Give Time Time….

I recently had an interesting trip to the North Carolina mountains. I’d been to the mountains plenty of times before, so nothing new there. It was the place where I stayed for the two nights I was there that had played a part in my past. It brought back some long-ago memories. Time can be tricky that way at times…

As best I can recall, it was likely some thirty years ago that I visited this inn. My then-wife and I had answered one of those marketing calls that would gain us some gift in return for letting the salespeople have a couple of hours of our time. I do not recall what that gift was these many years later. Turns out the salesperson must have been pretty good because we ended up purchasing a coveted one week per calendar year at some other place in the N.C. mountains.

This afternoon I decided it might be a neat idea to go to the lobby of the inn and try to recall what that day would have been like some thirty years ago. And while it didn’t bring back any immediate memories, I realized that place had been a part of my journey so many years ago. So many things had transpired since then. We were married at that time and would eventually have two children. Our children would grow up and become adults and have children of their own. Of course we would not be together forever, as we separated and then divorced after twenty-three years of marriage.

So I walked through the lobby of the inn this evening and thought to myself about the fact I’d been there before. If only I could go back to that time and tell myself what I know to be true today. I wouldn’t have purchased that time-share that day. I would be more cautious about areas in my life. But of course, I’m not accorded that opportunity. Time and life don’t work that way.

Perhaps, just perhaps, today is healing in a manner of speaking. I know I did the best that I could to make things right in life and of course, also made a lot of mistakes along the way. I know I’ll likely never return to this inn, and so tomorrow morning I’ll be saying good-bye one last time.

Summer Reflections….

Summer vacation is quickly coming to a close and as it does, I reflect on what I’ve done during this time off from work.

Walking, walking, and more walking. It’s a healthy habit I renewed on Memorial Day of this year. It was my first real day off from working and I saw several people out enjoying their walks and decided to take it up again myself. Two summers ago I had done much the same and it didn’t take long before I was taking more than one walk per day. All told, I will have walked over 300 miles since that point and think it is a habit I’ll continue in the months to come.

While I am walking, I enjoy listening to music and audiobooks on my phone with the use of air pods. I have a playlist of favorite tunes and am consistently adding music to the list. I also am subscribed to an app that allows me to listen to quite a few insightful books. I’ve discovered quite a few texts that I’ve actually ended up buying the hard copy of the book and enjoy listening to and then reading or vice versa. Most of the books are what I guess you’d call self-help or spiritual in nature.

I’m preparing to start yet another interim position to begin my forty-third year in the classroom. It’ll be an eighth-grade social studies maternity leave. I’m presently scheduled to work through the first week in October. There will be some in my classes that I’ve been with for four years now in an interim capacity. I first taught this group of students when they were in the fourth grade, the “year of covid.” I then had them again in the sixth grade, when I taught them for half of the school year. Last year I once again did a half-year interim position. And now there’s this one. There will be a handful of students who I’ve been in contact with for three of their past four school years and I think that’s pretty neat.

This past week I celebrated my twenty-first year of sobriety from alcohol. I joked with my recovery family that I was now of legal drinking age…ha ha. I had ordered a fancy medallion, but had left it in its packaging until my actual sobriety date, August 10th. I contemplated writing a blog about my journey in recovery, but at present am just leaving it at this mention. I figure anonymity serves a purpose and if you’ve made it to this point in my post, you’re not anyone I would mind breaking my anonymity with.

So as I sit here at Barnes and Noble, I’ll enjoy these last few days of vacation and it’s off to the races again.

David Lee

The Trails in Life

Over the past ten weeks I have been walking to try to get back to physical wellness and create some mental clarity. In addition to the usual walking paths around town, I’ve ventured out to some that I haven’t traveled before. The results have been quite interesting and I’ve come to the conclusions that those walking/hiking paths can be a lot like life.

