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Nathanael Receives His Blanket
On May 31st, at the annual SPU Athletic Awards Banquet,
Nathanael finally received his letter blanket, the token
of making the varsity in a sport for all four years of
college. Nate exceeded all expectations and was a
treasured member of his teams. He participated for
11 seasons, and received 10 varsity letters in total; 4
for Cross Country, 3 for Indoor Track & Field, and 3 for
Outdoor Track & Field. He can also be proud that his
2011 SPU Men's Cross Country team earned "National All-Academic
Team" honors. This was due both to their 3.33 team
grade point average, and to their participation at the
NCAA West Regionals in Spokane, taking 7th out of the 17
schools.
Coach Doris Heritage asked me in Cheney (she also
coaches Shoreline Christian), if I had any more like him
to send to SPU.
I've always thought JB should have
taken up pole vaulting!
I caught the Cross Country seniors for one last picture
together: Nathanael, Daniel "Dan Ham" Hamilton ,Heidi
Laabs-Johnson, Natty Plunkett, Nathan Seely, and Jacob
"Wally" Wahlenmaier.
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Sleight's are Big on Traditions
Easter 2012 (April 8th -- not a May item) was a smaller
affair with Annie and Thomas away. Nathanael's
roommate Nathan joined us. And, as shown, the
annual egg hunt tradition continued.
This year would have marked Bob Rutherford's 100th
birthday on April 7th. And I got Nancy's photo in May.
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Susan Celebrates 59 Years on May 21st
 Susan
is actually younger than Randy. But she skipped a
grade so was one year ahead of him at WSHS.
I loved her fold-up bike, but my fear of them is still
too strong to ignore.
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Celtic Thunder Entertains Bob, Kim and
Nancy
Nancy joined Bob and
Kim Disher and other friends including Georgia
from church at a Celtic Thunder concert at the
Tacoma Dome on May 19th.
I was at the
Tri-District Championships that afternoon, so I
was not with them. I would not have given
up Track even for a stop at an Irish pub.
It looks like fun.
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  BCS
Girls Bring Home 4th Place Trophy, two Event
Titles, and One State Record
BCS sports still claimed the bulk of my
discretionary time in May. And I was
rewarded with a great trip to Cheney and the
WIAA State 1B,2B, 1A Track & Field
Championships.
The boys team scored in the 800m run, 300m
hurdles, and 4x400m relay. But the girls
team brought home the 4th place trophy, moving
up from 6th in the last two events, with senior
Meredith Lampe's 5th place in the 200m dash (4
points), and the 4x400m win (10 points).
The 4x400m win was totally expected. But
the frosting was the time of 4:02.77,
a new State meet record! Senior Bree Oldham ran
the anchor leg, taking the baton from Meredith
in the lead. She had already won the 300m
hurdles for the third consecutive year earlier
in the day. We all felt our Vikings got
about as much as we could have hopped for on
State weekend.
There were a few individual disappointments.
Michael Antosz finished 10th in the 110m
hurdles, missing the podium by 2 places.
And Emilie Catlett in the javelin and Sam Taylor
in the pole vault both took 9th.
  But
for every instance of someone coming up short,
another Viking moved ahead. Sophomore Page
Knight won her preliminary 300m hurdle heat on
Friday, with Bree winning the other heat, and
then they finished 3rd and 1st in the finals.
Junior Kyle Smit (right) had moved one spot
ahead of Nathanael on the all-time top ten list
at BCS in the 800m run, and like Nathanael, he
took 6th in the finals. I like to think my
photography encourages them to work harder —
or at least to be in the lead on one of the laps
so I get a great picture!
Meredith Lampe (100m - 6th, 200m - 5th, 4x200m
relay - 2nd, and 4x400m relay 1st), along with
Bree Oldham [left] (100m hurdles 4th, 300m
hurdles 1st, 4x200m relay - 2nd, and 4x400m
relay 1st) brought home four state medals.
The team will have a down year next year with so
many seniors leaving, and I will miss the
parents that supported my work (Scott and Ellen
Lampe, and Agnes Antosz). But as each
season draws to a close, I get that surge of joy
I got as an athlete forty years ago now.
And they motivate me to not give up on my own
fitness.
The photo of me above left was taken by Brent
Baker, father of SPU runner AJ Baker, friend and
professional sports photographer now living in
Tonasket. WA.
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My Top
Ten Favorite Songs: A Moving Target
It's an
impossible task to list one's all-time
top ten songs. The list gets
completed and then you remember "that
song." (I could list songs based
upon of
which girlfriend they remind me.
That list would be long for each of them
- except, strangely, #3. The
Way We Were makes me think of
Kathleen. I Know You're Out
There Somewhere, Since I Don't Have You
by the Skyliners, Blue Velvet
by Bobby Vinton, and any song like
White Flag by Dido or
Someone Like You by Adele remind me of Kim. And
certain hymns, Christian songs from the
1980's, and MGM
musical numbers conjure Nancy, but most
especially, Lady in Red.)
But here is the
current short list, in no particular
order.
