Kurt's Korner

My son, the coffee lover

I pick my son Andy up from preschool every Wednesday morning so we can go out for lunch - something he calls "our boy time date." I let him choose the restaurant, and we enjoy a little one-on-one time.

This past Wednesday he wanted to go to the IHOP, which was A-Okay with me. After lunch, I wanted to stop by the mall to pick up a new pair of sunglasses, so we pulled into the mall parking lot and started toward the stores.

We just so happened to park in the Macy's parking lot at the mall. As this picture reveals, Macy's logo incorporates a large red star at the beginning of its name, and a small black star in place of an apostrophe. Well, Andy being in preschool, he is fascinated by letters right now. He calls out each letter, trying to spell the words he sees.

As we walked toward Macy's entrance, Andy said, "Look Dad - STAR, M, A, C,  Y, STAR, S. STARBUCKS. I love Starbucks, don't you, Dad?

Just a little chuckle for your day, my friends.

And he's off!

If you know my 4-year-old son, Andy, you know that he's... how should I put this? He's... active. I've had more than one person ask me (mostly serious, too), "does he walk anywhere?" The answer, if you're curious, is NO. Time to eat? He's running to the table. Time for church? He's running out the door, across the sidewalk, into the church. Time for bath? He's running - no, streaking - from the dirty clothes basket, through the house, to the tub. One of his favorite games is racing people. I will be the announcer, and once the race begins, I'll say, "And he's off!" followed by (pardon the pun) a running commentary on how the race is going. He even races his big sister when she's on her bike. Becca wins, but he goes down trying.

Like I said, my son is active.

Because of his activity level, Andy has been given a few much-deserved nicknames. My favorites:

Dash, after the hyper-fast son in the Incredibles.

Speedy Gonzales, after "the fastest mouse in all Mech-i-co!"

His personal favorite:

Lightning McQueen, after the hotshot Piston Cup racecar in Pixar's movie, Cars. McQueen's signature phrase could just as easily describe my son: "Speed? I am speed."

For as long as I can remember, it's been like this - whatever Andy does, he does it fast.

Today I realized that this also applies to him growing up.

This morning, Cathy and I took Andy to his first day at preschool. He was so excited! We hadn't been there more than 10 minutes when he told me, "Dad, I love preschool." At the end of this brief, orientation-type first day, the preschool director said, "you can stick around and play for another seven minutes," before the next orientation class began. When Andy caught my eyes, he said, "What about eight more minutes?" On the way home, he said he can't wait until his next day of preschool because he will be able to spend more time there and he can be by himself.

And just like that, our 4-year-old is ready for his next phase of life.

No more being at home all day, every day. Now "Miss Ruth" and "Miss Sue" are taking care of Andy three mornings each week. No more unscheduled, wide open play time. Now he has a commitment and structure. Good things, but he grew up so quickly!

And he's off!

Yes, Andy's off.

Bizarro World, Michigan Style

The Michigan Wolverines, a college football powerhouse with a pre-season ranking of #5 in the country, started 2007 with an ignominious opening-day loss to Division 1-AA Appalachian State University. This historic loss prompted a historic drop in the rankings - from #5 before the season to unranked after one week.

Yesterday, U of M followed up its less-than-stellar Week One performance with a 39-7 spanking, courtesy of University of Oregon.

The Michigan Wolverines are winless.

On the other hand, the Detroit Lions opened their season with a 36-21 put-down of the Oakland Raiders.   That's right... U of M is winless. The Lions are undefeated.

Welcome to Bizarro World, Michigan style.

Silent Observer

Hi. Remember me?

I know, I know, I know. It's been almost 2 months since I last posted. What can I say? Too busy? Too distracted? Too apathetic? All of the above? Yeah, that's it - All of the above.

But just because things have been quiet on the Korner doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention to what's going on around me. In the following days, I'll share a few observations I've noted, but haven't shared. And let's start with this one:

As I mentioned in my previous post (you know... the one from the middle of July), I like to walk in the park across the road from where I live and work. All summer long, I've been walking laps around the park, and for much of the summer I've seen how the draught conditions here in West Michigan have punished the pasture land in and around the park. Brown, crunchy, lifeless grass was the norm for much of June, July and nearly all of August. And, to be honest, I felt that way inside, too. Parched, beaten down, almost lifeless.

But then the rain came. Not much at first, but it came. Almost immediately, the grass in the park showed signs of life. And when we finally had one of those weeks where we had two, three, four inches of rain the grass looked like it had never even been pushed to the brink of dying.

Here's what I took from that: I sometimes psych myself out when it comes to personal growth, telling myself that I'm so far gone it will take a miracle to bring about new growth. I make it harder than it has to be. I learned this summer that a little rain is enough to refresh and restore me. A little personal time with God. A little journaling. A little silent reflection.

Just a little. Sometimes that's enough.