Ran about 3.5 miles in the evening with Ben and Nellie at 6:50 pace. Hey, Nellie's running strong! Felt okay, not great. School starts tomorrow.
30 years later:
Ah, yes, the last day before the start of school. I remember those days well. For me, it was always a bittersweet experience. Summers were great, of course. A few days at the family cottage, many weekend afternoons at Devil's Lake swimming with friends, the ability to just relax without any worries. On the other hand, I actually missed school. I know, that might sound funny or odd, but for me the structure of school was a kind of comfort, a routine that I could settle into quickly. It's not that I loved homework or studying for exams, but I did love learning.
People will claim that they learn something everyday; I find that a bit unlikely. If you open your mind to it, I suppose you can observe things everyday and perhaps learn something. But it's more likely that you actually were learning something everyday when you were in school. At some basic level, I found that to be exciting. Teachers were people whom I admired and looked up to, I aspired to be able one day to share what I knew using logical, well-planned methods, just like the best teachers. Being able to communicate and inform in a way that is clear, concise, and never condescending is a skill that will take you far in life.In my career, I think I have parlayed that style into at least some modicum of success.
Nellie was my best friend in high school, and we share plenty of stories. I remember one evening run with Nellie. We were running in my neighborhood on a cool summer night after dark. While the streets were well-lit, the tree-lined sidewalks where we ran were always much darker and offered only dappled light from the street lamps. We were only a few blocks into our run, when out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a small dog chasing us. I think I said something like, "Look out" while pointing, and accelerated to avoid the onrushing mutt. I must have caught Nellie completely off-guard, because instead of increasing his speed, he hesitated and stared into the darkness to see what the heck I was warning him about. The thing was, I've never had very good night vision. You see, it wasn't a dog. It was a skunk.
Those animals don't see all that well, and the two of them were on a perfect collision course. I spun around just in time to see Nellie go air-born over the top of the fast-waddling creature, who must have been so shocked that (luckily) he forgot all about his ability to spritz intruders with his vile juices. Nellie, never much of a leaper, seemed to be about four feet off the ground, and blurted out a "holy sh!t" while levitating there. He finally hit the ground and we scrambled away at top speed, feeling blessed that neither of us would be bathing in tomato juice for the rest of the night.
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