Yes, I've gotta dump some doom here, so I can be left with perspective and joy.
We cruised down to Ikea today so I could finally resolve this mess known as my office, and wouldn't you know it, they were closed. In fact, retail all over the place was generally open, but people were scarce. It was sunny and beautiful today, in a way that I doubt we'll see Seattle very often. Freeways were generally clear, and most side streets were easy to drive on. A few hills were closed off, which I can understand, but the world seemed generally functional to me. Unreal. I can't even believe they'd close.
Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised after the hours of snowmageddon coverage on TV last night. We were cruising down 90, of which two lanes were generally clear, and even dry. We had to go around some asshole going 40 (in a 70 mph) with his blinkers on down the middle lane. Did I mention the road was dry? We saw a car abandoned in a busy intersection in Renton, next to a gas station. On flat land. This kind of shit just makes me shake my head. What is this city going to do when there's a serious earthquake?
So that turned out to be mostly a waste of an afternoon. Fortunately, we were able to obtain some comfort food at a Famous Dave's, which was a ghost town at 1. On this sunny day.
But the hits keep coming. The volleyball team I picked has almost entirely declined. The first picks, anyway. I'm in awe. Not only have I never seen a tryout where there weren't people to cut, but I've never seen so many kids bail. It's a total head scratcher. The worst I ever had with 17's was two bail, and one of those was a second choice anyway. So this causes me to wonder, is it the club's reputation? A lack of commitment to volleyball out here? Entitlement issues? Too many clubs? I theorize it's partly the cost, which is about three times what we used to charge in Cleveland. Is gym time really that much more expensive here?
So truth be told, I don't even know if I'm going to do it. I made it very clear that I have no desire to coach club-level or have a fixer-upper. I've been there, and I don't enjoy that.
Oh, and I haven't even cracked open Visual Studio this week. Sigh.
OK, now that I've got that out of the way, here's that perspective I needed to acquire.
Last winter, I missed snow. I didn't miss months of it on end, but I did miss it. So this minor (in my eyes) "snow event" here is actually completely awesome. Since the trees are so heavily evergreens here, it's stunningly beautiful, from the stuff on the side of my house, right on up to the mountains. It's just amazing. By Friday, everything here in the more inhabited elevations will likely be gone, so I'm cherishing this taste of real winter, and OK with it being short-lived.
The effect for Diana is even greater I think. She's a Christmas junkie, so the snow sets the mood in a way that's totally different when it's absent. She gets all aglow just thinking about putting up the tree.
I've also been able to spend a great deal of quality time with Simon, and I'm absolutely loving that. We've played together and laughed, and had some quiet moments too. He's such a great little kid. He's suffering on and off as his gums are all purple around the molars, but he's otherwise such a fun spirit to be around. We are so lucky to have a kid with so much personality. It's still hard at times when he's crabby, but I still enjoy my time with him.
I will make something out of this week. We're having Thanksgiving this year with Joe, Kristen, Nina and Mason. It's so nice to have room to have people over, finally.
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