Taking my son to school in the morning takes me down a road I've traveled all my life. Literally. I live one zip code away from the one in which I was brought home from the hospital and raised. I walked up and down this road to go to elementary school and I kept walking the road to and from junior high school. I lived one street off the road for over seven years and now, I'm just three miles away from the road, and it's one I take every weekday when I drive my son to school.
We don't live in a particularly hilly area, but there is a good-sized valley this road traverses. When you're coming down the far side, you can see a church steeple in the distance. That steeple would have probably not made much impact on my childhood or my childhood memories except for a strange event that occurred when I was very young.
Imagine first, that this steeple is the only thing that sticks up all around. It's on the top of this ridge, and all around it are houses. And one day, a plane crashed. And it crashed into the steeple before ending its journey, and the life of the sole pilot, on the ground across the street. It crashed through the only tall thing in it's way. A steeple of slenderness and tininess in an ocean of empty sky.
I was too young to have an idea of how big planes commonly were. The fact that this plane, this ultralight, had taken out a steeple and then crashed into the small front yard at a frighteningly, shockingly, steep angle just across the street was over my head. It was about the right size for a plane I supposed.
The wreckage was cleaned up and the grass regrew in fairly short order but that steeple went missing for many years. Eventually enough funds were raised to replace it. Today, when I look across the valley and see that lone steeple, I often think of the unknown pilot and his terrible misfortune.
The Big Boy Update: After all this time... the potty received a deposit. Three months of potty time and my son not one bit interested in doing anything in it. He is training in school now and he has even sent home five soiled training pants from a single three-hour day. But no productions in the potty. Yesterday, my husband caught him straining and like we commonly do, sat him down on the potty. Our suspicion is that he likes to go standing up and the change of position isn't helping. But yesterday, he did it. Breakthrough or accident? We're not yet sure.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Free standing. She's starting to stand up without holding on to anything now. She's not doing it as a precursor to walking, she'd just interested in an item while she's standing and decides she's interested with two hands. Suddenly, she's not holding on to anything and she hasn't even noticed because, hey, crinkly thing!
Fitness Update: No running in two days. Hunger level rising. Isn't it strange that the more you exercise, the less hungry you are? But it's a known phenomenon. Hopefully I'll run with my neighbor tomorrow morning.
Someone Once Said: One must accept death, learn not to fear it, then never worry about it. “Make today count!” as a friend whose days are numbered told me. Live in that spirit and when death comes, it will come as a welcome friend.
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