Bridges||Basketball||Bicycles

I got in a car accident earlier this week. I had just called my boss to explain that my usual 20-minute commute had turned into an hour because people didn’t know how to drive in the snowish ice thing we woke up to that morning. Within a couple minutes there I am, exiting off the interstate and unable to slow down on the iced ramp. Thankfully the light was green as I looked up, but then it was yellow and then it was red while I slid through… crossing through a six-lane intersection without anything to do to stop. Thankfully a few lanes saw me and though they looked at me like the idiot person running a light, they still saw me and stopped… then the last lane had a truck in it that didn’t see me. She maimed my right front side of the car (in front of the passenger seat) and thankfully we were both fine. It took them awhile to get our cars apart, her hitch was hooked into my car apparently.

I have insurance which is great… a deductible which isn’t, but at least the car is fixable and I’m alive. I have generous friends who have let me borrow cars and taken me places and even one who said I could borrow her car to go on my trip to the homeland next week:)

Sooooo I’ve been riding my bicycle more frequently than before. Yesterday I was riding around and I smiled more. I noticed things I hadn’t before on my trek home from work. I was going on the cherry creek bike path, which took me under a bridge and suddenly my face lit up… it startled me, “leah, why are you smiling a little fat-kid smile?” I thought. I LOVE bridges! I mean I really really love bridges. Ever since I was little there was something soothing about a bridge – the fact that water is there, the one we had to cross over before hiking up to the hot springs. You can usually find some good fishing under the dark places. In Arkansas we would jump off the bridges. When I was little we would float down the river and hang out under bridges. I like them. I smile under them.

The fam in front of the bridge up to the hot springs a while back

My dear friend Bodie was celebrated last night with drinks and holla’s at GooseTown Tavern so I rode my little bike over to join in. On my way I passed by a blacktop with an older man and two boys shooting hoops. The man, I assumed to be the dad, was trying to show the boys his mad skills as he went for a jump shot. I smiled. I love the way sports can bind a family together. Some of my favorite memories with my dad are from little league games he coached, watching he and my cousins and uncles play games in front of the house and shoot from the cloud (part of the pavement was missing so they filled it in with concrete) for extra points. Or the games he played for the Chiefs, in their short shorts and tube socks – my dad was a badass bball player. I smiled a lot yesterday. Not that I want my car to be in the shop for the next few weeks but I do look forward to the things I’ll notice on my bike… the moments I’ll smile.

this is my meager attempt at taking a pic of a pic minus the scanner...
me as a wee little lassie giving my dad a good luck kiss at his bball game:)

grrrrrrrraaaaaaa

that is me groaning from the thoughts of life on a sunday. as a friend mentioned, sunday's are not for existential discussions. I have fell victim to such a discussion, but more in my head and somewhat filtered by Tracie. My head can't really handle going into all the details, but basically a collision of thoughts happened over the weekend. It was bound to happen, I know, but when I start thinking it really just goes till there's resolution. A special thanks to Ben and Travis for spurring more reflection during the Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland.

The topic of these thoughts: simplicity.

simple living according to ____.

I wrote about my window washer friends this summer, all educated and capable of succeeding in corporate america, but opted for a laid-back, take-off-when-you-want lifestyle. I want to "reach my potential" but I also cherish the house parties with homemade food from the community garden back home... and the friends that come with a 'simpler' life (not simple people, but a more pure approach to life).

Ideal life - live in a commune, grow our own food, brew our own beer, have deep meaningful discussions about our little economy, etc. The friction comes in when you look at a greater purpose behind our lives - does all of that good energy from the commune just recirculate or are you pouring out that which was poured in? I literally have a headache so I'll stop, but this is where my mind has been wandering.

Pontiac

My first car was a Pontiac Sunbird SE Wagon. A few words to describe this car:

• red
• station wagon
• wrecked by older siblings
• windows didnt work
• started without a key
• standard with stripped clutch
• "ghetto-glider"
• eventually towed off our lot

OK. I've spent half an hour searching the web for a glorious picture of this wonderwagon but alas, no one photo-documented this bad-a (the little "a" was intentional) car. It would be helpful to have a pic to compare the subject of my next paragraph. ** edit... just added the link to a similar model as my little beauty. Picture that one in red.

Enter me driving down the highway to work... not one, not two, but three Pontiacs. Not just any Pontiac, these were
Pontiac Solstice's. Seriously, are these people ignoring the fact that a recession is taking hold of our economy? Either way, I was fighting a kindred connection with the operators of these vehicles since I was once a proud owner of a fine Pontiac.

