Day Nine

Action Item: Keep smiling. 

Do not travel to meet family without your spouse. You'll spend the whole trip talking about them and probably grossly misquoting their ambitions, job description, and current hair color. I feel like I'm in the middle of an interrogation where the same question is asked in various forms with relentless repetition over the course of a week. Bring it!

To get back in the groove of housekeeping prior to getting back to a home that just crossed the dreaded one-month barrier on the MLS service, I cleaned the kitchen this morning to satellite radio's version of college rock. It's pretty satisfying. My mother was proud of the work I did on the cutting board, stating that,"I don't think it has ever been washed like that before." It got me thinking, am I too thorough with my dishes? 

Today was another great day of connecting with old friends and acquaintances. My middle school band director's brother introduced himself to me at a bike race because he saw Austin all over my jersey and figured he'd make some great chit-chat. Totally random people, like a co-worker of my 4H advisor from 5th grade, said hello. Maybe a single man is just that pitiful that random strangers want to pump up my spirits? Thanks to all well wishers and folks that said hello. 

Days Seven and Eight

Truncated blog, I'm traveling. 

Action Item: Go to bed earlier. 

It is official. I need people to care for me because I am useless. My family has been driving me to the numerous destinations the Tour of the Valley hits every day. They go shopping for me. I am in withdrawal from my routine. On the plus side, my cry for help has been answered. 

I'm feeling pretty distant at the moment from my life of two weeks ago while visiting family in Ohio. No Thursday at Le Driveway, no breakfast tacos, no teammates, and lots of birds chirping off in the distance. Being a competitive cyclist takes me far away from family for extended periods of time, so I've been connecting with how the rest of the world interacts since June with their loved ones. This has been quite a transition.

Take going to the supermarket for an example. Childhood friend chooses to brush me off, perhaps because of my $200 bright red track suit in a blue-collar Sparkle market. I'm an outsider when I show up without my sidekick to smooth over my transition to the world outside of my comfortable two-wheeled hemisphere. 

Example number two has to do with the our high school quarterback from roughly 1996, who is firmly based in reality as opposed to my Austin fantasy of "the real world." The best part of this interaction is that this high school band nerd cannot remember the championship winning high school quarterback's name. I noticed him on a date at packet pick-up for this weekend's race at a winery. When the couple attempted to select a glass to enjoy on the warm evening, the date flatly stated that she doesn't like red wine and wants something pink. This, friends, is not my soul mate. Maybe it isn't the quarterback's either. To his credit, he was holding on to some fitness and was a total gentleman to the ice-in-wine drinker. 

Reconnecting with folks that last knew me as a full time bike racer is interesting as well. They're all pretty shocked that I'm married and that Emily and I are apart for a month. Yup, guys, she has what it takes to understand a bike racer. 

Day Six

Action Item: Walk more.

Pretty much every other question asked by friends from Ohio was, "Where is your wife? We'd like to meet her." Guess what? She left for a month to Ecuador. Responses ranged from praise to inquiring looks begging for further information. In all, folks seemed impressed, and they should.

I spent the day with my sisters, Sara and Princess. We walked a loop in the park then enjoyed a few peaches. Vacation rapture. 

Day Five

Action Item: Go cover-to-cover with this week's edition of The Economist. 

Up early today after going to bed late. I'm a closet airport shopper, which included a slice of Mangia cheese pizza at 5:50a for breakfast. I was fortunate enough to meet a real life bachelor at ABIA, Bennett Pifer, who is a recovering cyclist. Real bachelors do not go visit their parents for vacation. They go to the coast of Spain with Veggeburg and hope that "lots of Scandinavian women will be vacationing."

The Charlotte airport was dysfunctional.  When Bennett and I checked for our connecting gates, we figured something was up when the time of day was 10:48a and the last time the departures were updated for our destinations was 9:25. Great. We eventually found our gates, then shared a warm embrace as we parted ways. 

Now for a string of relaxing days in North Lima, where the heaters turn on at night due to cold temperatures. 

