; it matters more that, by proving or disproving the hypothesis, you have learned something true about the world.
Teasing that out a little bit, I guess one of the requirements is that, when looking at things scientifically, you have to embrace a certain amount of humility. The truth is the truth; and learning the truth is more important than you being right and your hypothesis being correct. These are principles I very much want to pass along to Cole and Harper. That, and you know, Doktor Kaboom showed us you can do some pretty cool tricks with science.
Read MoreReading is Fundamental
I don’t post enough to know whether I’m capturing the important stuff or just randomly checking in; probably the latter. But, whatever the case may be, our kids are turning into really solid readers. Harper’s reading has been going through an explosive phase. I wasn’t sure if she’d really be that into it, but she is reading like crazy now.
Today is the first time I’ve ever really noticed Cole taking time out of the middle of the day to read a book. There wasn’t much going on, and he just sort of checked out for the day, reading “Darth Paper Strikes Back: An Origami Yoda Book.” It’s about 150 pages long. Solid effort.
I remember reading quite a bit from an early age, but I can’t really remember what I was reading and at what age. The only benchmarks I think I remember was reading Jack London’s “White Fang” when I was 9 and “The Lord of the Rings” when I was 11.
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