The
Lion Sleeps Tonight – The Tokens (1961)
Maybe an
“earliest” favorite because brother Don
sang it. But this was likely the earlier
Kingston Trio cover of the song that Don
sang, which was originally recorded in
1939 (who knew?) Don also got me hooked
on the Kingston Trio’s other songs, and
these became the core of my Scouting
music repertoire.
My
Girl – The Temptations (1964)
Number one in
the U.S. for one week, March 6, 1965. I
was ten. What a beautiful love song –
and it became a piece of Sleight family
history when I chose it (a slam dunk
choice) as the song for my dance with
Annie at her wedding. Was there a better
year for music than 1965?
Sukiyaki – Kyu Sakamoto (1961)
A beautiful
Japanese song in itself, and number one
in the U.S. in 1963. The English
translation is heartbreaking. The
original title "Ue o muite arukō" is
literally "[I] shall walk looking up”
(so my tears won’t fall.)
Hello
Stranger – Barbara Lewis (1963)
This song
became my favorite in my adult years,
not when I first heard it at age eight.
My heart needed years of “tenderizing”
before this soulful tune helped sew up
many wounds.
Give
Me Jesus – Fernando Ortega
I first heard
“Give Me Jesus” when it was performed by
Fernando Ortega for The Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association as a TV tribute
to Billy Graham's wife, Ruth Bell Graham
(1920-2007). It is so simple and so
profound ― the essence of the only faith
that saves us. Ortega updated this old
African-American spiritual. This tops my
list of Christian songs.
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Albatross
– Fleetwood Mac (1969)
This simple, short, lovely,
haunting, restful guitar-based
instrumental tops my favorite
instrumentals. And that’s saying
something because there are so many
instrumentals I love.
Classical Gas and anything slow by
the Tijuana Brass come to mind.
Elusive Butterfly – Bob Lind (1966)
At age 11, I
was in 5th and 6th grade, and was
experiencing my first serious crush
(which lasted past high school), and I
was too shy (and ignorant) to do
anything about it (for at least the next
three years), I was captured by this
song. “Love” was a mysterious, exciting,
and very real thing. And I never
learned how Mary Ann Carlson felt about
me. Maybe she was even more shy
than I was.
Never
My Love – The Association (1967)
This is
another song that defines me. I am not
one to change allegiances. I don’t seek
to move up to ever-more ambitious jobs.
I am a one-woman man. On this, my head
will always over-rule my heart. The
Disney ideal of “just follow your heart”
is anathema. A Scout is trustworthy and
a Scout is loyal. It’s not an accident
that these are the first two points of
the Scout Law.
This was the
second most-played song on radio and
television of the 20th century. It’s
simple and direct. Many say they will be
faithful, but fail to put an anchor down
(or build on the Rock). Strong feelings
will stay with you for your whole life –
but they are still just feelings.
You've
Lost That Loving Feeling was the
most played song of the 20th century.
Third was Yesterday, and the
forth was Stand By Me. Note the
pattern: 1st - broken heart; 2nd -
faithful heart; 3rd - broken heart; 4th
- faithful heart.
Chariots of Fire (“Titles”) – Vangelis
(1981)
This song
says run. But for those who have run,
and found joy in it, this song moves us
to remember. In races, I was too much a
Harold Abrahams. But in thousands of
miles of distance training I was an Eric
Liddell. I loved to run. I often say, if
I knew myself better when I was choosing
a college, I would have chosen a
Division II school like Nathanael did,
probably Central Washington University,
and would have kept running. Life is so
short.
That's only
nine songs because a list of 10 would be
complete, and this list will never be
that.
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Ginger Nears 90
Mother's Day was spent,
in part, with Grandma Ginger. Susan and
Nancy are planning a big surprise party for her
90th in July. (She does not read my
journal.)
But, while Nancy was
contemplating large purchases, Susan and Ginger
were down in Bend, Oregon with Cousin Rob.
Rob and Susan were skiing at Mt. Bachelor. While
Ginger was alone, she had another fainting spell,
likely due to dehydration (she forgets to drink
regularly.) When she fell/slumped/sat,
she did it hard enough to damage vertebrae in
her lower back.
So Ginger is laid up
and Nancy and Susan are on Ginger duty.
She can walk, but there is continuing pain.
This certainly may impact their prior plans to
travel to East Glacier, Montana in August.
Rob sent me this cell
phone photo. Ominous. How like 2011
it looks.
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Bits and Pieces
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Nate has learned that retreat is not
defeat. He had intended to double
major in Physics and Chemistry, but upon
careful reflection has chosen to apply
for the Minor in Chemistry instead. He
had yet to apply for the chemistry major
anyway. This will make his 5th
year here at SPU a better experience.
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Laurie sent me a photo she took of the
night sky. Now I want to try it.
There must be a guide online. I
could put both D300's to work on an
"infinite" variety of points of focus.
My
quote from May
Judaism is to
Christianity
as a caterpillar is
to a butterfly.
They seem distinctly
different, but are the same creature —
one creeps, one
flies, but their spiritual DNA is the same.
My thoughts on Matthew
9:14-17 and John 15:15
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