Day Four

Action Item: Quit riding hard in the heat.

Today started off with high hopes, then I woke up. Late. It was my intention to go for a crack of dawn bike exercise routine, but I overslept. I can't do anything without an angel to fix m mistakes. Thank God Le Tour is on at 8a in the morning! After brushing off the ride to work from home and monitor bike racing regionally and internationally, I was off to a lunch meet up with my financial planner.

Without the real bread winner of the house around, the conversation was a ton of hypothetical fun. I expanded on ideas of future comforts and security just long enough to get my parking validated. Overall, productive, but making decisions for two will be made when I back to full couple status. 

The relaxed morning led to a manic afternoon. Way too many appointments that all ended up running late for good reasons and a rushed depart for the Turnersville Tuesday Nighter. Without a doubt, the cycling Austin cycling community owes a huge debt to the Biard family for offering snacks and stimulating routes for us to ride in far southeast Travis County. The ride there was very educational. Did you know that Southpark Meadows really was a concert venue that hosted the B52's, The Police, Phish, and U2? Well, if not, ask your local La Primavera promoter for details.

The ride home was bone chilling thanks to a serious bout of heat exhaustion, but the Wheeler residence has plenty of cold water. Men consumed my entire day from 11:30a to 1:15a. My boyfriends visited at work, stopped in for scheduled appointments, and even took me out to dinner to help pack for a trip home. Thanks, guys!

Day Three

Action Item: Water plants and foundation.

Today was a day of mixed emotions. Willis put me on the spot during breakfast and had me handle Maple for a few minutes. I found myself first worried about her tasting the salt on my arm since I hadn't showered since my trip to the salt water pool on Sunday, then I caught myself pointing out gelato choices to a noisy 14mo child. Point of interest; I have showered at least once every day. However, I am shocked at how little laundry I've done since Em's been gone. I didn't think she went through that many clothes, then I figured out what is going on.

I don't go through many clothes.

It seems as though when I get dressed, I'm inclined to put clothing back on that has been previously worn. It cuts down on laundry time, the energy bill, and it is good for the planet. My wife's tactic of stealing these perfectly good garments, like the the underwear I've worn for two days and consider putting back on after copious amounts of Dr. Bonner's have been applied during a relaxing shower, then putting them in the laundry, is over.

Other things that seem very different this week other than the size of the laundry hamper include a near absence of booze. I am shocked at how much less "fun" I'm having while by myself and how much more I'm able to get done as a mechanic on my bike or car without my recovery shakes. I'm sure there will be something to celebrate soon, unlike every day that Emily is around!

Day Two

Action Item: Get new guards for clippers.

I slipped up today. I forgot to take the trash out before our third open house in four weeks. Not a huge deal, but there are some details that I just didn't notice with the Housing Project Manager on sabbatical for a month. On the bright side, I did remember to flush all of the toilets this time, tho.

If any of my neighbors read this, thanks for throwing a party every single time we have an open house. I would like to meet each of you folks who rarely lurk around the cul-de-sac, but seem to think that the sign in my front yard indicating potential home buyers will be on the street for two hours every other week means that it's cool to open up your storage unit of a garage for the first time this year, have three cases of Bud Light and a few friends over, or the best time let the feral cats breed on your front porch. Classy.

There are two parties I would like to thank. First, my in-laws. I have a huge family in Austin and they are constantly imploring that I participate in their outings and prepare food for me to eat for several days. That's good because my dinner on Friday consisted of the better part of a box of low-fat Cheez-Its and grapefruit juice. Second, I owe Emily a huge thanks for my dead car battery. I'm driving her car so much that I'm pretty sure mine will not run by the time she returns. Life just plain isn't worth living without cruise control.

Most of day three was spent with family swimming in a salt water pool or talking housing foundations in East Travis Heights. We listened to 24 Bonnie Raitt tunes among many other favorites, including a Herby Hancock song from his key-tar phase. Other highlights included reading Parade for the first time in at least six year and the lake house turned dog park.