Dateline Cresco, IA: Day 2 of 2

I really had a fun time last night. We went to dinner. I had a bacon cheeseburger and fries, washing it down with a couple of Blue Moon drafts. I suggested finding a pool table because, well, I like playing pool. We went to the bar next door. I scratched on the 8 ball on my first game, lost the second game as well as my third game. I had a couple of streaks where I thought I was going to do better than I did, but in all, it took until I challenged Denise before I actually won a game. The whole time this was happening, the music was playing great music and the beer flowed. I really enjoyed the night. It was a lot of fun.

Today, though, is another story. We pack up to go home and return to responsibility. I probably won't type again on this sweet Toshiba laptop for a long time. We need to get back home so we can go to Mass. Regina is producing "The Sound of Music" and depending upon the timing, Alex and I may go to the Newman Center for 4 PM Mass while Megan and Karen may go to the Newman Center 6 PM Mass. It all kind of depends upon when Alex gets home from the gun club with Bill, who is watching our kids this weekend with his wife Debbie.

Tomorrow begins the routine again. Megan has religious education class and Alex has drum lessons. Tuesday is Alex's next-to-final basketball game. Wednesday is Alex's tutor. Thursday, I would like to take Megan to a jazz band concert @ West High School. Friday is the men's CEW in Riverside and I need to go down after work and do some stuff. Saturday, it sounds like we will go down to Riverside and do some stuff with the CEW and go to Mass. Sunday, we will probably make another trip to Riverside to do some stuff, plus Alex has basketball practice. For a year where I am not really involved, it seems like I am involved.

Then the week starts over. Alex has a band concert on 3/8, a basketball game (final of the season) on Tuesday, tutor on Wed, and I think, going by memory, there is another band concert on Thursday. I think on that Friday, we may head up to Balltown for the weekend and then leave the kids there for Spring Break. That leads up to the week of 3/15 which I wrote about in yesterday's post.

I sometimes think that life is too damn busy. There is something happening every night and while it is all things that we have to do or need to do, I can't help feel like it's going way too fast. There are no spare moments in life. I'm not really doing more than observing life, it seems, because I don't feel like I can really enjoy life. That seems odd, in a way, because all the things I do or need to do are things that I had a role in planning, in some way. It's not like someone else is dictating, "you need to do this and that and this." I don't know if I can really explain it.

I do think that Megan is going to be in 8th grade next year and Alex in 6th. I think the next 7 years are going to fly by tremendously quick. In our college group, the oldest child is a sophomore in high school, the youngest is 4. That means the oldest child would be a freshman in college in 3 years. Where does the time go? Alex will graduate from high school in 7 years. Then he will be out of the house. I only have 7 more years to spend with my son where he is living in our house, then he will be on his own. My biggest hope for him is that my daily reminder to him to "make good choices" has 'stuck' to his brain and that he does make good choices. Megan, I have five years before my little girl graduates and moves on in the world.

I just want my life to continue as it is, with good health and good times. I am glad we purchased a camper because, hopefully, camping can continue to play a major role in what we do as a family. We have booked a month in Elkader and will spend seven weekends in Elkader. The first is June 12 for the Sigwarth campout. Then Father's Day. Then a little break until the 4th of July weekend. I hope we go to Balltown again for the fireworks at Breitbach's as they were really good last year. Then 3 more weekends in Elkader. Then a small break where we actually may be home for a weekend on August 7 (our wedding anniversary) then to Sugar Bottom for our college campout with the same group I spent this weekend with, except the kids will be with us. The following Thursday, 8/19, is when school starts. Then the ritual of all this nightly stuff happens will start up again, with religious education, drum lessons, basketball, tutor, and whatever else creeps in between now and then.

It's now 8 AM. I already used logmein.com to access my work PC to check for emergencies of which there were none. I think we are going to be getting on the road by 9 AM. Karen and everyone else in the house are still sleeping.