Several weeks I tried out a new walking trail at a park I hadn’t been to in quite some time

Random Thoughts for a Friday…

I sometimes don’t have anything particular to write about, but still feel like writing. So here goes another edition of my meandering thoughts on this Friday morning…

  • The summer vacation from teaching is quickly approaching its end. Just a month from now, we’ll be welcoming students for another school year. I always look forward to starting back, even though it’s just an interim maternity leave position. Due to restrictions on how much money I can make per calendar year, this position will be the only assignment I’ll be able to accept until January of 2024. My assignment is eighth-grade social studies, which will mean I’m working with some students for the fourth year. I was their sub for the fourth, sixth, and seventh grades previously. Since I don’t sub in high schools, this will be my last go-round with them.
  • I’ve been reading and listening to quite a few “self-help” books this summer. I rarely read an entire book before I start another, but that’s just my style. I’ll post a list of the books on another blog in case there are those of you interested. I also have an app on my phone that lets me listen to the books. I’ll either listen to a chapter and then read it or visa versa…. who would have thought that twenty years ago I rarely read anything.
  • To be continued….

Continuing the Course….

This summer season I decided to practice some personal care by starting to walk each day. Although I started off slowly, I’ve gradually been able to work my way up to over five miles each day. Yesterday, I achieved a personal record, with over ten miles logged in my walking regimine.

Several summers ago, I started the summertime habit of walking each day. Once school started back, I stopped walking and in retrospect, got a bit lazy. When summer vacation from teaching roled around this year, I made a commitment to myself to start walking again.
I’m fortunate in that our fair city has plenty of places to walk. By far my favorite has been the local university that I attended both as an undergraduate and graduate student. I plotted a course that enabled me to log exactly one mile with each lap. I also will venture from the university to our town’s new “City Walk” and walked to our downtown area and then back. This walk encompasses about three and a half miles.

While I’m walking, I’ll many times listen to music and/or audiobooks on my ear buds that are connected to my phone. And then again sometimes, I’ll just listen to the sounds of the surroundings. So not only am I getting in my physical exercise, but clearing my mind and learning new things as well.

Thus far, I’ve logged over 225 miles since Memorial Day. This week, I’ll have more mileage for the week than at any other point. The devices I use like “Map My Walk” and “Fitbit” help me to stay motivated since I’m very much a numbers-oriented person.

The big challenge will come in August when the school year starts back. While I realize that I’ll log quite a few steps in the midst of my teaching day, I’ll still plan on taking at least one walk each day outside school hours. I’m looking forward to teaching again, but this time around, I won’t allow working to stand in the way of my continued commitment to walking and taking care of myself from both and physical and mental standpoint.

David Lee

Still Walking the Walk….

On Memorial day of this year, fresh off another year in the classroom, I decided I need to start walking again. My A1C numbers were a bit high and the doctor mentioned that exercise would help. Today I marked an important milestone, with just over 200 miles since I made that decision to start walking.

A couple of summers ago, I had gotten into the healthy habit of walking. Last summer I didn’t put in many miles at all. This summer, I once again decided it was something I needed to do, both from a mental and physical standpoint. At some point in my walking today, I passed the two-hundred-mile mark for the summer and would like to say I’m proud of myself.

Most all of my walking has been at Southside Park in nearby Conover and Lenoir-Rhyne University, my alma mater. I usually have two sessions of walking each day, one in the morning and one in the evening. During my walks, I listen to music, podcasts, and audiobooks. I use the “Map My Walk” app on my phone to keep track of my mileage. Since I’m a numbers guy, I also have a chart that I keep in my journal of my mileage numbers each day.

One of the things I really had as a goal was to lose some weight and that has been somewhat discouraging. I started out at 226 pounds and through the seven weeks I’ve been walking, have only lost about four and a half pounds. I had hoped the pounds would come off quickly, but such has not been the case. At one point my weight did drop to 218, but even then it wasn’t coming off as quickly as I had hoped. My daughter reminded me yesterday that muscle weighs more than fat and that my slow reduction in weight might be due to increased muscle mass.

The past week or so has been hot and humid and that makes walking a bit more difficult, but I also realize this might be the period where I’m most likely going to see the results I want to achieve. The Candian Wildfires have also lessened our air quality, but I really don’t feel myself struggling because of it. My decision to quit smoking on February 25th has also helped immensely. Two years ago when I was walking, I was also smoking and I can really tell a big difference this time around in terms of going farther and not getting so winded.

So the walking will continue as the summer continues its course. I’m thinking that when school does start back in August, I will most definitely want and need to keep up the exercise regimen. In other words, I’m going to continue to walk the walk.

David Lee