The Whistle and Sextant

Today at the end of the day in the office, I had a call from CJ- She was excited to tell me that today when she and roommate Veronica left for school they heard flowing water that they had not previously noticed. Rainy day or not, they went exploring and found a little creek at the end of their cul-de-sac, with just enough extra water flow to make the sound that attracted their attention. She sounded delighted to have found this, with its attendant birds and a tiny rapids/waterfall. That’s how to live in the here and now- alert to what you hear, curious enough to seek out more about your surroundings. You go, Catherine and Veronica!

Catherine and I were fortunate to harness up with Ben Fischer, Bob Bittner and the rest of the Mules to ride the C and O Canal earlier this month. It was a 4 day ride, with a lot of excitement and preparatory riding leading up to it. Catherine made having the days off a prerequisite for taking her summer lifeguarding job. We rode up with Ben and Liz Fischer, as well as Sarah and Teddie, met and stayed with Bens parents, and shared stories the whole 5 days.

This post is probably like one of those walking uphill through the snow both ways stories that people like to tell and that children roll their eyes at then promptly forget. As I sit in my house surrounded by a laptop, a tablet, a macbook, a desktop with a cell phone processor that does not need a fan, 2 traditional desktops, 3 cell phones and a “smart phone”, 2 iTouches, 6 iPods and 7 digital cameras, it is hard to think back to even when Catherine was born 19 years and 51 weeks ago and how different things were. Read more…