The Rapids are Approaching

What a day! If most days are like floating down a long lazy river, today ended like class 5 rapids followed by Niagara Falls.

On my drive into work this morning the radio played the Logical Song by Supertramp. We’ve all heard this song a billion times. This morning, for some odd reason, a heard the sax bridge and thought it sounded a lot like Quaterflash’s “Harden My Heart”. That took my mind off to the time when I actually saw Quarterflash in concert. It was the Mann Music Amphitheater in Philadelphia way back in 1981. (Now we are showing our age!)

I remember that year because it was my first summer as a counselor at Camp Comet – the space age camp for boys. I remembered riding from Waynesboro, PA on our long day off with 3 other counselors to Philly for the show. Unfortunately, I only remember the name of one of those guys, Steve Joynt.

I remember Steve for both the unusual last name and because we became pretty good buds that summer. We were two crazy white protestant southern boys in a northern summer camp for Jewish boys. We traveled together. We did the camp morning radio show on the PA system together. And we laughed at the kid and other counselors until our sides ached.

This was now officially one of my “I-wonder-what-ever-happened-to-Steve” moments. I do this fairly often, not just with Steve but with many long lost friends. With the internet, it can be really easy to follow-up on the questions and find out. So I did.

It didn’t take me 15 minutes to find Steve, his web page, his email address, and to get a short note off to him. Needless to say, he was surprised to hear from me after 25 years. We only exchanged quick “What-are-you-doing-nows”, but I look forward to hearing more about the years and maybe getting together for a drink the next time we are in the same town.

I did a bit more searching on Google for “Camp Comet” and ran across a couple of memory pages. I found a fellow counselor named Richard Winestock and shot an email off to him. I’ve yet to hear from Richard, but it hasn’t bounced yet either. We’ll see. I also came across a guest registration site for Comet alumni. I signed to register and also found the name of my favorite camper from those days, Adam A (not pictured above).

Another quick search on Adam’s name and another quick email off to Adam. He replied right away, and he was surprised as well. Adam is now a lawyer in Bethesda, MD. I look forward to hearing more about Adam’s life as well as having drinks or a dinner when I’m up that way.

About that time, a co-worker calls my name and asks me a technical question. That was the end of the lazy river for me. Next thing I know, I’m up to my elbows in somebody else’s computer case.

Then my Mother calls wanting to know if she can come over tonight to talk to me and my wife. I say sure (especially since shy never asks to do that). I can also hear some dread in her voice.

Next, another co-worker calls and needs me to possibly go to Dallas, TX to help a customer.

On the drive home I get another call wanting me to go to Jacksonville, FL. Then the first co-worker calls with another question. Then I get an email asking if I have time to go to Michigan. “Uh, I don’t think so.”

Right after my wife gets home from work my mom shows up and drops us all over Niagara.





My uncle has terminal cancer!




OMFG!



Typing those words just makes the pit in my stomach grow and kick. After all we have been through with Mr. C (father-in-law), we were really looking for 2006 to bring us a break. I guess it doesn’t work that way.

And my poor mother. Damn! She is having to find assisted care for my Grandmother who will not want to go and now this. We lost my Dad 10 years ago and my mom’s father 5 years ago. Now to hit her with problems with her Mother and only Brother at the same time just reeks. Just REEKS.

So it looks like my Uncle D will need chemo for a few weeks and then an operation. No details on this blog right now, but the odds of survival of this kind of operation are a bit under 20% and even then, well, there are other problems to worry about.

My wife, bless her, did some great research on assisted care and got a great list of questions to ask while trying to find a place. Mr. C used to be in a related field, so I’m sure most of that came from him. Bless them both. They are the blessings in my life.

So now it is late and I have to work tomorrow and figure where, if anywhere I’m going on business. I also need to call my brothers since they don’t know any of this yet (at the time of writing – I can’t post until I talk to them – you understand). So tomorrow, I’ll hug my wife and dogs a little harder and work a little harder and probably try to live a little harder. And pray.