Found: Long Lost Friend

In 1976 my dad and Uncle John drove us down to Burlington's Battery Park where we picked up our one and only Fresh Air kid. The Fresh Air Fund is a nonprofit that places inner city kids (ours came from Queens) with families in rural settings for a couple of weeks in the summer.

Chad spent 15 summers with us. He was a great friend. When my mom passed away, however, we lost touch with Chad. He never came up again. I always hoped that he was well and wished he knew that we never meant it to end that way.

Twenty-nine years later, he found us on Facebook. I just got off the phone with him. He lives in rural Wisconsin and sounds happy. He was worried maybe we wouldn't remember him.

I never stopped thinking about you Chad. So glad that we're back in touch. Can't wait to catch some fish with you sometime in the future!

Three-Year-Old Violin Lesson?

Violin lessons for a three-year-old? You've got to be kidding me. That, at least, is what I told Gunnar's violin teacher, who is set to start teaching him in two weeks. She describes a lesson with a three-year-old as "busy." And, she says, "we are a teacher, parent, student triangle." Which means I attend all lessons and supposedly learn alongside him.

At which point, I recalled my one and only experience with a violin -- an experience I did not share with her, but I'm about to share with you:

I have always been intrigued with the instrument, so I visited the violin shop off of Church Street several years ago. I taught myself how to play guitar with a beginner book and a cheap guitar; how hard could violin be? I explained this to the violin shop people, and they agreed; and they said I could rent a violin for 30 days to "try it on." Interesting!

I asked if I could see the instrument, and they handed me one of the rentals. I opened a "Violin 1" book, which I'm sorry to say didn't really make much sense. Still, here I was: in a violin shop holding a violin and a bow. Now or never, right? I positioned the instrument on my shoulder and held the bow in place. I placed fingers on strings and paused, holding the bow inches about the strings ready to slide.

There were probably six other people in the shop (employees included) that were exposed to the... the sound... ("screech" would probably better describe it) that came off that instrument at the moment when bow hit string. There was no second try: I put the beginner book down and returned the instrument to the counter without making eye contact or communicating in any way. I immediately left the shop.

Hopefully Gunnar's first violin experience is better!

Mother's Day Activities

As someone who lost his mother at age sixteen, you'll understand that it's been many years since I participated too enthusiastically in Mother's Day festivities. This changed three years ago; Gunnar was born, and when the second Sunday in May came around, I suddenly had a holiday on my hands requiring observance!

I asked Alison what she wanted to do on "her" day. Her answer: she wanted breakfast, she wanted to do a long run, and she wanted to bring Gunnar down to my mom's grave site to plant flowers. This has become a sort of family tradition (I hope the kids don't mind as they get older -- don't worry, I'm not making them stand while I read prayerbooks or any weird grave site stuff). This year, the kids' role was minimal; it was a rainy Mother's Day, and they were sound asleep in the car anyway. Ali did bring the sleeping Ingrid over for about 30 seconds (at 10-months-old, it was her first visit); Gunnar remained snoring in his seat.

Exactly who did what (or who was even awake) wasn't really the important thing to me. To have my wife and kids at the site where my mother is buried on the date on the calendar that celebrates maternity and motherhood was a special experience. Mothers -- even ones that only make it to the age of forty -- are important people who deserve to be celebrated.

Photo: My mother and me (who is sporting a hairstyle similar to Ingrid's current 'do).

Draft Almost Upon Us

With the regular season fast approaching, Team Aiken is looking forward to the upcoming draft. The team feels very strongly about the positive performance from their latest draft pick, the two-year-old Gunnar. The rookie has endless upside and proved that he had the chemistry to fit in with the current team.

So with one more cog left to complete the team, plenty of excitement and questions surround the upcoming draft. What will the gender be? And the name? Even the date of the draft is up in the air. Gunnar came on the last possible day, having avoided an induction by mere hours. The due date for this next team member is June 28, but sources close to the team indicate that the actual date could be plus or minus two weeks.

One thing is certain: a fourth team member will soon join the team. And if the group's draft history shows anything, the new prospect will most likely show lots of promise.

