Two Peas in a Pod

Jude and her cousin, Colleen Blanchard, at the White Family Thanksgiving Dinner (Actually, there are two  peas in Colleen's pod - twins.  One pea in Jude's pod).

Bird Feeders

Jude and J.P. filling up the bird feeders for the first time this year.

Chasing the Leaves

Tuesday morning, before work, I was cooking bacon for JP's breakfast when I looked out into the backyard and saw leaves falling like snow.  I was excited, because one of my favorite pasttimes in the fall in trying to catch falling leaves.  It's tough, obviously, because like snowflakes, all leaves are slightly different and, as a result, they fall differently from the trees.  Some fall straight down, but most are caught by the wind and change directions several times before landing on the ground.

As Carley arrived at the house (JP's school was closed for parent-teacher conferences), J.P. and I were in the front yard, staring up into the branches of our stately old maple tree.  Every minute or so, a breeze would ruffle the branches and leaves would begin to fall.  J.P. would squeal with delight, then take off running to catch a falling leaf.  He was having so much fun, I couldn't help but smile as I watched him.

Jude came outside and walked to her car, prepared to head to work.  When she saw how much fun we were having, she set her work stuff down in her car and joined us in the yard to chase leaves.  I went inside and grabbed the video camera so I could capture the moment for posterity.  It was awesome, just watching Jude, J.P. and Carley chasing the falling leaves, laughing the whole time.  Even after Jude left for work, I just sat on the front porch for a few minutes and watched J.P. and Carley.  It was a morning I didn't want to ever end.

Pumpkin Puke

I've always wanted to carve a pumpkin like this.  For Halloween this year, I did.  Oh, and J.P. really liked it, by the way.

Blessed

Blessed.  That's what I am.

Jude and I had another ultrasound this morning - 23 weeks - and everything looks great.  Our soon to be born son measured about 25 weeks and is in the 96th percentile in size, which is really, really good news.  That's almost exactly where J.P. was at this stage of the game.

During the ultrasound, he was active, rolling around, grabbing his toes and opening and closing his mouth. It's truly amazing to be able to see him in such detail and to realize that right there, Jude is carrying our new son in her womb.  Watching the ultrasound, our eyes riveted on the screen, it's an intensely emotional and personal experience for both of us.  We sit there, in silence, waiting for any sign or word from the ultrasound technician that what she is seeing is what she is supposed to be seeing.  If she's not talking much - liked she wasn't at first today - our minds begin to race, infused with doubt.  Then, when she tells us everything looks great - like she did today - our hearts soar with relief.

While the journey is somehow different this time around, the emotions are largely the same at certain points, like today.  When I see our son on the screen - his arms, legs, hands and feet - I'm again struck by the miracle of life.  We're not there yet and we have some distance left to travel on this journey, but I think I can almost see, ahead in the distance, our destination.  We're going to get there, one day at a time.  

Trails

This morning, I returned to Percy Warner Park for another run on one of the horse trails there.  It was an exquisite fall morning, rolling fog and temperatures in the low to mid-40's.  There was a flurry of activity at the entrance to the park on Belle Meade Boulevard, a melange of walkers, runners and bikers.  

I've enjoyed running on the horse trails the last two weekends, in part because I haven't run them before and it's a little bit of an adventure to run where I haven't run before.  There's the fear of getting lost, which in my case, is a legitimate fear (I've gotten lost in Percy Warner Park before, although that was almost 20 years ago).  Plus, the trails are fairly hilly and technically difficult, given that the carpet of falling leaves covers roots and loose rocks.

I only saw one other runner on the horse trail this morning, so I was able to enjoy my run in solitude, alone with my iPod and the random songs from my music library playing on it.  The scenery along the horse trail on which I was running was almost breathtakingly beautiful, bright sunshine burning off the fog and illuminating the gold leaves on the path that had changed color and fallen from the trees.  

A couple of miles into the run, I sensed movement to my right, just off the trail.  I looked over and was almost face to face with an 8-point buck.  He just stood there, placidly, and stared at me, maybe 10 feet away.  I chuckled to myself, said hello and kept running.  I turned around at the 3-mile mark and on the run back to the trail head, I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye, moving overhead.  I looked up in time to see a large owl swoop majestically in the sky above me, then land in a tree nearby.  I stopped and looked up at the owl (I really, really like owls) and he looked right back at me until I continued on my way.  Near the end of my run, I saw a doe just off the trail.  Again, she didn't run away from me.  She just stood and stared at me as I ran by her.

I finished my run by galloping down the ancient, steep, stone stairs to the entrance to the park, John Prine's "Lake Marie" playing on my iPod.  A good way to end a top 20 run, the kind of run I search for all year long when I lace up my running shoes and head out the door.  I'm lucky to find 5 of those types of runs a year and I'm blessed to have found one this morning.

Musicology

On the way home from a late night trip to Kroger this evening, I listened to the Avett Brothers' "Left on Laura, Left on Lisa."  It's a fantastic song and, tonight especially, I couldn't help but smile as I listened to it.      I was struck, really struck by that song the very first time I heard it.  I immediately knew the Avett Brothers would be a band I would love.  And I do.

More importantly, J.P. quickly fell in love with the Avett Brothers, too.  First, it was "Left on Laura, Left on Lisa," which he calls "the sad song."  Later, it was "I and Love and You" and "Die Die Die."  At any given time, actually, he's really into a different Avett Brothers' song, which he asks me to play over and over again as we drive to school in the mornings.

That song, in particular, makes me smile, because I can vividly recall driving around the neighborhood when he first heard it, just listening to it, together.  He didn't want me to take us home.  He just wanted to drive around and listen to "Left on Laura, Left on Lisa."  The cool thing is he loved the song independently of anything I told him.  He heard it, liked it and asked me to play it . . . again and again and again.  The fact that we both loved the same song makes me feel there is something in our "musical DNA" that makes us enjoy the same type of music.  I'll have to see if that holds true when he's a teenager.