Two Days Off

I have not moved an inch on my virtual pilgrimage since the last time I wrote on Saturday.  So, I am still 1047 miles from where I started at the beginning of the year.  It is kind of cool that that is 47 miles further than I was at this time last year (as mentioned before).  I decided to take two days off as I didn't want to get up super early to run on the day we drove from Baltimore to Wolfeboro, NH (it took us nearly 11 hours including a stop for lunch, a stop for gas, a stop to orient ourselves near the end, and some traffic tie ups), and I decided that an extra day of getting 7 hours of sleep would be better for me than getting up really early.  I still can get 35 miles during the rest of this week pretty eaisly.  

So, today, other than mentioning the fact that I did not run, I am not going to talk about running.  Today's dots to connect were not steps on the running path.  Today's dots, instead, were mostly walking steps.  Today instead of running with someone I had been training with for several years (no matter who I run with it is usually someone I've known for a while now) but instead, my wife of 22 years.  And the nourishment of the soul--just enjoying presence.

Today was the first day of vacation without having to drive.  We began the day with a relatively late start.  We went to the office of where we are staying fr a donut and some coffee and OJ.  Then, we went to the grocery store.  A big deal?  No.  Romantic?  Not particularly.  But something we did together that we don't usually do together.  Something that we had to make decisions together.  How did we want to plan breakfast?  How many dinners?  What did we want to have?  (Turned out we bought groceries for two dinners so far--tacos and spaghetti.)  How about lunches?  What about beverages?  Did we want to use bottled water?  How about some energy bars?  What about wines to try?  (A sweet Malbec and a local Reisling.)

Then we came back.  Hung out a bit.  Made reservations for the 4th of July dinner dance and cruise on the lake.  Then I made lunch with her help (again, something we don't often do and we did it in the little kithcen in our studio sized condo unit).  The lunch was simple--organic peanut butter and unfiltered honey sandwiches on wheat.

Next we went into town.  Left a little after 1.  Got back just past 5.  The walk from the Windrifter to the edge of "downtown" Wolfeboro is almost exactly a mile.  We went in almost every little store in the downtown area.  Gift stores.  Consignment store.  A store that provided temporary henna tattoos (neither got one) where Sherry bought headbands.  A store with spiritual books--like several that talk about the important of being present in life).  Looked at swimsuits.  Looked at beer.  Looked at cheese.  Bought a maple sugar mead.  After several hours of walking and looking we bought less than 1/4 pound of fudge and split it.  Then we stopped on the way back and bought cold beverages.  Hours of walking together.  Being together.  Buying just one or two things.  Talking to each other.  Talking to sales people and store owners.  It was not so crowded that we ever felt rushed.  It was possible to have a conversation with almost every one.  And we coudl both particiapte in the conversation.

When we got back, we chilled with email for a bit and then I cooked tacos and served the Malbec with dinner.  After dinner we went for ice cream.  Small ice cream meant quite a lot of food.  Finally, we headed to Carry Beach and sat on the edge until the sun was all the way down.  

Spending an entire day together at an easy pace--not rushing anywhere--was a gift.  It is a gift we get all too rarely.  Do we have to go nearly 600 miles to get it?  I hope not in the future.  Would having more such days be helpful?  You bet.  

But I will take every one and count it as something special forever.

Wax On--Wax Off

Everyone of a certain age will recognize the immortal words of Mr. Miyagi in the title of this blog entry.  Why do I begin with that title today?  Well, today was a day that "ended" (although it is only 8 PM so the evening is still young) with my doing an extra good cleaning of the counter top in the kitchen.  Not really waxing, of course.  But getting the chili liquid, which  had simmered over the edge of the slow cooker for hours while the chili was made today, off the counter top.  With the heat and the time to dry it was quite stuck on.  So, I went around one way.  Then back the other way.  I loosened the material and eventually it came off.

But that got me to thinking about how some activities don't take much mental effort.  They just take "doing".  That is what I feel like when I run on the treadmill.  Although even there with a little concentration a person can figure out things about their running style and take some corrective action.

While I ran on the treadmill a lot last year, I also still went with my "running family" more often for workouts.  This year, I have run many, many miles alone.  And many, many miles on the treadmill.  That is not a healthy combination.  Even as someone who doesn't mind the treadmill as much as other runners, it just does not make me happy.
  
But it does leave a lot of time for the mind to wander.  And to think.  And to contemplate.

So, what did I contemplate today?

Passing things on to my kids.  I'm sure I'll also ponder in the near future how I pass things along to the kids I teach in Sunday school, thinking about some comments from a teacher/runner friend.  