Vermont City By The Numbers

Here are some of the numbers surrounding my training for next month's Vermont City Marathon:

Personal current marathon count: 19

Consecutive VCMs leading up to 2015: 10

Training mileage last week: 29

Number of miles last week running with at least one dog: 29

Number of miles in preparation for 2015 VCM: Not enough

Number of snow days during 2014-15 marathon prep season that I skied instead of ran: all of them

Last year's VCM time: 3 hours 12 minutes

2013 VCM time: 3 hours 12 minutes

2012 VCM time: 3 hours 11 minutes

Projected 2015 VCM time: much slower than that

Exactly how much I regret all the decisions to ski this winter instead of run: not at all

So that's the situation leading up to this year's Vermont City. See you on the course!

Adding Vocabulary

As Gunnar closes in on the two-year mark (he turns two next March), he has passed a key developmental mile-mark. That's right, he has begun to speak. Here are a few of his words, their meanings, and how they are used in day-to-day speech.

"Uh-oh." This phrase is used immediately prior to throwing something to the ground. Note: the more the item can splat or splatter, the better. Example: "Uh-oh!" [throws open cup of milk from high chair to floor].

"Apple." This word applies to anything edible. Except apples. While he'll eat apple sauce like a champ, he doesn't usually prefer to put apples in his mouth -- unless they are covered with peanut butter, in which case he will lick off the peanut butter and then throw apple slice to ground (see "uh-oh). Example: [Sees my plate of curry potatoes, vegetables, and beet salad]. "Apple!"

"Deet-doe." This phrase means "here I go" or "here we go." Usually used in a command form i.e. "Here I go and you are coming with me." Example: [Sees that I have sat down after a particularly strenuous activity]. "Deet-doe!"

Meanwhile, Gunnar continues to use another language for a high percentage of his conversation. As he learns more English, I will be sure to ask him before he forgets about what he was saying in that other foreign language. Some of it sounded pretty important.

Trip Report: Austria 2014

It was the trip of a lifetime. Okay, let's back up a second. On paper, there was plenty that could go wrong, right? A European vacation with an 18-month-old and the in-laws? Get real -- what was I thinking!

Moving back to real time, as I mentioned, the trip of a lifetime. The five travelers in our group were completely compatible, due to shared interests and a total can-do attitude. It would have been tough not to have fun. Ali and I -- despite limited practice (okay, who am I kidding... I did not practice at all) -- had a great time communicating in German. In fact, my understanding of the language was the best of all five times I have visited this area of the world. I can't wait to go back.

We biked, hiked, ate amazingly good food, sampled the local beers and wines (and plenty of them), and did a few tourist things. There were three legs of the trip -- Obertraun (a tiny little Austrian mountain village), Ruhpolding (the hometown of old friends the Pichler family), and Salzburg (tourist central -- and we were right there with 'em).

Leg One (6 days): Obertraun. Stayed at Haus Hepi. The longest leg, we were surrounded by amazing mountains, we did three great bike rides, we ate exquisite food prepared by Larry, co-owner of Haus Hepi, and we had just a fabulous time. Here, Gunnar established that he was going to travel like a champ. We also jumped in the Kaiserlauf -- Bad Ischl's local half-marathon.

Leg Two (2 days): Ruhpolding. Pam Pichler hooked us up with the Heigermoser family who have a couple of vacation apartments (and who make the best cakes in Ruhpolding) and took us on a breathtaking hike through alpine meadows to a Gipfelkreuz on a knife-edge ridge that came out of nowhere. Thank you Pam for the locals' knowledge! We also took Gunnar to the local pool -- which had the most amazing kiddie pool setup I have ever seen (Ali and I also took turns hitting the water slide).

Leg Three (2 days): Salzburg. Ali and I had both been here before but mostly passing through. My memories of prior visits: (slightly fuzzy) large beers, bad food, no flow. This visit was different on all counts. It turns out one can order a half-liter beer at the Augustiner beer garden (not sure if this option was available last visit or if I only saw the full-liter option). Meanwhile, we had incredible food both days, and we had a great time wandering the city.

I love visiting a place and speaking the language. I love how beautiful Austria and Bavaria are. I love Austrian and Bavarian beer, wine, and food. Most of all, I loved traveling there with our team -- Ali, Gunnar, Doug, and Ruth.

Two take-aways from this trip. It is possible to travel with an 18-month-old... and have a good time.

Second, let me know if you hear of any ski instructing jobs in the Obertraun/Dachstein area. I'd take it in a second.