It's Friday night and I'm sitting at Bongo Java, a half hour before they close. It's actually fairly deserted inside, with just a couple of tables of people talking quietly and drinking their coffee. My guess is that a lot of the Belmont U. students took advantage of the long weekend (Labor Day) to travel home.
I said goodbye to Jude, J.P. and Joe at the airport, then drove home to an empty house. It's strange, but while I look forward each year to the peace and quiet I'll have when they travel to Neptune Beach to visit with the Baines' clan, I also miss them as soon as they're gone. When I got home from the airport, the silence in our house was deafening, in large part because I knew it would be that way for a couple of days.
It was nice, tonight, to sit at the bar and have dinner at Cabana, reading on my iPad, nowhere in particular to be. At the same time, it's weird to know that I'll be going home in few minutes to an empty, quiet house (excepting N.C. and Mini T., our silly cats, of course). I'll probably get caught up on "Breaking Bad," maybe watch a few episodes of the office, then read for a while.
My play is to get up early tomorrow and hit the trails at Shelby Bottoms for a long run. Sadly, it's been ages since I've been there on a Saturday morning for a long trail run. My Saturday morning trail run there was a focal point of my life for so long. It's tough, now, because between family obligations, laziness and injuries, I just haven't been able to get over there on Saturday mornings. Tomorrow, though. Tomorrow.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
First Day of School
Today was J.P.'s first day of school, year 3, at Children's House. He's in "K-Club" this year, a certified kindergarten program at the school he's attended the past 2 years.
Jude called me this morning after she dropped him off at school and we marveled, together, at how it seems like only yesterday we were dropping him off for his first day of school at Children's House as a 3 1/2 year old. Today, he was up, dressed and ready to go early, all so he could help Ms. Anne get younger children out of their vehicles in the drop-off line. In fact, Jude and J.P. arrived so early they were first in line, which has never happened before.
J.P.'s one of the older kids at Children's House now and it's hard to believe. He's growing up before our very eyes.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Postscript (or Deja vous)
As a postcript to the post I finished minutes ago, I'm sitting at Bongo Java, drinking a "Mood Elevator," Sleeping Joe beside me. I'm actually sitting at the same table I was sitting at on April 28, 2013, when I wrote the post about the Belmont U. kids leaving for the summer. My friend who works at Bongo, George, is sitting outside on the front deck, just like he was 3 months ago.
Life has a sense of humor, doesn't it?
Life has a sense of humor, doesn't it?
The Cycle of (College) Life - Part II
I just read a post from the blog I wrote on Sunday afternoon, April 28, 2013, sitting w/Sleeping Joe at Bongo Java. In the post, I was lamenting the end of the school year at Belmont U. and the imminent departure of the college kids for the summer. I also was anticipating, just a bit, the relative tranquility that comes with summer on a college campus.
Well, the tranquility is over, as today is orientation day at Belmont U., which marks the official end of summer. It's appropos for me, since we arrived home less than two hours ago from our week of vacation at Santa Rosa Beach, Fl. My summer is over, too.
I'm sitting at a table in the bar at "blvd." (on Belmont Boulevard), enjoying a locally brewed beer - red rye from "Jackaloupe," Sleeping Joe next to me in the Baby Jogger City Elite stroller. When I finish up here, I'm going to walk over to Bongo Java for a "Mood Elevator," my first one in a week. In other words, it's business as usual on a Saturday afternooon for me (and Joe).
Did I mention I love my neighborhood?
The bar itself (the restaurant doesn't open until 5 p.m.) is filled with parents who have come to town to drop their children - all freshmen - off for their first year at Belmont U. I've written about this in past years, but it's fascinating to watch and listen to the parents. I can overhear them talking and sharing bits of infomation wiht other couples. They're a bit nervous, apprehensive even. I can sense it in their tone of voice, in the way they talk to each other. I can hear them trying to figure out where they're supposed to meet their son or daughter for dinner tonight, asking the bartender for directions to a restaurant.