Anyway, my thre boys have learned that if they want to spend "quality time" with me (to use a cliché I don't care much for) with me it is probably going to be in the kitchen.  (At least until any one of them takes up running.)

So, before I went to the Y today, I assembled the makings of chili in the slow cooker.  When I got home and before work I asked my nine year old to bring me an onion, which I cut and added to the chili.  Then, I told my nine year old that he could make cornbread to go with the chili for dinner if he desired--he was going to be home and then gone to hockey practice in the evening before I and his two older brothers arrived home.  

So, since I have passed on cooking to him and his reading skills have improved immensely lately, he came home, found the recipe for corn bread with butter milk on the iPad, and made it.  It was awesome.  

What a gift!

Something that he can "just do".

And something in which he joins me in "wax on-wax off."  Except his repetitive motion was not rubbing but mixing the batter.  I wonder what he was thinking about.   

And for the record, I ran 6.2 miles while at the Y, so I am 197.5 miles along the way still on PA 31 heading west.  Not much more to say than that.  

The Spirituality of Advent, Day 3, Week 4

The final day of Advent.  The third day that I comment on the theme of Love.  Christmas Eve and I am up early to run a track workout.

Today, I think I will talk about my children.  

They were part of the focus in the week of hope.  Hope for their future.  Hope for a positive future regardless of whether I am here or something happens to me as something happened to the gentleman whose memorial mass I played at in early December.  

I thought of them in the week of preparation. So much I prepare for.  So much they prepare for.  So much to help them prepare for.

I thought of them in the week of joy.  The do so much to bring me joy (and sometimes to bring me grief).  They are examples for others--usually in a good way.  They show how much Sherry and I have done to influence their lives.

And I think of them in the week of love.  Love for three sons that Sherry and I brought into the world together.  Love for seeing the awesome things they do most of the time.  Love for teaching them responsibility and accountability.  Love for having them around.  Love for doing things with them.

A great example was, is, and will be the preparation for Christmas Eve.  Yesterday evening, I took my son Joshua with me to the stores at Mt Washington at Whole Foods. We first went to the wine store there.  After looking for just a moment myself, I spoke to one of the two gentlemen working there.  I told me I needed a white to cook with Chilean Sea Bass and then to drink afterwards.  I also told him that Sherry prefers sweet.  He gave me a gewurztraminer that I very much look forward to trying tonight.  It will be great to have it with the fish (bought at Whole Foods), some lemon juice, and dill.  Joshua learns about cooking with wine--that is sharing--that is love.

Then we stopped at Starbucks and used up a gift card I had gotten from a Sunday School student.  He got a salted caramel latte.  Sharing the experience of Starbucks.  That is love.

Then we shopped at Whole Foods.  Joshua had taken care of calling them in advance to make certain they had the sea bass still in stock for the day.  They did.  We had a very nice shopping trip together.  Sharing.  Talking.  Teaching.  Learning.  Love.

Finally, we met another mother and daughter from the school Joshua goes to on the way out of the store.  We didn't get too close as they were both admittedly not feeling well.  But we had a great conversation about many of the things that this mother and daughter and our family do for Christmas.  Sharing.  Love.  

Then, we came home.  Joshua helped some with dishes by his choice after I scolded his younger brother for having failed to complete tasks while we were out.  That is love.

Then, I kept Sherry company while she made the dough for the poppy seed and nuts rolls we will have with dinner tonight.  That is love.

While keeping her company, I read my 17 year old's college essays (three more).  That is love.

Then, I warmed some German spiced wine for Sherry and I.  That is love.

This morning I woke up and am planning to run a track workout.  Love of the sport.  Caring for my friends.

The rest of the day afterwards will be a day of cleaning and preparation of our dinner that will include split pea soup with sauerkraut (how many words have the letter sequence "rkr"),  semolina bread, cranberrry sauce, and sea bass, then both cheese and prune pierogies, and finally the rolls.  All with our entire family and Kelsey--who has become like a member of our family after 2 1/2 years with Christopher.  That is love.

That will be after Christopher, Kelsey, and I play keyboard, flute, and bass at our church's Christmas Eve mass.

Love is so many ways.  I remember learning of four types of love in a lesson in school.  Between my wife, my kids, and the friends we support that is three.  And the fourth is agape or spiritual love whih is what my reflections during Advent have been about.  All crammed into 24 hours.  The last 24 hour before the celebration of how God's love for humanity was born on earth. 

