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a tale of two cities

  • Monday, December 22, 2008
  • Jeff

  • What a weekend! We just returned from a whirlwind trip to San Antonio to attend the 4A division 2 state championship. For those of you who have never experienced small town Texas football up-close, you're missing out on some real community team spirit.

    Jeff has been helping out as a team doc since he started residency. We lived in a small suburb of Waco named China Spring. Last year, they had a great team and went all the way to the championship 3A game. With his call schedule, Jeff was able to attend about 1/2 the games. However, he was unable to attend the championship game (Kari and the kids braved the cold to watch it) and they ended up losing to Celina.

    This year, Jeff jumped right in with Sulphur Springs. Again, Jeff was able to attend about half the games. Sulphur Springs wasn't expected to go very deep in the playoffs, but miraculously made it to the semi-final game which Jeff was able to attend. Jokingly, he told one of the physical therapists "You know, I went last year with a team to the state game and every game of theirs I attended they won. So we should win today since I'm here". And, sure enough, Sulphur Springs won in spite of the other team being picked the heavy favorite.

    Well, then the story was out and we were pretty much guilted into going to San Antonio (who wants to be labeled the doctor that jinxed another team into losing a championship!). So, we snagged Jeff's sister and brother-in-law and went down to San Antonio--and apparently half of Sulphur Springs did as well! We had a hotel on the River Walk and we wandered around the night before the game and the whole town was blue (Sulphur Springs) and purple (the opposing teams colors). Hannah almost sparked a riot when she was inspired by all the blue to yell "Go Wildcats!" A drunken group of men chimed in "Go Wildcats!" which in turn sparked an opposing "Go Broncos!" Even the next morning, the Alamo and downtown was nothing but familar faces. We couldn't go 15 minutes without running into people we knew from back home.

    To make the whole story even more interesting, there's a back story: Jeff's last year at China Spring he was joined by one of his fellow third year residents as a team doc--John Redman. John went on to join a family practice in his hometown of Dayton, TX. What's the significance? Well, the opposing team happened to be the Dayton Broncos. So, not only had John and Jeff followed the championship run of 3A China Spring, but they were facing off a year later as team docs of the opposing teams of division 4A. To add to the drama, neither Sulphur Springs nor Dayton have ever been to a championship game before. They met before the game to catch-up and take pics of the historic moment (their residency program already wants to run a story on their paring in the alumni letter).

    And did the game disappoint? Not at all--highest scoring game in Texas HS state history! Final score was 69-49 with Sulphur Springs pulling out victorious (told you Jeff had some luck thing going)! It was a tiring, but very exciting weekend. Pics to follow (as soon as the holidays are over and the home computer starts behaving again). Merry Christmas to all!

    all i want for christmas...

  • Friday, December 12, 2008
  • Jeff
  • Christmas craziness is in full swing. It seems like every night this week has been spent doing some sort of Christmas activity. The kids had a church Christmas party on Wednesday night. Jake brought home is own gift from it--his two front teeth! Kari and I aren't big fans of pulling teeth (I keep telling everyone "I'm not a dentist!") and Jake has been begging us to have his loose tooth pulled for weeks. So, this past week it has been hanging on by a thread and Kari mentioned it to one of the women up at church and she's like "Hey, I used to teach Kindergarten and I've pulled a million teeth". And a quick yank later, Jake was less one tooth. He was so excited he started wiggling and working on his other front tooth. Before the end of the party, they were both gone. So, now we get to listen to Jake try and speak. He can't say an "S" to save his life. Kari got him on video that night trying to sing "All I want for christmas..."--it's pretty funny and as soon as we find our video cable we'll post it on here for all to hear.

    Santa made a pre-Christmas visit to our house this week as well (in an SUV no less--some excuse about his reindeer being holed up at the airport). So, we shot our Christmas pic--not the greatest shot photography-wise, but the annual "kitsch-iness" still shines through. We thought about posting it now, but wanted it to be a surprise for the card. We'll post it at some point (I know, I know...we're all talk)...

    more artificial merriment

  • Saturday, December 6, 2008
  • Jeff
  • So, our pre-lit Christmas tree has been limping along for a number of years. We got it at some unnamed after-Christmas sale at some unnamed MegaloMart. We could probably count the number of years we've had it by the number of light strands that are no longer working (one strand per year comes to approximately...2o years I think). Anyways, being the procrastinators that we are has forced us into hunting for fake trees at pre-Christmas peak prices! Needless, to say we settled for a temporary fix to put the kids' minds at ease that yes, Santa will have a fake evergreen target for his present dump at our house this year.
    Even Bomber got into the act. Speaking of Bomber, the old mutt ain't what he used to be. The bounce in his step has been replaced with arthritis. Our cold clothes closet (his usual roost of choice) has now become his nemesis and so at about 5 am every morning he comes hobbling out and tap-tap-taps across our wood floors from one side of the bed to the other looking for a place to jump up. So, his Christmas list this year includes Doggy Steps (as seen on TV!) to let his arthritic body snuggle up close to our arthritic bodies!

    snow sledding in sulphur springs...alright more like ice

  • Jeff
  • Well, at least we can alleviate some of the guilt we feel of raising in kids in a state with little to no winter to speak of--or at least cloud their fragile memories with artificial holiday merriment.

    Our little township brought in a little hill (okay, so it was a metal slope on a carney trailer of sorts) with snow (okay, so it was bags of ice that had been blown onto said slope) into the town square last night. We stood in line for 30 minutes of 30 degree weather for 3 seconds of tubing (and by tubes we mean half-inflated water park tubes bumping down the ice). Jonathan and Rachel were kinda scared going up the steps, but afterwards they were all grins and giggles.

    Excuse the photography--it doesn't do it justice (or maybe it does).
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