Motion

Eitan and Madeleine yesterday at the commons nearby our house. There are a number of dads on the pitch with the same idea: get the monsters out of the house! Madeleine is fixed on 'headers' and pleads with me to toss the ball at her, well, head while Eitan wants to do 'penalty kicks.' Neither like my coaching which includes jogs around the park, fast-breaks and ball-control including running around a chalked-circle with left then right foot kicks (secretly I think this extra-credit a reason both excell in their pee-wee league). I love this photo for its motion - Eitan and Madeleine moving moving moving and it is a joy to be around their enthusiasm (when it is not turned on each other in, er, a negative way. Sometimes I turn a corner and find them fighting which is a new thing). Madeleine BTW had the school Christmas production last week and our gal bellowed forward the opening lines: "Once upon a Christmas Eve, all across the land, all the children were waiting for a very special man!" Everybody claps, most of all me and Sonnet, sitting in the front-row thanks to Sonnet's earliest arrival. We then endure another hour and a quarter of five and six-year olds singing Christmas and Baby Jesus but I do otherwise enjoy catching Madeleine's eye - she is over-joyed to have us there and the joy shared equally by us.

This morning I am up and outta the house for an hour of walking and then 90 minutes of killer yoga leaving me twisted and dehydrated but feel'n happy. Who needs drugs, really. Unfortunately otherwise I am fielding a running injury - this time left calf - so I am forced, once again, to do alternatives to the sport I enjoy most. Running, Dear Friend, is about the dumbest thing a middle-aged fellow can do. The repetitive pounding or >800 steps per mile at three time's body weight almost insures frustration. Stan bucks the trend and is out there every morning come rain, sleet or shine demonstating he is an exceptional athlete. Impressive all the way.