The Spirituality of Advent, Day 2, Week 2

Today I will talk about preparation for cooking.  

Preparation for cooking means many things.  It means having the right ingredients on hand in the house.  This issues my family experiences here can be missing anything from a spice we don't use very often to poor control over the number of eggs, amount of sugar, amount of butter, amount of oil, or amount of flour in the house.  These are usually things that can be fixed but require leaving home.

It means having the right equipment.  Is there a whisk?  Do we have enough clean measuring cups?  How about clean bowls?  Frying pans?  These are the types of things that also can be fixed.  Usually it just means washing something when it was not expected.

It means allowing enough time.  We waited until after the end of Chanukah this year to make our annual latke meal mostly because of the time required.  Even on the weekend when we finally made the latkes, we waited until we had the right proportion of a day to work in.  Preparation and planning go hand in hand.

It means preparing the ingredients to be ready in the right order and at the right time.  Stir fry is a great example here.  But when preparing to fry latkes, it also means taking all the right steps with the potatoes.  This year, my eight year old, having made them at school again, suggested squeezing the potato shreds in a cheese cloth.  It worked wonderfully to prepare them for frying making this the best year yet.

It means having the right beverage to go along with what is cooked.  Many times the exact beverage does not matter so much.  But sometimes things need to be just right.  Eggnog at Christmas Eve.  Cider at a fall dinner.  Sometimes the right wine--or at least the right type of wine to complement a meal.  

So many aspects of preparation.  And when everything is prepared just so, things tend to work out very well.  Great experience with creating the food.  Great taste when the food is prepared.  Smiles on the faces of the people who are eating as they enjoy the food and the company.  When things don't go so right with the food, it can make for a poor dinner in many ways.  Less camaraderie.  More complaints.  And those seem to affect interpersonal relations as much as they affect the food.

So how does this relate to spirituality.  Well, cooking is a gift,  The food is a gift from God.  So those are easy and simple ways to talk about the relationship between cooking and spirituality, but not the only ways.

More importantly at this time of year, when we hear over and over again the message of the expectation around Jesus coming and the expectation of the second coming and how (for those who believe) being ready for the second coming means something, it is an excellen reflect of the exploration of multiple facets of one's like.  Cooking works when everything works.  Yes, there are some shortcuts or places in which there might be ways to get around certain things.  But generally, cooking works when everything works.  Getting to Heaven doesn't mean being perfect.  In fact, Catholics believe in forgiveness.  Jesus worked with sinners.  But there is still preparation that can be done to improve all parts of life in ways that are more consistent with the way that God asks us to live through the commandments.  With the lessons Jesus passed on through the Beatitudes and the great commandment.  

Spiritual preparation for the rest of life on Earth and the afterlife is not something done once.  Just like cooking, it is done every day and involves many facets.  

The Spirituality of Advent, Day 1, Week 2

Based on the website I wrote about at the start of Advent, the second candle represents preparation.  Spiritually, it is preparation for the experience of the coming of the Savior. Without the Savior coming, there would be no resurrection based on Christian tradition.  Thus, this is an important preparation.

Preparation for welcoming the Savior.  And when welcoming the Savior, welcoming all of creation.  Welcome the sick.  Welcoming the poor.  Welcoming the hungry.  Welcoming the thirsty.  Welcoming those who need people in their lives.  Welcoming all.  Because Jesus, in Matthew 25, talked about how each time when we do something for one of the least of humanity (whether naked, sick, poor, hungry, in prison, etc.) we do it for Him.

I see being prepared and being hopeful as going hand in hand.  One way to be prepared to welcome anyone is to be hopeful that it will be a positive interaction--under any circumstances.  To be hopeful that the good in the human spirit will dominate.  To be hopeful that no matter what has happened in the past the good in me and the good in the person I am meeting with will come out in a conversation and interaction.

I am prepared to think that everyone has a good side.

But that is not all that preparation is about, of course.  During this week, I think I will talk about preparation for an examination of my life to see how I would measure up if Jesus returned now (the coming back of the Savior), preparation for my own mortality (one last entry after last week's series and some thinking about what would happen if I did not have any more time to prepare for Jesus), preparation to address my own vulnerabilities, preparation for running, preparation for teaching, and preparation for cooking. 

The last three are preparations for things I love doing in life and good examples of the importance of preparation on a day to day basis.  They will serve as archetypal representations of preparing for things on my own or with others.  This should be a fascinating week to explore ideas that are critical to the idea of preparation both in spirit and non-spiritual issues that are at least tangentially related to spirituality.