Category: Family

Play On!

“I can keep myself involved in a good activity instead of keeping quiet, because if I sit alone and be quiet, I will think about my problem.”

— Victor Musa, captain of the Sierra Leone amputee soccer team.

One of my favorite moments in a soccer match occurs when a hard challenge is issued, followed by the resounding thud of a defender colliding with an attacker. In those milliseconds following, all eyes focus on the center ref who must decide in an instant if the tackle was fair or foul. My heart usually races a little when I hear the cry issuing forth above the fray–“Play on!”… Read the rest

A Good First Day

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Number One Son and his Grissom High teammates stretch prior to this morning’s match with Gadsden City High School at the Island Cup Invitational in Orange Beach, Alabama.

They must have been plenty loose, because they proceeded to go out and “mercy rule” yet another opponent 10-0. Number One put the finishing touches on that one, scoring his first goal of the season with a nifty shot just inside the left post outside the reach of a diving keeper.

Our afternoon opponent, the Cullman High Bearcuts, proved a tougher challenge. They showed little interest in attacking, opting instead to hunker down with 9-10 field players inside the box at all times in order to keep us out of the net.… Read the rest

A Bad Weather Day

By now most of you have heard about the nasty weather that blew through Alabama today, including the horrible tornado in Enterprise. We drove through some very bad storms south of Montgomery around 3:30PM. The straight line winds and driving rain were a little unnerving, and we constantly scanned the horizon for any sign of a funnel cloud. Thankfully, we never saw one. But others were not as fortunate.

As we traveled down I-65 today, we were on the phone with my younger sister who lives in Ozark, Alabama about 20 minutes away from Enterprise, the hardest hit area. Her husband is a physician and was at the local hospital there when some of the injured started coming in.… Read the rest

The Lads In Orange

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We’re on our way out of town to follow the fortunes of our Lads in Orange, otherwise known as the Grissom High School Tiger soccer team. They’ll be defending their title at the Island Cup Soccer Tournament in (appropriately enough) Orange Beach, Alabama.

Grissom is currently ranked #1 in the state, having won the Lakeshore Shootout in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago. Of course, rankings at this point of the season mean very little. What matters is being ranked #1 at the end of the day on May 12, 2007 at the close of the state championship.

We have the perfect storm of talent assembled this year, the majority of these kids having played with and against each other since they were 4-years-old.… Read the rest

He’s Bama Bound

davids-senior-formal.jpgBig Mama has called her native son and Number One has answered–he’s Bama bound.

Number One had literally been losing sleep over the Big Decision, so torn was he between choosing The University of Alabama and his parents’ alma mater (Hail!) Harding University. I had lunch with him a couple of weeks ago to see how things were going and to let him explain to me his reasoning. At the end of that conversation, I was impressed. Number One understood full well what he would be gaining and losing with either choice, and he was able to list off the pros and cons of each with ease.… Read the rest

Souvenirs

Number Three Son recently returned from a golfing trip with his grandparents. They traveled around Florida and up into southern coastal Georgia hitting a few courses and making a few tourist stops along the way.

And of course, when there’s a trip, souvenirs usually follow. Number Three thoughtfully killed two birds with one stone, combining my love of both kitschy knickknacks and coffee into this particular winner:

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But the one that really floated my boat (or submerged it in this case), was this:

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As it turns out, Number Three visited the St. Mary’s Submarine Museum in Georgia and found a patch with my Dad’s old boat, the USS Cubera.… Read the rest

Yawp! We’ve Got a Pulse!

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

–Walt Whitman

For a while it was Boston Tea Party II, but an Eagle run made it relatively close in the end. But still, we’ve got a pulse and the topsy-turvy ACC is shaken up a bit more. Perhaps all that talk of Duke being “on the bubble” hath been overdone.

Now I’ll have to turn right around and pull for BC against Carolina on Saturday–this is all very confusing.

