The Sillage of a Man

This is a repost from my Facebook account in remembrance of my father-in-law who passed away a year ago Saturday

There is a word, often used to describe the smell perfume or cologne can leave in the air, called sillage. It is a noun. Another way of defining "sillage" could be to say the impression made in space after someone or something has passed through.

Yesterday we remembered my father-in-law and the life he lived to the fullest.

My wife,, bravely endured a little bit of physical pain so that when the emotional pain becomes a bit much, she can always look over her shoulder at her father and smile.

I watched my sons dance and spread love and joy at a memorial service in remembrance of a great man. And we all smiled at them as we remembered the man who spread love and joy through a sometimes dark world, many times with a silly dance to an oldie song.

Today I decided to read through my old journals and found that I had written the definition for "sillage" down because it was such an odd and archaic word for something I had experienced but wasn't aware had been defined.

And I realized that my father-in-law left one hell of a "sillage" in his wake. The impression that he left in my life, and in the lives of everyone he touched, is so great that it will never fade. And while it makes me sad that this sillage is what is left, it makes me smile that he lived a life to leave such a great one.

This is the tattoo my wife got on Saturday in memory of her father. They both loved ducks. When flying in a V-formation, the duck in the lead with fall back to rest and fly at the back of the formation. The duck at rest (top right) represents her daddy. 

What a weekend!

Had a great time this past weekend. Ran in the Beach 2 Bay Relay Marathon. For those of you unaware, the Beach 2 Bay is the largest Relay Marathon in the world and is an annual rite of passage for those living in South Texas. 

This was my second time running it. This time I ran the third leg which goes over the causeway from Padre Island and ends up right outside the Naval Air Station here. 

It was a beautiful view from the top of the JFK causeway looking out over the Laguna Madre as the sun rose behind me, though it was overcast and muggy as all hell. And I was woefully under prepared for the run. 

Last year, I swore that I would do a better job of staying in shape so that when B2B came around I would not be in as much pain as I was last year. I did alright keeping that promise and was in pretty decent running shape up until about three weeks ago. 

Three weeks ago I was playing with R.J. and J.T. and somehow twisted wrong and did something with my rib. I don't know if I tweaked a rib muscle or popped it out of socket a bit, but it hurt something fierce. So bad that I even made a trip to the ER clinic in town. 

Long story short, that put a hiatus on most any type of exercise for the next three weeks. So I went into Beach 2 Bay as cold as you can get. 

I knew I was in trouble when I got about halfway up the bridge and my calves were already burning from the climb and I was desperately checking my phone to see how much distance I had left. 

The worst part came however when I hit about the two mile mark. At about this point, my right foot went completely numb. This had never happened to me before and it was a bit disturbing. Not too mention that it made running that much more difficult. It was hard to tell how my foot was hitting the ground because I couldn't feel it. 

I would ease up my pace and walk a bit and the feeling would return but as soon as I began to run again BOOM! my foot would go back numb. 

So my final 2 miles was more of a start/stop than a run and I  am sure that those passing me though I must've been crazy as I walked around shaking my foot around. 

In the end though I finished, and just like last year, the finishing is the best part. There really is nothing like going to the finish line celebration and cheering on the last leg, plus hanging out with literally thousands of people who have just gone through the same thing you have. 

Still, Monday morning was a sore morning and I limped my way through work the rest of the day. Hopefully this year I really will be able to stay in shape and maybe even improve to the point where I can begin approaching runs like Beach 2 Bay with a competitive bent rather than just as a fun activity to do once a year. 

I do know though that no matter what kind of shape I am in, I will run again next year. 

Blog Challenge

To say that I update this blog infrequently would probably be the understatement of the century. And despite many of my best intentions, it would seem that I always have serious trouble making posts of any kind on this blog. I think that is for a variety of reasons, but at the top of that list of reasons is the fear that I don't have anything of worth to say.

So in order to slide my away around that fear and doubt, I have decided that I am going to challenge myself to update this blog at least five times a week. The reason I am challenging myself in this way is that it will force me to post updates without worrying over whether I have anything of value to say.

I just hope that I will be able to stick to this deceleration as I usually tend to quickly forget about resolutions I make. But who knows, maybe making it public in this manner will force me to stick closely to my goal.

I'm not sure how long I am going to keep this up either. Hopefully until blogging on a regular basis becomes a habit.

You Reap What You Sow

Super Saturday is upon us and CNN will begin covering the results in just a few hours. Super Tuesday has come and gone, and though the playing field has narrowed to just four the conversation still centers around Donald Trump as it has throughout this entire primary season.

The GOP establishment is in a panic and news networks are trying to explain the seemingly inexorable force that is The Donald. Despite comments and a campaign strategy that would doom any other campaign to a very public death (I'm looking at you Howard Dean), The Donald continues to ride roughshod over the Republican primaries. It is almost as though his hair is actually made of a carbon fiber/Teflon weave rather than of left over straw from Scarecrow's costume from the Wizard of Oz.

But really his rise to power (and ability to go the distance) shouldn't be that surprising. The GOP is just reaping what they have sown. For the past eight years the GOP has railed against Washington and the establishment. Ted Cruz's rise to power was on the same wave the Trump has now commandeered. In fact next to Trump, Cruz screams "Washington Insider".

No, The Donald's rise to power is a direct result of all the hard work that the GOP has put into bringing down President Obama and the Democrats. Only now they have lost control of it. If you have seen any of the Jurassic Park movies, you're familiar with the overall plot points.

And to further complicate the issue, the other three candidates have yet to step down and unify behind one candidate. Were this to happen, they might just have a chance to stop Trump. But in effect, Rubio, Cruz and Kasich have become third party candidates within their own party who do nothing except fracture the vote so that Trump emerges victorious again and again. And it is only going to become worse if Rubio wins Florida and Kasich wins Ohio. They will only use that as a further proof that they should remain in the race, and more than likely Trump will continue to pick up delegates from everywhere else.

Even if after this weekend they do finally unify like some political Voltron, it may be too late to stop Trump. Had there only been three candidates at the beginning of the primary it is likely that Trump would have already been defeated, but he was able to win again and again because of his strong base, a base that was created by the GOP establishment.

The question now is where does the GOP go from here? In all honesty, it may not have a choice in the end to either support Donald Trump. Either that or disown him. But what will that do to the GOP? Could we be witnessing the death of a party? Or the creation of a new one?