A Million Other Things
/In between travel adventures, we are spending time at home in Columbus, Ohio. Being home is filled with associations and emotions that we take for granted when we do it every day.
14 yrs old and 20lbs of love
The feeling of sleeping in your own bed, the reminder that your 14-year-old cat likes to sleep on your head, the comfort in knowing where everything is located in your home. The responsibility of scooping cat poop and attending to litter. The convenience that everything we need is within a 10-minute drive. Being close to friends and family. Overall, we find ourselves quite joyful about being home and, at times, downright giddy. It can also be mixed with boredom and mixed emotions of feeling unproductive (like we should be working).
We get this a lot: "What are we doing with our time when we are back in Columbus?" I like to answer that by posing my own question: "Have you ever had a moment at work where you thought to yourself that there were a million other things you'd rather be doing?"
We are doing those million other things! Whether it be rehabbing our front porch, taking golf lessons, or biking to a nearby town we never bothered to stop in before. The point here is that there are numerous enjoyable and interesting ways to easily fill your time. At the same time, however, it is also easy to fall back into old routines and responsibilities when you are at home. We have felt a sense that we should be doing things such as laundry, mowing the lawn, etc. And we happily do those things. But we often remind ourselves that we don't have to cram everything into a weekend because we have to get ready for work on Monday. After five months, this is still a strange feeling we have to fight.
We return from our trips and hear of marriage proposals, break ups, announcements of new babies, and bought/sold homes. All great examples of life events that keep the world turning whether you are actively a part of them or not. To keep up, we try and make sure to reach out to both family and friends in an effort to remain in their lives and schedules. Below are some of the experiences we've encountered.
Recent/upcoming moments to be remembered:
Happy birthday Meg!
1. Meg, your birthday was great! We were much overdue for the reconnecting that happened that day.
2. Taking Paula to a baseball game for Mother's Day. She bruised her shin climbing over the bleacher seats, but the pulled pork and the "snagged" bag of Cracker Jacks helped her smile through the pain. What a pleasant surprised to be joined by Meg and Steph.
Happy Mother's Day. Go ketchup!
3. Attending a family member's 80th birthday party where I was told, "I have to take half a Viagra a day just to stop piss'n on my shoes!"
4. Being able to attend our nephew's baseball games. There is nothing like the reaction of an eight-year-old who just hit a home run. Also, the joy and pride it brings to them when important people in their lives attend.
5. Jamie, CJ, Beth, Hollis, Donna Stacie & Anna, we loved bowling for Anna's birthday! Buckets of beer and a basketball shot competitions.
6. Kickball and baseball in the yard with the kids. The neighbor will never notice the dent in her siding. I may not be the best person to field the ball.
7. Hosting our yearly Polish Party for my family. The kids claimed it was the "best day ever." Perfect weather, pool fun and lots and lots of food. I think Jamie and Grace are now Polish.
Ready for a ride!
8. Beer on the front porch with my retired neighbor...at 2:00 in the afternoon. Dwight has an interesting perspective of the world and is a fan of our adventure.
9. Exploring many miles of Columbus' bike trails with my beautiful wife.
10. Having lunch at Phat Daddy's Pizza in London, Ohio. We never had a reason to stop in London until the bike trail ended there. $5 lunch and we took much longer than the allotted one hour work gives you. A woman walked out of a business building next door and said, "That is what I rather be doing" when looking at our bikes. We thought, "that is exactly our point!" Lunch was perfect until we sat too long and our legs felt like lead and we still had about six miles to go.
Flip off cancer fundraiser for Pelotonia
11. Flip cup fundraiser for cancer research. We had more time to make this a fun event for a good cause and just enjoy the moment.
12. Volunteer at a food bank. Why haven't we ever done more of this?
13. I was amazed to learn that our dentist is following our blog. A simple reminder that our year off is special and we should make the most of it.
Still upright while kayaking
14. Chatting for hours after spending 3 days apart from my wife. One would think we were already sick of each other. Apparently not.
15. Lunches with old colleagues remind us of what we are missing...or not.
16. Being the only 2 people on a kayak trip in the middle of the day. I never realized that Big Darby Creek had any time without drunk teenagers.
17. The excitement of going grocery shopping on Wednesday morning when everything goes on sale at Giant Eagle. Who cares if we were the youngest people in the store.
Porch painted in time for annual Polish party
18. Helping your mother landscape because you want to, not because you have to.
19. Being the youngest people in Red Lobster on a Wednesday afternoon and paying with gift cards. Some lady was celebrating her birthday. I am not going to guess her age but, let's just say that her entourage looked suspiciously similar to the Golden Girls. The birthday girl seemed to be the Betty White of the group.
20. Home projects together. The house never looked so good and we share in the pride of doing it ourselves.
Pacers house, Pacers pride
21. Game one of Pacers vs Wizards game in Indianapolis randomly on a Monday night with family. Thanks for suggesting it Dusty! It was an awesome time.
22. The "this should be quick" 6-hour project putting together Blake's basketball hoop.
23. Chasing Lea in the yard. Boy is she fast!