To Number Two Son, who apparently became quite concerned over my health and that of other family members when my upper brain shut down as Duke’s 24-point lead dwindled to six and I began rearranging the family room furniture, I offer these words:

Next time, duck a little quicker.… Read the rest

O! Must We Be So Predictable?

cupid_psyche.jpgEyegal and I love each other a lot. If you read that Washington Post article from yesterday, you’ll know what I mean when I say that we’re cruising along, kicking up a fair amount of oxytocin with some frequent dopamine now and then to spice things up. In short, I ain’t complainin’ and neither is she (I hope).

But when it comes to the whole Valentine Day’s thing, we just refuse to get too worked up after nearly 22 years of raising kids and romance-in-the-trenches. In days of yore, we used to knock ourselves out, buying the cards, roses, lacy teddies and tacky boxers, etc.… Read the rest

Which is Better, Then or Now?

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We optometrists are notorious for asking such mind-torturing questions. Perhaps some of you have figured out by now that what we’re really aiming for, after all your hand wringing, nervous sweat and labored breathing, is a false dilemma. The words we want to hear is that both options are “the same,” for equality marks the end point of the refraction and the beginning (hopefully) of 20/20 vision.

I asked myself this same question as I looked back upon a recent trip to our alma mater (Hail!) Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. I often feel that I’m caught up in a time-warp when I travel there, so thick are the memories and so slow the pace of change in that sleepy college town “near the foothills of the Ozarks.”… Read the rest

College Economics 101

img_0079.JPGWe’re off to Searcy, Arkansas today to give Number One Son, who turned 18 yesterday (Happy Birthday Number One–don’t forget to register for the draft!), one last chance to look over Harding University before making the decision about where he will spend the next four years of his life.

We’ve told him that this is his first Big Decision as a budding adult and that we’re for the most part butting out. Our strategy is that if he chooses one and then hates it, he can’t blame us–or so we think. He’s applying to Harding, the University of Alabama and Davidson College in North Carolina.… Read the rest

Three Things I’m Trying to Figure Out

Here are three things I’m trying to figure out:

  1. Why schools are giving so much homework these days (Allison, who really wants to be a Tar Heel anyway?)
  2. Why a high school student would actually like homework (Jennifer dear, get a life)
  3. What’s causing all those thumping noises in my house at 3:00am (Get in Bed! NOW!)

After I get a grip on these, I’ll start on how spending $32 million on a football coach will improve the the quality of academics at the University of Alabama (there may be more to that answer than meets the eye).

… Read the rest

The Holiday Newsletter–Raw and Uncensored

I wonder what would happen if people wrote down the first thing that came to their minds in their holiday newsletters? What it be like if we all mailed our first drafts, raw and uncensored, rather than the spit and polish, somewhat-less-than-accurate final editions? I can only imagine…

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Dear family and friends,

Happy Holidays (there, that ought to get somebody riled up!). It’s time for that annual gagfest known as the XXX family brag sheet, uh, I mean newsletter.

I know what some of you are thinking: I need this like I need an IRS audit or a visit to the proctologist.… Read the rest

Holiday Letters–Yea or Nay?

Sorry, there won’t be the usual stunningly professional, thought-provoking and humorous post today. You see, I used up all my good stuff on the holiday letter that I composed this weekend. You know, the newsy and chatty one that you send to all your far-flung friends regaling them with the events of the year and about how all the men are strong, the women good-looking and the children way, way above average in your little neck of the woods.

If you’re still working on yours (news flash: you’d better hurry), then you might find this list of helpful hints useful. Or not.… Read the rest

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!

Tis the season for the Sojourner Class at our church to watch some Christmas movies and try to unpack a few spiritual lessons. Last year, we spent a few weeks watching It’s a Wonderful Life, and so far this year we’ve viewed and discussed clips from Miracle on 34th Street and The Bishop’s Wife.

christmas_story_c.jpgThis Sunday we’ll be watching A Christmas Story. As you might recall, that’s the one where little Ralphie Parker (played by Peter Billingsley) sets his heart on the mother of all Christmas presents: “an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and ‘this thing’, which tells time.”… Read the rest