Fear and Joy in an indoor waterpark

The life of a two year old boy can be pretty crazy. Don't let me be the one to analyze, but how in the world do you go from sheer terror to pure joy in a matter of minutes? Great Wolf Lodge has opened a new indoor waterpark in Scotrun PA in the Poconos and we were lucky enough to go last week with 10 million other lucky parents and their screaming offspring. Really it isn't that bad, but quiet and relaxing it is not. My son was very excited to go until it was time to put on his bathing suit and then it was time to go home. An hour of crying and asking to go home led to a more sedate walk thru the waterpark in Dad's arms. Maybe he would have a good time after all. Well, that was enough for one day. Day two - excitement until the bathing suit went on. More screaming and wanting to go home. Of course, we paid so we were going to stay. How traumatized could he get? Well, I don't know what happened - I passed him off to my wife after an hour or so. Next thing I know he is jumping up and down and splashing and having the time of his life. We even went down the waterslides and loved it. My wife doesn't have an answer - she didn't do anything but hold him - he just finally decided he had seen enough and needed to be part of the action. If only the rest of us could lose our inhibitions so easily.

Fall and Rise

Last week my wife got a phone call early Monday morning. Her reaction was nothing short of panic. Who could blame her. Her father had a stroke. We live an hour away so we rushed to get her to the hospital while I stayed with the kids. The original prognosis was not good. The word Massive was never used, but a rather large stroke was indicated with statements such as "50-50" chance of ever walking again. It was diagnosed as something called a Left Neglect which basically means that the left side of his body becomes useless. I know next to nothing about strokes and the information came in slowly and sketchilly, but things were not looking good to say the least. Well it seems that the doctors jumped the gun a bit. It is now 10 days later. He has been transfered to a rehab unit and has successfully (with help) been able to get up and walk a few steps with a walker. His speech is slurred compared to before the stroke, but if you didn't know him from before you would not be able to tell. It has been quite a jump from the initial hours. It has also been quite a process. You'd like to think you can be prepared for such things, but the reality is always more of a challenge than you would expect. Aside from the physical issues, the mental stress involved with everyone is tremendous. Does he need to go into an assisted living facility? How will he manage? What will it cost? The questions just keep coming and daily life doesn't stop. Our children are only 2 and 3 and they don't understand why they can't see mommy for a couple days. And you can't just put them in the house and go sit at the hospital. They need to continue with their lives and you need to find a way to maintain normalcy for them and still take care of the needs of the person who has been hospitalized. It isn't easy. But my parents were here to help with the kids and my wife's family rallied and provided the necessary support to keep spirits high. My wife's father was the real hero though. He hasn't stopped telling jokes yet. Hopefully it continues because he has a long road ahead - being 83, he's succeptable to additional strokes as well as other complications. But so far so good. We've got our fingers crossed and we're looking for many more steps in the right direction.

GATORS 73 UCLA 57

I can finally put some college basketball demons to rest. The Florida Gators are National Champs! A far cry from a 5-22 season my freshman year of 1982. http://www.gatorzone.com/basketball/men/media/2003/pdf/126.pdf
You will notice that there are not a whole lot of winning seasons until recently. But boy how one win makes up for an awful lot of L's. I don't like to brag, but I would say that my predictions from yesterday were pretty spot on. Final score - I predicted 72-60 - can't get much closer than that! 5 gators in double figures - 4 and one with 9. MVP - Joakim Noah. Not much to say except that the game of their lives and they played the game of their lives. Six turnovers??? Holding Aflallo to zero in the first half??? 5 Blocks by Noah in the first half??? They were spectacular and dominant. The second half was a barrage of 3's and dunks. No contest.
Congratulations to the University of Florida Gators 2006 NCAA National Basketball Champs! How bout them Gators!
May you rest in peace Norm Sloan.

Gators in the Championship Game!

Go Gators! For the 2nd time in the Billy Donovan era the Florida Gators will be in the NCAA Championship game tonight. So far this tourney they have looked like anything but the Gators of usual. Strong defense, timely 3's, clutch shooting and a minimum of turnovers. They have looked like the team to beat. That being said, it will be interesting to see what they do with a UCLA defense that has made two excellent offensive teams in Memphis and LSU look downright awful.
A couple keys to the game. First Florida needs to stay in their offense and not launch shots early. Secondly they need to get out and run as often as possible and keep the ball out of Corey Brewer's hands on the fast break. He has been terrific in the open court when receiving the ball, but when he leads the break he loses it every time. Keep the big men out of foul trouble and don't let UCLA get hot from beyond the arc and Florida should pull away. I predict a tight game at half turns into a Gator romp with 5 Florida players in double figures and Joakim Noah being player of the game. Final score: Florida 72 UCLA 60.