Absence

Man, this corona virus thing is kind of weird. Despite the fact that the girls and I have had a bunch of adventures during the lockdown, I did not blog. Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened was that I finished school and officially graduated on May 8. Perhaps the most meaningful thing that happened was a meeting that I had last Friday with Jacci. To paraphrase Anne Frank, In spite of everything I still believe she is really good at heart.

The girls made me graduation caps for online graduation. I wore one during the commencement webcast.

True story: for some reason the faculty gave me an award for outstanding achievement in commercial law classes.

Varsity Jersey

Eleanor's coach issued her a JV and a Varsity jersey for the season. Unfortunately, the corona virus shut down the soccer season (and a few other things). Eleanor returned her uniforms to the high school yesterday. We talked afterwards and Eleanor expressed some disappointment that she never got to suit up for a Varsity game. She said, "I am bummed that I never got to wear my Varsity jersey."

Then she said, "I guess it is not a big deal because next year I will wear it permanently."

I have said before that Eleanor has just the right amount of arrogance and just the right amount of swagger.

Her confidence and excitement to play next year made me smile a lot.

Overheard this morning

When I am not with the girls I rent a room in the house of a local couple. They are wonderful. They can also be extremely entertaining. For example, I overheard the following interchange this morning.

Susie: Mac, when you said that you were getting up to go to the bathroom this morning, you never came back!

Mac: Well, after you've sat there for 10 or 15 minutes, you are wide awake and you don't want to go back to bed.

Inspiration

This morning I received a supportive message from my father:

Good morning, Son. How is everything going? I know you are not overly excited but you are very close to completely law school, a hearty challenge under the best circumstances, a monumental achievement for you considering all the craters put in the road you have traveled. Love you.

My response:

Thanks, Dad. I can fly higher than an eagle, because you are the wind beneath my wings.

Hiking

Cow-Lion has been spending quite a bit of time in the great out of doors. In the last couple weeks, the team has explored several trails around Lexington.

Alice got to explore this natural amphitheater along the St. Mary's Wilderness Trail. This was not actually the most interesting thing we saw on the St. Mary's. As we neared the parking lot on our way back we passed another hiker. He had a red bandana over his mouth and nose, kind of like an outlaw. And he had a big handgun sticking out of the right front pocket of his jeans.

By the way, I had never before seen as much trash strewn about a designated Wilderness Area. What a shame.

The next two pictures were taken on the climb to House Mountain. No, we did not make it to the top. In fact, the hike was so hard on Alice that the next day I bought her some hiking shoes. Before we tried House Mountain, I bought Eleanor some new hiking boots. By the way: support your local businesses!

Here are the girls and Pete at our turn-around point on the House Mountain trail.

A couple days ago we hiked for about 90 minutes on the Whetstone Ridge Trail. It is a very easy and very quiet trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I had to climb this tree. It didn't make the girls too too nervous.

And here's a nice close-up of the girls.

It rained on us while we were hiking Whetstone Ridge. Because it was warm, the rain felt great. I know that the girls enjoyed the rain because of what did not happen. Eleanor did not complain about the rain.

We've hiked about 5 hours in the last couple weeks. During that time we have crossed paths with less than 10 people.

We Already Knew It Was a Tiger Shark

Two days ago Alice and I were watching a nature documentary, called Dolphin Reef. When a tiger shark came onto the screen, I identified it before the narrator did. On my heels, Alice stated, "The tiger shark, also known as the 'Lion of the Sea.'" I missed the next few lines of the documentary due to the fact that I was cry-laughing. When the narrator got around to stating that the animal was a tiger shark, I responded "We already knew that." And then Alice said "Yeah. We already knew that because we aren't dumb-dumbs. We're smart-dumbs." Smart-dumbs!

2020 RCHS Golden Boot Award

Eleanor was named captain of the JV soccer team this spring. She was also issued a Varsity uniform because she was the first alternate for promotion to the Varsity squad. Unfortunately, the season was cut WAY short by the corona virus. However, Eleanor had a "hat trick" in her second game of the year. Eleanor's three goals were the most scored by anyone in the RCHS soccer program this season. That means she is the program's "Golden Boot" winner! Congratulations, Eleanor!

Here are some photos from her last game. Eleanor was really excited to get #5 back. She lost that number when we left Colorado.

