The Doctor is in.

May 2017

"I'm pretty tired... I think I'll go home now."

Those words of Forrest Gump describe the major change I chose to make in my life this month. On May 10th, I emailed Mark DeJonge, Athletic Director at Bellevue Christian School. It began like this.

Mark —

I am both sad and relieved to have come to a decision about my participation with BCS as your volunteer sports photographer. It is truly a Forrest Gump moment for me. You may recognize the scene. I’ve had a lot of fun, and no little joy.

After 12 seasons with T&F, many with wrestling, and 13 with XC, I will be ending my regular participation with BCS athletics as a photographer. I have many minor reasons . . . , but these are the major ones.

l Significant increase in teaching and administrative responsibilities at SPU. (I’m scheduled to teach four evenings next year.) My intended retirement date is still 7-8 years away.
l For years, I have neglected numerous duties at home. (The house we built in 1992 is still unfinished, and I’ve been sleeping in the basement since last October.) Nancy needs me at home.
l I have an expanding Bible teaching ministry which has proven successful and seems to be the main avocation to which I have been called going forward.
l Serious (but reversible) health issues have been neglected for too long. These require daily diligent attention. Two consecutive negative medical reports, three months apart, have my full attention. While sports photography provides some exercise, the many hours at the keyboard processing photos and posting them to the web mirror the many hours I spend at the keyboard at SPU every workday.

___________________________________

Other coaches replied, but this note from Coach Sloan was especially meaningful.

Doc,

We have shared many miles on the road in a bus, on XC courses and around many tracks (& fields) I am blessed to call you a dear friend. I can't tell you how much I appreciated your hug at Charles Wright this spring... I missed you too.

I am glad to hear you are looking after your health. I hope I am not directly responsible for your problems with our team stops at Dick's.

Ed Sloan

I have left on very good terms, and my friends at BCS will welcome me back in a reduced capacity. I did not go to the league, district, or State championships.

For myself, I am both sad and greatly relieved that I have made this difficult yet liberating decision.

And, having said all that, if I were to lose 30 pounds, whip my Diabetes, and get well ahead on my other responsibilities, it would not surprise me if I reconsidered this big decision.

Mother's Day

I have an awesome family. If that hasn't been said before, it has always been true. I'm sure, this journal has made that clear.

Mother's Day, Susan's birthday, Thomas' birthday (in advance of June), and Memorial Day all got celebrated at Susan's house.

Annie baked Oatmeal Scotchies instead of a cake for Thomas.

This month, Susan and Ginger had the flu, with Ginger spending some quality time at Evergreen Hospital.

Baby Disher has been causing Annie her fair share of morning sickness. She expects to teach into November.

A Trip to Bellevue's
Botanical Garden

Much of the rare beautiful Memorial Day weekend found me preparing Bible lessons in my basement office. But on Saturday, I took Nancy on an hour long walk through the Bellevue Botanical Garden. It was too nice a day (in the 80s!) to spend completely indoors.

This is a spot Nancy often proposes as something of an exercise date. It sure wore both of us out in the heat. We haven't been there often enough.

She had wanted to visit the new suspension bridge she'd seen featured in the local news.
To the right, she's pictured with her birth month flower, the gladiolas.

I enjoyed the walk, and also the quick trip to Walmart afterwards. I'm easily entertained.

Bits and Pieces

♦ Another reasonably flawless SBGE Honors Event was conducted on May 18th. Again, I was the MC, but this year I managed three separate honor societies at the same event. After my opening speech and congratulation from Dr. Stewart, I sent the three societies to their own classrooms to conduct their induction ceremonies. My own Beta Gamma Sigma (Business & Accounting) held ours in the Collaboration Lab outside of my office. It is the smallest of the three rooms we used, but the most elegant. Pi Sigma Alpha(Political Science) remained in 118, while the charter class of Omicron Delta Epsilon (Economics) were in 117. I had too much of the leftover cake!

♦ Dr. To installed a pin to better hold my wayward crown in place. The tooth, just right of the rightmost upper middle tooth, fell out four times — twice as a temporary and twice as the reinstalled crown.
I hope it holds into August when I expect to start replacing it with my second implant.

♦ Dr. Kelley wants me to see Dr. Farideh Eskandari again. My blood sugar has been quite high for far too long.

♦ Jean began a series of doctor visits, hoping to properly diagnose and treat symptoms of swelling in her hands and pain in some joints. We are pleased that she's still on my medical insurance for another year and a half.

♦ For the record, the Saturday Bible study will start up again on September 9th at Acts 22:17. It was good that I was not off taking sports pictures this month since Bob Whitford, my back-up facilitator, has been fading and could not attend the last two Saturdays.

♦ On the eve of my summer Bible class at Emerald Heights, I have only three of 10 lessons fully prepared. But they are very good, and I'm committed to staying a few weeks ahead in my writing and other preparations. The Greek word for "sweet wine" came into the English as glucose. Who knew!

♦ Nancy spent many days this month up at Susan's caring for Ginger, but she did manage to find the time to pick up and personally install the new Bosch dishwasher. She is the family mechanic. I did my part too — well, at least I cleaned the kitchen floor — my usual task.

My Quote from May

If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

— African proverb

Where you will sit when you are old shows where you stood in youth.

— Yoruba proverb

The death of an elder is like a burning library.

— Ivorian proverb

[ BACK ]