Ironing a Shirt

A son’s 25th birthday celebration. All the kids home for the weekend. Laughter, discussions, more laughter. Beautiful fall weather. A lunch hour swim. A late afternoon bike ride. A phone call, an e-mail, a card in the mail. A drive through the neighborhood. These are among the memories of the last few days. Life doesn’t get much better.

And yet today, September 11, 2004 is also a time of reflection over the past three years. I can remember ironing a shirt a couple of days after the towers fell in 2001. Seeing the wrinkles disappear some how brought comfort. Sometimes when I wear that shirt I still remember that night.

Dry Canyon

Here's the Salt Lake valley as seen from last night's after-work ride up Dry Creek Canyon east of the University of Utah. I haven't been as serious about mountainbiking this summer as swimming. Early in the ride I thought I'd traded lungs for gills with all the pool time, but once my endorphins kicked in the ride turned out great.

You can breathe all you want underwater, but exhaling only is generally more comfortable.

Dog Bone It

"Pursue, keep up with, circle round and round your life, as a dog does his master's chaise. Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still."
-Henry Thoreau