Ghosts of Christmases Past

I know it's already two weeks past Christmas, but I recently dug up some great pictures from Christmases past that I found worth sharing with my family and friends. The most recent was sent to me by my Uncle Meredith (dad's twin brother). It's a great shot of my brothers Jon (in a dorky turtleneck) and Evan (the baby on Jon's lap, also sporting a turtleneck) and sister Denise (with her Holly Hobby curls and jean mini skirt) with our great grandmother Cassie (my dad's mom's mother) at our house in Topeka, KS, in December 1975. That's me at left looking cool lounging in my silk pajamas a la Hugh Hefner.

Going back one year to 1974, we have a picture of me and older brother Jon (front and center) with (back row, from left) cousins Brian (Meredith's oldest) and Shana (Aunt Ann's oldest), brother Evan, sister Denise (yes, already sporting the Holly Hobby curls) and cousin Brian (Mark's younger brother). I like how I'm sporting the hip '70s open collar and Jon still has the dorky turtleneck).

Leaping back five years to 1969, we find brother Jon (at left), sister Denise (no hair to curl) and me (dorky turtleneck but cool plaid pants with rolled cuffs) hangin' with Santa at the White Lakes Mall in Topeka.

Those of you who remember White Lakes absolutely must click on this link and check out the picture of the fountain at White Lakes Mall. One day while shopping there I bent over to pluck a coin from the water and Jon pushed me in the fountain (it's much smaller than I remember!). I went in head first and came out dripping wet and chased him the length of the mall screaming bloody murder. Jon, do you remember? Of course you don't. But I will never forget!

The moral of this story of Christmases past is that I've always been the fashion trendsetter in my family, as evidenced by this pic of me in 1980 in my courderoy suit complete with vest and open collared shirt.

OK, so maybe I was falling a little behind the fashion trends in 1980, when Alex P. Keaton ushered in the conservatism on the 1980s and signaled the end of the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 70s. But it wasn't long before I ditched the open collars and traded in the bell-bottom pants for a blue suit, white shirt and striped tie and joined the Teenage Republicans to campaign for Ronald Reagan (see pic below with sister Denise and Evan, a.k.a. Alex. P. Keaton, Jr.)!

So what fashion trends will the Obama Administration bring to America? Rumor has it that the suit with no tie look is the new look in our Nation's capital. And who knows, maybe the turtleneck will make a comeback. For me, I still prefer bell bottoms and open collared shirts.

Long live the '70s!

Daren

Sweet 16?

I'm not talking about March Madness anymore. It's April. Kansas made it past the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight, the Final Four and won the NCAA tournament in an historic comeback win over Memphis in overtime (just realized I never posted about the championship game...I think I've been in shock all week). No, I'm talking about Sweet 16 birthdays.

As I mentioned in my last post, Monday was Shelby's 16th birthday. Well, tonight is Shelby's Sweet 16 birthday party. So, here I sit, trapped in a house with a dozen teenage girls. And I find myself wondering, "What's so sweet about 16-year-olds?

Actually, Shelby's friends are good kids. Yes, they all talk at the same time at a decibel level equivalent to a Ted Nugent concert, but at least they're here, having fun being silly, rather than out causing trouble. But sweet? Not sure that's the right adjective.

When I think back to my own 16th birthday party, I wasn't exactly sweet myself. And I wouldn't say the day itself was sweet, either, but it was a day to remember. May 15, 1980. I had a forensics tournament that day. No, I wasn't studying to be a Crime Scene Investigator. I was on the speech team. And since the tournament was right after school, I got to wear a suit to school (I know, hard to believe a geek like me was one of the "cool kids" in high school).

My family picked me up at West Springfield High School after the tournament and took me to the local Mickey D's for my birthday dinner. So, there I am eating a Big Mac in my best corduroy suit (above left, circa 1980) with my mom and dad, little sister Denise and brother Evan (at left, circa 1982, after I had caught up with the fashion trends of the 80s!). I wasn't a happy camper. In protest, I refused to let them bring gifts into the restaurant.

On the way home from my "Sweet 16 Party" at McDonald's I let loose on my parents. "I can't believe you had my 16th birthday party at McDonald's...you threw a surprise party for Jon (my older brother) on his 16th!"

"We did?" they said, as if they didn't remember.

"Don't you remember?" I said, "It was at Happy Joe's" (Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor in Topeka, KS). But they still didn't remember...or so I thought.

When we got home (at left, our house in Burke, VA), I stomped up the walk, ready to escalate the protest into a full-on tantrum. But when I opened the door I was greeted by (you guessed it) all my friends. My parents had very cleverly -- no cruely -- orchestrated the ultimate surprise party.

Ah. Sweet 16. High school. If I could transport myself back in time...I wouldn't. Skinny. Awkward. Braces. Hair (on our heads, but not on our chests). Girls (scary, wonderful, mean girls). Would you go back?

Maybe knowing what I know now I would...nah.

[Above, from left: Brad Phillips, Kevin Galligan and my brother Jon; At left: the Kavanaugh brothers, Steve and Mike]


But I can look back with fond memories. And I can try my best to make it less painful for Shelby, by not trying too hard. Our little girl isn't a little girl anymore (at left with my dad, three days old). In two short years she'll be off to college.

Our job as parents in the next two years is to start letting go...and hang on as long as we can.

