A sleepy man in a sleepless land

I'm twelve years old as I drift down the Finley River in Southwest Missouri. I sit in an old inner-tube, wearing a Star Wars T-Shirt and a bathing suit and some old Chuck Taylor Converse Tennis Shoes on my feet because sometimes the bottom of the river will hide broken glass in it's murky waters.

The day is warm and I'm drowsy as I float along, absently kicking my feet gently just beneath the surface of the water. I pick each foot up, one at a time, and watch the water drip and pour off of them returning again to the river. The waterfall ahead, next to where a mill once stood, rumbles noisily in the distance.

Something looks different about the edge of the falls on this day... where the river should continue beyond the waterfall is a green wall covered with white dresser-drawer knobs, that covers my entire field of vision. "What the heck is that doing there?" I say aloud as I draw nearer.

The inner-tube glides along and instead of going over the falls, it bumps up against the big green wall, again and again and again. I reach up for one of the dresser knobs, and pull myself up out of the water. I reach up, hand over hand and start to climb. I position each foot carefully on a knob and begin climbing up the giant wall that reaches into the sky. Above me, a hawk circles endlessly and calls out to no one in particular.

I realize that I'm now hanging about thirty-five feet above the water and just as I'm about to continue my ascent, the phone begins to ring. After the second ring, I open my eyes and roll over on the bed...the clock reads 3:37...which means I have been asleep for only seven minutes. Funny, it seemed like much longer. I pick up the phone..."Hello," I say. "No, I don't know where Jared is at the moment...I'll find out...Hold on."

"JARED!" I yell. "What?" He queries. "Phone call!" I yell. "Who is it?" He asks. "Who is it?" I ask.
I am informed that it is Robert. "It's Robert," I yell. "I don't want to talk to him..." Jared answers. "He's busy" I lie. Click goes the phone.

I look at the clock which reads 3:39. I roll over. I close my eyes.

The wall is blue now and the river is green. The hawk is now a toucan and Sherry is standing on the inner-tube, balancing on it like a surf board. I am now only ten feet above the water. "Great!" I think. "Now I have to climb all that way back up! Stupid Phone call. Stupid Robert!"

"What are you doing?" Sherry asks, still inner-tube surfing. "Climbing" I answer... "Duh" I think.
"How are you balancing like that?" I ask. "I've known how to do this since I was a kid" she answers, very matter-of-factly. "My Dad taught me!"
"Oh" I answer.

There is a knocking in the distance. I think it is either Sherry or the toucan, but I'm not sure. Knock Knock Knock and then suddenly, the doorbell rings. "Jared" I yell. "Get the door!"
Jared answers "I'm not supposed to get the door when you're asleep!" "Shoot!" I think..."He's right!"

I get up off the bed and trudge down the stairs in my socks, jeans and Royals Baseball T-Shirt.
The sun is awfully bright for a not sunny day. I open the door and Dustin's friends, Ron and John are standing there.
"Is Dustin home?" they ask in unison. "No, he's at a friend's house" I answer. They shrug and straggle off of the porch and down the steps. No wasted small-talk there. I lock the door and head back upstairs. I look at the clock which reads 3:59.

"Where did you get the boat?" I yell to Sherry from my perch, high above. "My Dad built it" she says. I'm starting to wonder how her Dad could build a boat in the time that it took me to go answer the door, but then I think "It's a dream, Dave...go with it." I'm marveling at this amazing boat that Sherry's Dad has built and then I start to wonder Sherry has done with my inner-tube.

"Why are you still up there?" Sherry asks. "I don't know" I answer, but I'm thinking that I really want to get a closer look at this hawk/toucan. I look up at the sky but don't see him. "Where did the bird go?" I ask. "Which one?" Sherry asks..."The owl?"
"Yeah," I answer, thinking that she obviously doesn't know her birds. "He's down here, my Dad is fixing him some eggs." Sherry says.

As I climb down I begin to think about the moral implications of an owl eating eggs, when the phone rings. I open one eye and then the other. It is now 4:11 according to the clock. I pick up the phone and a cheery, robotic voice informs me to STAY ON THE LINE FOR AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE... I do. They try to tell me I need to have my van serviced soon. I hang up. I shut my eyes. I groan and fall asleep.

The owl is sitting at the table inside the large galley of the ship. Sherry's Dad is dishing out some scrambled eggs to him and he sits holding a fork and a knife in each claw. He licks his beak and begins too cut the eggs and then stops. "Hey, do you have any orange juice?" The owl asks. Sherry's Dad silently crosses to the refrigerator an gets a carton of juice out for the owl. Who knew that owls drank orange juice? I think to myself as I watch.