I'm also getting a look, right now, from a lady (with her husband) at the bar, who has noticed I'm trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. Sleeping Joe is my cover, though. Surely she thinks I'm harmless, as I type away on my iPad with my sleeping toddler beside me in the stroller.
Belmont U. is in such a state of transition, with contruction projects ongoing all over campus. At one point this summer, on the way to dinner with our boys, Jude and I counted 5 crains on campus. It's a subject for another day, but I kind of feel like Belmont U., under Dr. Fisher's guidance, has lost its way. Bigger is not always better. Gone are the tennis courts that were open to the public and gone is most of the soccer field, where the men's and women's teams used to play and the students used to congregate at night, throwing frisbee and playing guitars.
The incoming freshman will probably see the contruction projects completed while they're here. That's a good thing, I guess. They will also make friends, lose friends, fall in and out of love, get part-time jobs, study, move in and out of dorm rooms, apartments and rental houses and become regulars at Bongo Java, blvd., P.M., Chago's Cantina, Mafiozza's, 12South Tap Room, Tacqueria del Sol, Burger Up, Frothy Monkey. They will explore their neighborhood. They will explore
Nashville. They wil grow up.
That's what I did, in Knoxville, TN, from September 1984 to December 1988. And that's what my boys will do, somday. But not too soon, I hope. I'm not ready for Jude and me to be sitting at some bar in a town with which we're totally unfamiliar, talking nervously as we prepare to leave for home the next day, leaving J.P. or Joe behind to begin his freshman year at college.
Well, the tranquility is over, as today is orientation day at Belmont U., which marks the official end of summer. It's appropos for me, since we arrived home less than two hours ago from our week of vacation at Santa Rosa Beach, Fl. My summer is over, too.
I'm sitting at a table in the bar at "blvd." (on Belmont Boulevard), enjoying a locally brewed beer - red rye from "Jackaloupe," Sleeping Joe next to me in the Baby Jogger City Elite stroller. When I finish up here, I'm going to walk over to Bongo Java for a "Mood Elevator," my first one in a week. In other words, it's business as usual on a Saturday afternooon for me (and Joe).
Did I mention I love my neighborhood?
The bar itself (the restaurant doesn't open until 5 p.m.) is filled with parents who have come to town to drop their children - all freshmen - off for their first year at Belmont U. I've written about this in past years, but it's fascinating to watch and listen to the parents. I can overhear them talking and sharing bits of infomation wiht other couples. They're a bit nervous, apprehensive even. I can sense it in their tone of voice, in the way they talk to each other. I can hear them trying to figure out where they're supposed to meet their son or daughter for dinner tonight, asking the bartender for directions to a restaurant.
I'm also getting a look, right now, from a lady (with her husband) at the bar, who has noticed I'm trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. Sleeping Joe is my cover, though. Surely she thinks I'm harmless, as I type away on my iPad with my sleeping toddler beside me in the stroller.
Belmont U. is in such a state of transition, with contruction projects ongoing all over campus. At one point this summer, on the way to dinner with our boys, Jude and I counted 5 crains on campus. It's a subject for another day, but I kind of feel like Belmont U., under Dr. Fisher's guidance, has lost its way. Bigger is not always better. Gone are the tennis courts that were open to the public and gone is most of the soccer field, where the men's and women's teams used to play and the students used to congregate at night, throwing frisbee and playing guitars.
The incoming freshman will probably see the contruction projects completed while they're here. That's a good thing, I guess. They will also make friends, lose friends, fall in and out of love, get part-time jobs, study, move in and out of dorm rooms, apartments and rental houses and become regulars at Bongo Java, blvd., P.M., Chago's Cantina, Mafiozza's, 12South Tap Room, Tacqueria del Sol, Burger Up, Frothy Monkey. They will explore their neighborhood. They will explore
Nashville. They wil grow up.
That's what I did, in Knoxville, TN, from September 1984 to December 1988. And that's what my boys will do, somday. But not too soon, I hope. I'm not ready for Jude and me to be sitting at some bar in a town with which we're totally unfamiliar, talking nervously as we prepare to leave for home the next day, leaving J.P. or Joe behind to begin his freshman year at college.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
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