Cold and Quiet
by Rob

It's Saturday, 7:24 AM. Abbie and a friend are asleep on the living room floor. The dogs are feed and relieved. The coffee's been made. I've had my bowl of Cinnamon Harvest.

And quite unexpectedly, I suddenly have nothing to do.

It's not that I don't have a list of things that are in need of attention, but rather, I don't know of anything that must be done this morning, or even today for that matter. I'll take Nathan to rehearsal mid-afternoon, but other than that, I can't think of a single scheduled event that I have to participate in today.

I'm almost glad that I was unaware that this down time was coming. Somehow, it feels like a gift.

The "holidays" were very special this year. Mom and Dad's visit was the highlight, for sure. They arrived on December 22. All of us New Yorkers had school on the 23rd, but Kim stayed home that day, still feeling the lingering effects of concussion from the car accident that happened on December 8. Except for an outing to see "Wicked" at Proctors, we didn't do all that much while they were here, but that's part of what made it so enjoyable, no real schedule, just time to be together.

Kim's family all came for the afternoon on Sunday the 27th. Everyone made it here this year, including all of the Scofields, and we had great time. Millie and Zeke didn't even wreck the party. In fact, they didn't seem to react to all of the people and noise. This was a pleasant surprise, and hopefully a forecast for their adult personalities.

Mom and Dad headed home on Tuesday the 29th. We spent the rest of the week, resting and getting some of the simple things on our to do list done. On New Year's eve, Lynn and Dave came over for dinner. Spending time with them that evening has become our tradition.

As we're heading into 2010, I'm struggling to keep from feeling a sense of dread about the next few months. Over the last several years, these winter months have become some of the most hectic of the year for me. March has become the toughest. At work, I'm preparing all 6 grade levels for concerts. One will take place in early February, but the other three all happen in March. In addition, we'll be preparing for the youth group's annual Winter Retreat. This year's event will happen during the final weekend in February. All of this is good stuff, and I enjoy it, but the convergence of all of these events has made it hard to catch my breath. When we toss in guitar lessons, piano lessons, dance lessons, choir rehearsals, youth group meetings, and now play practice... Even as I type all of that, I sense that it will read like whining. That's not really my intention, since, as I said, it's all good stuff, and I'm honestly grateful that our lives are so full of so many good things.

Last night, we had dinner with some friends. Nate was at rehearsal, but Abbie and her friend went with us. It was a simple gathering, but we had a great time. I'm pleased to remember that we have a similar plan with the Scheenstra's next Friday evening, and we're making plans to be with Miriam and Eric on MLK,Jr. day. Perhaps this might be the best way to tone down the pace of the next few months. We want to spend time with people, but often, we just don't plan things well enough to fit in such gatherings. Maybe we need to be more intentional about it.

Abbie seems to be handling seventh grade pretty well. Some time ago, I labeled this school year, "the bottom of life." Not that every thing's been easy for her (or us) this year, but if this is the bottom, things are going to be just fine. She's changing so quickly, and is often eager to be treated as a more mature person. Other times, she's happy to accept "kid status" if it will exempt her from being more responsible. Her grades are fine, and school seems to be going well. We hear about some of her school friends on occasion, but usually, she spends the greatest amount of time away from school focusing on friends from church. It's just dawning on me now that church is probably the social epicenter of her life. One of the best things about that is that it comes with a built in network of caring adults (that we know!) who are also looking out for her. I doubt that she's eager to go to worship or Sunday School, but I know that she doesn't ever want to miss going to church, and once we're there, she disappears into the mass of kids.

Nate is also having a pretty good year at school. His grades early this fall were low enough that we grounded him. In fact, he was grounded for at least a couple of months. Whether that was effective, or it was something else, like natural maturation, I'm not not sure, but he's definitely on a different track now. We are learning that it's very difficult for students to get A's at Tech Valley. A great deal of the grading is based on the group work that takes place for each of the projects. Dead weight in the ranks has been pulling down every one's grades. In spite of that, Nate's doing well, and he doesn't seem to be having difficulty managing his tasks.

At this point, he's halfway through the "13" rehearsal process. The show will run during the mid-February school break. I think that he's less than thrilled about the pace of rehearsals and the temperament of some of the staff, but I believe that this will be valuable for him. Most people have a romantic view of "being in a show." I think this is a pretty good dose of reality. I think that he'll always be interested in doing this sort of thing, and he may even be entertaining thoughts of pursuing a career in performing. Having this sort of experience is certainly going to help him figure that out.

Like Abbie, his physical transformation has be happening quite rapidly. He seems taller every week. Not more than two weeks after auditioning for "13" his voice started to change. The change is now pretty well done. Eric Barnes called this week and Nate answered the phone. It confused Eric so much that he thought he dialed the wrong number. Fortunately, Nate's not experiencing any serious difficulties singing at this stage. I think that the higher parts of his role will require more effort now, but he's added some depth that will really help him sing the role.

One of the best things about Nate's participation in this show is that so many family members are coming to see him. Mom and Dad will be back on the February 17. Uncle Jim and Aunt Susan plan to come on the weekend. Yesterday we got word that Melanie and Aunt Janet may try to come as well. This is great, and since it will be during our vacation week, we'll have so much more time. I'm really looking forward to that week.

It's now, 8:26 and the girls are getting up. So I'll make some breakfast and find some other things to do. I'm still experiencing some real pleasure in the realization that I don't know what I'm going to do today.