The boat begins to shake violently and I discover that it is only me shaking. Everything else is perfectly still. I awake to find Socks on the end of the bed, scratching violently at her neck. "Dog" I say to her..."This better be real good!" The clock says 4:23...I have it set to go off at 4:30.
I get up, plug in the iron and turn it on. Get out some clothes for work and go to get a drink of water.

Once again, nap time is foiled by the efforts of everyone and everything other than me. I may never again return to the Finley River of my dreams...and I'll never know if the Owl drank his orange juice or finished his eggs; or just how exactly Sherry's Dad got into the boat building business.

-David

Diary of a lazy blogger

I have been so bad about blogging lately that I've dropped from writing several times a week to just about once each month... That is really pathetic! I used to live for writing this blog...but then facebook came along and took all of my spare time and energy away. "DARN YOU, FACEBOOK!"

We've been busy since Christmas with basketball and birthdays. Baseball practice has started now and we're about to get really busy! All this and our Church has started a youth basketball program that I'd like to see Jared get involved with if it doesn't conflict with baseball.

A couple of months ago I started a "Support Group" on facebook.com for people who grew up in Strafford, Missouri...or for people who went to school or even still live there. By "Support Group" I mean a social networking group that allows classmates to reunite online and visit or post pictures...
It's been kind of fun and we now have 136 members online. I've really enjoyed visiting with a ton of old friends and have met some really nice people who came to the town or the school, long after I left...

This Winter has been up and down, weather-wise with days in the 70's followed by days in the 20's. We started out with a bunch of small snows, but haven't had anything significant since Christmas. The main story has been the wind... I don't ever remember a winter quite as windy as this one has been.

Since the new year, we have a new President. I guess he's okay so far, but he's made a few astounding mistakes...although his die-hard supporters are quick to say it's too early to judge him...(I wonder if they said the same thing about Bush... ? The answer: DUH, NO!!!)

TV has been pretty good lately with "American Idol," "SCRUBS" and "LOST" all returning... and let me just say "LOST" has been phenomenal!

Dustin has been busy with school and his music...Jared has been busy with basketball (his team is 8 and 2 for the season). And Sherry is working and working and working... As for me...I'm busy too... my knees have been pretty good, save for the occasional weakness or slight pain in my right knee. God has been watching over me on this and he's doing a pretty good job. (He ALWAYS does a good job...)

I've been visiting some with Klauspeter online and on the phone... That has stirred up my dream of going to Europe again. Sherry and I have talked about this over and over throughout the years and really want to go...but it's never the right time... I'm beginning to think that the right time is getting closer... FINGERS CROSSED.... I'm really wanting to go!!!

I guess I'll keep you posted...

Dave

Okay, it is official... I have no spare time

With my addiction to facebook and trying to figure out Twitter (which I've had for over a year and NEVER used) I am spiraling downward into an Internet abyss that keeps getting deeper.
Curt Schilling, the great Boston Red Sox Pitcher, keeps touting TWITTER as one of his fave things, but I don't see the thrill yet.

Add to that Basketball games, practices, school programs...etc... and then factor in the fact that baseball practice starts this week and PRESTO! You have maximum busy-ness!

On the home front... Sherry has been busy with work...Dustin with school...Jared with Sports and me with all of the above... well, school in the sense that I help the boys with homework when I can...

Dustin's band kind of fell apart, so he's been a bit down about that... Jared's Basketball team keeps chalking up the wins and is heading towards their final game this weekend... hopefully they'll still be at only one loss for the season. They have a tourney coming up in a couple of weeks and then that's it for the year.

Baseball looks different for him this year with the collapse of his old team, the BULLDOGS. Several of the team members, along with Jared are forming "THE WARRIORS" and will start practice this week... I'm excited because in addition to wearing a Billy Butler shirt (GO ROYALS!) and drinking from an Alex Gordon mug (GO ROYALS!) I am a die hard baseball fan who is raring to go for another season of youth baseball! (GO WARRIORS!)

I don't have any recent Dustin pics or Sherry pics, but I do have a picture of the fuzzy-faced, bad breath girl that I woke up with this morning and some basketball pics of Jared's team beating their rivals 18-2... It was a good, very quick weekend....hope the next weekend gets here soon!
Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUSTIN...which is coming up this WEDNESDAY!

Have a good week and a Happy Valentine's Day....

Dave