I took this picture as Eleanor took a shot that resulted in her second goal of the match.

The JV women's team had not won a game in two years. Eleanor's performance was enough to get her team their first win in a long time. Another parent snapped this picture of Eleanor just after she scored her first goal of the match.

Eleanor's club season was also cut short by the corona virus. So Eleanor may be done playing soccer for a year. However, I think that she is probably going to be an important part of the RCHS women's soccer program for the next three years.

Whoa

My shoe is on the left. The shoe on the right is Eleanor's.

Boxerwood

With corona virus ravaging the globe, the girls and I have been bored. Yesterday, we got outside and went to Boxerwood, just outside of Lexington. Boxerwood will always be part of the family lexicon because it was the site of a tree-climbing accident that led to Alice getting 19 stitches on her inner thigh. That accident happened in the summer of 2018.

Alice and I spent a lot of time inspecting salamanders and turtles. You can see turtles basking on the little islands to Alice's right and at the center left of the picture.

We all climbed trees.

Eleanor was so charming on the hike. I mean that without any sarcasm. Eleanor spent so much time complaining about the heat and the bugs and the mud. I was getting annoyed until I realized that she was having a great time. At one point I told her that I knew that her complaining was part of the way she enjoyed herself. I did not explain that well. It is like, when she was complaining, she was present. She was being mindful.

The three of us are planning on doing some hiking in the coming weeks. I cannot wait.

God, I Love Suffering

I recently watched two documentaries, which I found very powerful. They reminded me how much I love suffering. I am talking about the kind of suffering that a person can choose to experience.

For example, I remember racing in a 35-minute criterium in 2006 or 2007. My mom was there to watch me race. At the end of the race, I rolled up to my mom and checked my heart rate monitor data. I remember saying matter of factly, "Huh. I averaged 181 beats per minute for 35 minutes." I know that I placed in the top ten, maybe like 6th, but I will never forget that I pushed my heart to beat more than 3 times per second for over a half an hour.

The first documentary is called The Barkley Marathons. It is about this crazy trail-running race held in Tennessee every year. I think that the race has been around almost 30 years and only 15 people have ever finished it. At the end of the movie, I thought of all the times I chose to suffer on a bike. I also remember one of my favorite bird-hunting days ever: the day I went on a vision quest. Only two other people in the world know the story. What a day.

The second documentary is called Figure It Out on the Hayduke Trail. It is about a 2-month hike in Utah and Arizona. The movie made me miss the West so much. It also made me realize that there is a lot to be done outdoors with my girls.

Figure It Out reminded me of how beautiful it is to choose to put one's self into situations that could turn out badly and then get one's self out of those situations. If you get banged up along the way, so be it.

I do not know what I feel right now. I am supposed to meet with the girls' mother to discuss financial stuff. I also need to finish up a draft of a paper (it is the only thing standing between me and a law degree). I also start online school tomorrow. None of those things seem to bug me like they did 24 hours ago.

How Life Changes

I just filed my income tax returns. I believe that this is the first time since 2003 that I am not part of a married-filing-jointly return.

I had another new experience today. My therapist transitioned to video conference for appointments. I have been feeling good enough about life that I decided to pass on the video conference appointment. I do not think that I need it (at least not this week).

It's a corporate trademark and a family crest

I discovered the artist, Jesse Bellavance, when I was in Charlottesville last summer. I reached out to him to design a corporate logo for Cow Lion Industries. Jesse ran with the idea and designed a family crest.

Trying a New Start

Two days ago Eleanor showed me a couple videos from the old family blog. The videos reminded me of how great blogging can be for preserving important memories.

Right now we are living through a crazy time: coronavirus has shut everything down. In fact, all public schools in Virginia are shut down for the rest of the school year! That means Eleanor completed her freshman year in high school and Alice is no longer in elementary school!

I have so much to say about how our lives have changed in the last 18 months but I am hesitant to use the blog as a forum for doing so. So much of what transpired was sad, even terrible. However, it is finally clear to me that I survived. And the girls survived as well. Maybe I can use the blog as a way of documenting who we are now? A year ago, I had no idea who I was. Other than a kick-ass dad, I still do not know a lot about myself.

But I had no idea how to be a parent when I started blogging 13 years ago. So perhaps I should document my search as part of documenting my life as a parent.