Daren

Win One for the Shelbers!

Today is my daughter Shelby's 16th birthday. It also happens to be the day Kansas plays Memphis for the NCAA basketball championship. Shelby isn't happy about it. She'd prefer not to share her birthday with the Jayhawks, which I can understand. But the fact that the game falls on her birthday brings back lots of memories of the day she was born.

[Above: Shelby is "all smiles" as she opens presents this morning; At Left: the infectious grin we haven't seen since she became a teenager]

I'll never forget the night before she was born, April 6, 1992, sitting down to watch the Duke/Michigan NCAA title game. I was settling in to watch the game on my new RCA 35" big tube TV when Leslie got home from work at the Treasury Dept. She had worked late, as she often did those days, supporting Secretary Nicholas Brady in the Bush I Administration. This particular night she arrived home saying she felt "unprepared" for the impending birth, even though her due date was still three weeks off. Must have been her motherly intuition kicking in for the first time.

The fact is we weren't prepared. The crib had arrived, but was still sitting in a box waiting for me to assemble. The Dutailier glider-rocker had not arrived. The nursery was not ready for the baby and I was afraid Leslie was going to make me put the crib together that night instead of watching the game. This was obviously unnecessary since a first child never comes three weeks early! So as a diversion, I suggested she go pack her overnight bag and she'd feel better. To my surprise, it worked.

Leslie left me alone in the basement of our Alexandria, VA, duplex to watch the game. It wasn't a great game. Many people think it was one of the worst finals in the history of the tournament (Duke won by 20) despite the hype around Michigan's then famous, now-scandalous Fab Five. How could it compare to the East Regional final when Duke beat Kentucky on Christy Laettner's last-second turn-around jumper? I can't stand Duke or Laettner but that was a classic March Madness game.

Anyway, Shelby woke us up around 3:00 to go to the hospital. It was a good thing Leslie had her bag packed (thanks to my brilliant suggestion!), although there was no mad dash to the hospital. Leslie even got on me for driving too slow (a first) as we headed through Alexandria on GW Parkway towards George Washington University Hospital (known for being the place where President Ronald Reagan was taken after being shot in 1981).

Less than 9:00 hours later, Shelby Faye Williams was born.

[At left: The day we brought Shelby home from the hospital...note that I was wearing a Jayhawks shirt...a good sign!]

So here we are 16 years later. Tonight we're celebrating Shelby's birthday by watching the Jayhawks play for the NCAA title. I hope we're all smiling when the game is over like she used to when she was a baby!

Let's go Jayhawks...win one for the Shelbers!

Daren

Something to be Thankful For

Sitting here on Thanksgiving night I can think of many things to be thankful for -- the 25 family members who joined us for lunch today, the baked turkey, ham and, of course, BEEF (rib roast) we enjoyed with all the fixin's (mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, Grandma Angell's rolls, green beens, cranberry sausage stuffing, and Aunt Betty's cranberry relish), and the beautiful home we have to host such an event.

But I am also very thankful to be back up and running after taking eight weeks off to heal from my cycling accident and broken collar bone. Like last Thanksgiving, I started off today by running the Turkey Rock Trot 5K race in our neighborhood in Castle Rock. In my first week back in action I ran 17 miles (including today) -- not exactly "easing" back into it!

I began last Thursday with my usual 3.1 mile route and ran it in 33:36 (10:48/mile). The last time I had run it (before the accident) I clocked in at 27:33 -- a full six minutes or almost 2 minutes per mile faster!

On Saturday I ran my usual 4 mile route in 42:22 (10:31/mile). A little better, but still way off the pace I had been setting.

On Monday of this week I ran my usual 5K route again and finished in 31:46 (10:14/mile). More progress.

On Tuesday I went out for a 3.75 mile run with our dog Casey (who is also recovering from an injury!) and finished in 40:57 (10:55/mile). But this includes time for Casey to stop and smell lots of things (none of them were roses).

So, my goal for the Turkey Rock Trot was 31 minutes (10 minute miles). I thought this was pretty reasonable given that I only had one week to train.

Between Tuesday and today the weather in Denver took a severe turn for the worse. Temperatures dropped from highs in the 70s to highs in the 30s. And yesterday we got about an inch or so of snow. This morning it was 17F when I woke up and around 20F at the start of the race! The cold scared off at least half the 900 registered runners, but I was there with Leslie's cousin Bryan's wife Tammy and several hundred other brave souls.

Tammy and I ran the first mile together...but I was struggling to keep up with her. When my Garmin Forerunner 305 indicated we had finished the first mile in 8:15, I knew I couldn't keep up the pace so told Tammy to feel free to take off, which she did! But I kept pushing it pretty hard -- harder than I had since the Chicago Half Marathon in September (according to my Forerunner, my average heart rate for the race was 160).

When I crossed the finish line the time on my Forerunner and on the official clock read 27:21 -- 3:39 faster than my goal time! But it also showed the distance at 3.02 miles -- nearly a tenth of a mile short of a 5K. But even if you add another 50 or so seconds to my time (1/10 mile at a 9:00 pace), I'd still have finished almost three minutes -- or a minute a mile) ahead of my goal!

So tonight I am thankful that I was able to run this morning, that Tammy was there to push me for the first mile and that after one week of training I am nearly back to pre-accident form.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daren