Weekend Warrior
Sometimes it seems like weekends are busier than weekdays, especially when the weather is nice. This weekend was no exception to that rule as I had a packed agenda including little league practice in Lyndonville on Friday, a conference in Medina on Saturday and full agenda at home on Sunday including working on a long overdue paper on Father Charles Coughlin, and getting some gardening supplies for the lovely Mrs. Jennings. I also fit in some quality time with our three cats, two dogs and my son Trevor, who spent the weekend coughing because he came down with bronchitis.
I have written before about coaching, it is a labor of love and since none of my own kids is on the team and I do not live in Lyndonville, I get to be the guy who argues with the umpire. My best friend Terry is the head coach, which means he gets to make all the necessary phone calls when practice is canceled. I just show up when I do not have a meeting or class or some other commitment, which makes me like the grandfather of the team. I get the kids hyped up and let the head coach deal with the discipline. The highlight of Friday's practice was when I actually beat one of the kids in a foot race.
On Saturday, I attended the 23rd annual Regional Preservation Conference in Medina. Before Saturday I had not spent a substantial amount of time in Medina. My wife and I try and get out to Avanti's on occasion but we usually just pop in town and leave after we are done eating. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to tour some of the downtown buildings and meet the mayor and a member of the village board. I have to say that I was very impressed with the event, Medina residents should be very proud of how their town was represented.
On Sunday, after consuming one of Mrs. Jennings' fabulous Sunday breakfasts, I worked on a 25-page research paper about Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic Priest who hosted a wildly popular radio program in the 1930s and early 1940s. At 2:15 pm sharp, I purchased a front row center ticket to a Todd Rundgren performance in Akron Oh. Todd will be performing the entire A Wizard a True Star album from 1973. To Todd fanatics like myself- I have seen Todd in concert over 70 times-it is quite an event.
On Sunday evening, after a trip to get gardening supplies, I feebly attempted to fill in and reseed a section of my front lawn where I was stuck in the mud a month ago and dug out two tire tracks that look like the Grand Canyon. It is so deep even the dandelions will not grow there.
After dinner, we were finally able to sit down and watch the movie Marley and Me starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. The main character is based on the life of John Grogan, a columnist for the Philadelphia Enquirer. It was a good movie but the whole time I obsessed over the fact that as a columnist who wrote a lot about his dog, he was able to afford a large house in Pennsylvania, and support a wife and two kids. I have two dogs and three cats, I write a column, and I can barely afford to live in Albion! Maybe the taxes are lower and the wages higher in Pennsylvania.
The next two weekends include Mother's Day, my graduation, the Lilac Festival, little league practice, chicken cooking and whatever else I forgot to put on my calendar. But as busy as the weekends are, I still cherish every minute of them.
I have written before about coaching, it is a labor of love and since none of my own kids is on the team and I do not live in Lyndonville, I get to be the guy who argues with the umpire. My best friend Terry is the head coach, which means he gets to make all the necessary phone calls when practice is canceled. I just show up when I do not have a meeting or class or some other commitment, which makes me like the grandfather of the team. I get the kids hyped up and let the head coach deal with the discipline. The highlight of Friday's practice was when I actually beat one of the kids in a foot race.
On Saturday, I attended the 23rd annual Regional Preservation Conference in Medina. Before Saturday I had not spent a substantial amount of time in Medina. My wife and I try and get out to Avanti's on occasion but we usually just pop in town and leave after we are done eating. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to tour some of the downtown buildings and meet the mayor and a member of the village board. I have to say that I was very impressed with the event, Medina residents should be very proud of how their town was represented.
On Sunday, after consuming one of Mrs. Jennings' fabulous Sunday breakfasts, I worked on a 25-page research paper about Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic Priest who hosted a wildly popular radio program in the 1930s and early 1940s. At 2:15 pm sharp, I purchased a front row center ticket to a Todd Rundgren performance in Akron Oh. Todd will be performing the entire A Wizard a True Star album from 1973. To Todd fanatics like myself- I have seen Todd in concert over 70 times-it is quite an event.
On Sunday evening, after a trip to get gardening supplies, I feebly attempted to fill in and reseed a section of my front lawn where I was stuck in the mud a month ago and dug out two tire tracks that look like the Grand Canyon. It is so deep even the dandelions will not grow there.
After dinner, we were finally able to sit down and watch the movie Marley and Me starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. The main character is based on the life of John Grogan, a columnist for the Philadelphia Enquirer. It was a good movie but the whole time I obsessed over the fact that as a columnist who wrote a lot about his dog, he was able to afford a large house in Pennsylvania, and support a wife and two kids. I have two dogs and three cats, I write a column, and I can barely afford to live in Albion! Maybe the taxes are lower and the wages higher in Pennsylvania.
The next two weekends include Mother's Day, my graduation, the Lilac Festival, little league practice, chicken cooking and whatever else I forgot to put on my calendar. But as busy as the weekends are, I still cherish every minute of them.
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