The point of my story is not that I drove a ghetto-glider, but that Pontiac has some big sale going on or something.

peeing pearl

We went out for afternoon recess and the girls were all over the place - some on the monkey-bars, some playing kickball, basketball, "super-secret-club meetings," etc. As I'm taking a turn for a potty break two of my girls run up to me. One begins with, "Ms. Miller, Pearl peed her pants. She was playing and she just peed her pants." to which I reply (to Pearl, not the liaison), "Pearl, do you still need to go to the bathroom or are you okay now?"

P - "No, I'm fine." (she's just leaning against the rail like nothing's wrong. Apparently this class has several 'pee-ers' so it may seem more along the norm)

Me - Well Pearl, did you pee a lot? Do you need to go change your pants?

P- No, I'm ok. My mom does laundry in the washing machine (As she casually twirls around and I notice a huge wet spot from her pee...)

Me - Ok that is good. Well Pearl, is there any reason why you didn't ask to go to the bathroom?

P - Yes, Ms. Miller. Mr. F (disciplinary guy/hall monitor/maintenance) found Suzie and I in the bathroom talking a couple weeks ago. He told us to stop talking and we didn't so he told me I wasn't allowed to use the bathroom again.

Me - I am holding back laughter at this point - I know Mr. F meant that she wasn't to have bathroom breaks and talk the whole time, not "You can never use the bathroom at this school." At this point I have escorted her back into the building with the goal of a change of pants at the very least then asking Mr. F to clarify his 'ban' from the baño.

/j/am. /j/ar. /j/et. /j/anazia. /j/ayden. /J/esus.

I was giving a lesson on the letter 'j' today with the 1st grade girls. They seemed to know the 'j' sound very well and any time I said a 'j' word they would clap. After a couple exercises I had each girl go around the room and share a 'j' word they knew. We went through the easy ones - jam, jar, jet, jug, etc. Then we worked through names - Jake, John, Janazia, Jazmyn, Jayden and then comes Jesus. One little girl says (all the other girls are instructed to have 'bubbles' in their mouths while a person is speaking) loud and proud "/J/esus starts with a 'J.' J-esus loves me and I love Jesus!" She looks around the room and one girl follows with, "I love Jesus too." and another "Jesus is God's son!" to which another girl responds, "We know, we know..." Apparently these 1st graders are evangelizing in their classroom and its old news already.

birthday dinner

Last night we celebrated. The 25th was my 1/2 bday and today is my dads 54th bday. I made him dinner - Chicken wrapped around thyme with prosciutto wrapped around it, lightly breaded and cooked in a white wine/tomato sauce. Creme brulee with a nice flame to symbolize a little candle action. We listened to a mix of van morrison, billy joel, stevie wonder, martin sexton, jose gonzalez, amos lee and some other new stuff. He told me about work and how he may retire soon. He stopped to see the girls and soak in the hot springs on the way up to Denver and seemed excited about spending more time with all of us after he was done working. He's a good worker so I doubt he'll be an idle retiree. He asked about my training plan for the triathlon, gave me some tips and we looked up some short runs we could meet up for this summer. I told him about my job at the school and asked him what he thought since he's been in the education world for the last 20-something years. It was good to just relax and celebrate life together.

Sometimes I look at men in their 50's and I wonder what my dad would have been like now. Would last night have really gone like I imagined? Would he be the type of dad to make road trips to see all his kids? Would we talk about important things? Would I be sheepish about my faults still because he was such a perfectionist?

I know this may seem a bit odd, but in moments when I miss my dad I sometimes pretend we live life together, like birthday dinner hang outs. He wasn't around for the ipod era or even for me learning to cook. He only dreamt about me going to college and who knows if he thought of what I'd be doing at 25 1/2. Its therapeutic for me to occasionally trace life over the past 14 years in light of how my dad would have impacted each season. I wouldn't be me without these 14 years... I walk the ridge-pole of appreciating the opportunities to learn and grow in response to all that comes with a single-parent family, other dads that filled in, etc. while on the other side I wonder what would be different - would life be less rich minus that hardship, would dad have stayed involved in our lives...? God is good and these are questions with no answers (and no need for answers really).

alien war

I was cordially invited to join an alien war today at recess with 1st grade boys. I'm "in" with the "in" crowd.