Ry and Coop Dot Com

Monday was a busy day for me.  You might think it was because I had three conference calls, a weekend’s worth of emails and we’re in the middle of one of the best World Series games ever (I can write that now after last night’s game and tonight’s Game 7) but the real reason was because Ryan was home sick from day care.

I’m a patient man.  Anyone who knows me will go so far as to criticize me for my apparent lack of emotion.  I pride myself on being cool under pressure and calm while dealing with difficult people.  With that said, I never knew it was possible for a person (no matter how small) to really get to me.  It turns out I was wrong.  Did you know that a pan and a drum stick can entertain for hours?  I didn’t.  So, I take my hat off to the teachers in this world.  When politicians look to cut their pay, they should play this clip from the  Occupy Dave’s Head movement.  They’ll find other areas to cut.
       

In the giant treadmill of life, every now and then it’s nice to be reminded of the things that are important.  In our strive for bigger, better, faster and more expensive things, sometimes we can get lost in the pursuit.  This past weekend I saw through Ryan’s eyes the pure wonder and excitement of his tractor ride on Papa’s tractor.  Now this wasn’t Ryan’s first tractor ride but it was a great reminder of how it’s not always what you do but who you do it with.

I’m going to make a sweeping generalization about the human race.  It seems that, without fail, there is an inherent desire for all boys to challenge the boundaries of safety and fling themselves on high powered motorized vehicles.  Ryan made no such exception as he clamored for his chance to ride Papa’s “bike.”  After some internal debating, I decided it would be entirely safe for Ryan to ride the bike under the condition that Papa held him as I can barely use these things without killing myself.  I held steadfast to that rule until the end of our ride when we ran into Mom and Grammy.  Ryan pleaded to ride with Daddy and I couldn’t resist fighting the bright eyed request that seemed to say, “Dad, how cool would it be for father and son to ride one of these bikes, with the breeze in our hair and nothing but the fresh skies of Western New York in our way.”  We made it two feet before I decided to go up a steep drainage ditch and proceeded to slip backward and bounce us both on the seat at least a few inches (or maybe more) but luckily my Vulcan-like grip on Ryan and the break handle gave us all we needed to correct the bike.  At that point we circled back to where we began and Ryan found himself square in the safe lap of Papa.  I can make all kinds of excuses.   The grass was tall and hiding the severity of the incline, I didn’t really have a good start at the incline or… ummm… maybe I can find another one.  The truth is, I’m reminded of an important lesson.  Know your limitations and trust your instincts.  Ahh, who am I kidding.  The only lesson I learned here is to take those steep angles at higher speeds next time 🙂

Ryan and I spent the afternoon galavanting around the Electric City in search of some fun and interesting things to do. We found it in the form of fifteen war planes tucked away in a museum just five miles from my house! It was pretty cool to see the progress we’ve made since the first military aircraft (the civil war scout balloons by the way) and it was both cool and sad to see how big a role General Electric played in that development. From 1946 to 1967, GE developed military aircraft engines and radar technology right here in our neighborhood. Those jobs are long gone.

Of course, Captain Ryan wasn’t so bothered by the stresses of life. While I pondered the demise of a generation and the sacrifices of another, Ryan spent his energy trying to figure out how to turn on the helicopter and take off. While I wasn’t able to figure out any answers to the problems I was thinking about, I’m more thankful Ryan didn’t figure out his.

A quick blog to show off Ryan’s new talents!  Introducing, Ryan “Clapton” Austin and his very awesome Rock Band guitar (courtesty of Uncle Matt) and the “singing” at the end of the video.  Pay special attention to a certain hidden mommy who didn’t want to be recorded so early in the morning.  That might be the best part of the video.

It’s been awhile, a very long while, since I posted a blog entry here but I realized tonight that it’s not fair that I keep such cuteness from the world.  Please take special note to the additional moves from the previous few dancing videos… our little man is really picking up some groove.

I’ve found over the years that words are both very powerful and very delicate.  Words like hate and love can be used very cavalierly to emphasize a point or they can be used with such power.  Then, there are words that we don’t always understand.  Someone can use a word above our vocabulary to make us feel inferior or they can use a word in a slightly different dialect to confuse the ear.  Then there’s the first time we use our words.  This is an interesting time when we’re not really sure we’re using them correctly but we find that communicating with words is easier than with gestures and grunts.  Ryan’s clearly entered this stage.  He has a strong command over 30 or so words (his favorite being no) but he’s not clearly on probably a hundred or so more.  For example, if you ask Ryan to hand you a hammer, you may get a hammer or you may get a shoe.  If you ask Ryan to look at the fox over there you very likely will get something much more X rated.  These are indeed funny times.

Memorial Day is a time for relaxation and remembering those who’ve sacrificed everything to protect our country and our way of life.  For most Americans this holiday is designed so we take time out of our busy lives to remember.  For me, Memorial Day isn’t all that necessary since April 1st, 2006.  That was the day I lost my good friend Tim in Iraq.  From that day on, Memorial Day hasn’t been all that necessary since nearly every day is Memorial Day, a chance to remember Tim.

I hope Ryan finds a friend as good as Tim.  I’ll know he’s found him when I hear, for the first time, “What do you want to do today?” and Ryan will respond, “I don’t know, what do you want to do today.”  If that conversation lasts at least an hour and yet they’re both content just to be together, I’ll know he’s found his Tim. That’ll be a good day.

I’ve had some wonderful feedback from many who’re glad that I’ve started writing again.  The emails and comments have been well received.  So, with that said, I’m exhausted from a long day at Harris Hill.  For those not familiar with Harris Hill, well it’s another upstate NY amusement park equipped with all of the expected sketchy somewhat unsafe rides that are so much fun.  You think they’re not fun?  Well, watch this video!  So, am I writing a quick blog tonight?  Yup…cheating again.