Thursday through Monday

I've been lax, I know it. Here is my life, as of the last few days.

On Thursday of last week, I went to a practice for the church picnic choir. Actually, my wife, daughter, and a friend had been out to dinner, so we all went, really. When we got there, I discovered the practice had been the previous night. Oops – guess I am not going to be part of that, I thought to myself.

On Saturday, I recorded a new song – I set an ancient Latin sung prayer called the “Great Gloria” to Stax/R&B style music. I'm pretty sure the Gloria has never quite been sung such a way before!

Sunday: our parish priest always schedules the picnic for Father's day – I think its his funny way of getting as many people as possible to wish him a happy Father's day too – so that would be our big event of the day. I got up first Sunday, as I always do. I just can't sleep in. The kids stumbled down eventually half asleep. After an hour of not even acknowledging me, I grumped to my wife that they'd forgotten about me. She rolled her eyes. Later that day, I would discover they had in fact gotten me a mountain bike, as well as Star Wars trinkets they'd been holding onto for about a month. Never assume the worst, I reminded myself over and over that day. It was a particularly thoughtful gift. I love biking, but I'm a bit rough about it – my ten speed can barely take the punishment when I ride over to Conroy Pit.

I'd also been assuming that by missing practice during the week, that would be it for me and the choir. Quite the contrary – the band leader was relieved to see me, and set me about finding other singers. I gather almost nobody had showed up to practice. At least I went on Thursday. ;-)

On Monday, the women of my household all had a girl guide meeting for their camp this coming weekend – they're all going, and I will be all alone at home (except for the cat – he doesn't get to go either.) I decided to ride my new bike down to Mooney's Bay and go for a swim. And so I did. The water was very cold, colder than in early June, but it was a very hot day, and that can be quite refreshing. Fifty feet away, a woman was surfing – in a manner of speaking. You can't expect to ride the waves at Mooney's bay, which is on a very calm portion of river. So she would paddle out as fast as she could, come back in, and paddle out some more. Getting in shape for real surfing, I guess.

After my swim, I rode back to the Tim Horton's where my family was meeting with the other campers. My wife introduced me to everyone, and then smiled at me and said, “Now, go play, little boy.” Truth to tell, I felt like a little boy that day.

After all, don't you remember the freedom you felt when you got a new bike as a kid, and knew about all the places you could secretly go now?