Better (snow) angels...

6 January 2025: I mean, at the risk of saying something very obvious that is also a ridiculous understatement, it is surreal watching certification of an election where the winner stoked a violent insurrection against the government. It's just infuriating, bewildering, and so very sad. 

Not good vibes for a snow day, which already aren't good vibes day for me.

But, as is so often the case, the Lord sends hope and light. 

As I did a first pass on my driveway this morning, my neighbors Pam and Ann came over to help me finish up. I told them I could handle it, but they insisted. As we finished up, I explained that I was grateful on this otherwise grim day for a reminder of good people doing good things for others. (We think alike, thank goodness.)

When I was done, I took a shorter version of my usual walk (thanks, YakTrax, as always). Of course, the first house that I passed was Pam and Ann's. Imagine my delight as I saw them--two women in their 50s--laying in the front yard, hands clasped, making snow angels. I yelled over, "I don't think you could be any cuter if you tried!" 

Then, maybe a half a block up, another neighbor--definitely in her late 50s/early 60s--passed me, walking back from shoveling someone else's driveway. At first, from far away, I thought she was another teenager, out making a few bucks. I told her as much and she said, "Thanks for the compliment!"

Anyway, goodness endures. People still take care of each other. We laugh. We play in the snow. We live and we love. It's the only option.

Meeting the new neighbors...

2 June 2024: John and Helen, my wonderful neighbors who are moving soon, invited a bunch of us over to meet Paul and Diane, the couple who has purchased their house. That gesture tells you all you need to know about John and Helen. I am surrounded by a great group of neighbors here; Paul and Diane will no doubt fit right in. 

Helen's 95th...

11 May 2024: Stopped by the 95th birthday party my neighbor John was hosting for his wife Helen at the Community Club. Nearly 140 RSVP'd "yes," a clear sign of how much people love them both. John and Helen--who live right across the street from me--are moving soon and I'll miss them, but I am so glad to have known them. 

Setting the standard...

10 July 2022: Felt entirely too much suburban dad satisfaction today when my neighbor told me about a conversation between her and a bunch of other neighbors about how I set the standard for when to mow the lawn. I half explained that it was (for me) more about anxiety over it getting too long and clogging up the mower, but stopped myself from being too revealing. Ha. (So many things I am fastidious about grow out of little anxieties...)

Whole lotta wholesome...

17 December 2020: Boy, oh boy, did I see a lot of wholesome sights on my walk this morning as my neighborhood dug out of yesterday's snow: kids sledding, kids building snowmen, families shoveling driveways together. 

My favorite bit? A mom and her little one (maybe 2 or 3 years old?) shoveling, the kid "helping" with a tiny pink sand shovel. As I walked by again (did a loop on their court), she said to me, "We're shoveling! So Daddy can get home!" That stuff is good for the soul.

Cape acquired...

 7 August 2020: Every once in a while--and for years now, because I don't do a good job generating new material--I make a joke about some new task I take up, some committee I serve on and say what I really want is a cape. I don't remember doing it, but I must have made that joke to my neighbor Eleanor (who I've written about here and here) about my new position as Faculty Senate President because on my walk today, she came out of her house and handed me this little package wrapped in tissue paper. This little duck was inside.

"How did you know?" I asked her, meaning how did she know I liked ducks. She said she didn't. It was about the cape. She had it from when her grandchildren were little and saw it and thought of me. 

We only really talk when I walk by her house, but she sure is a gift of a friend. 

A bit of light on a Sunday

19 January 2020: Quiet and productive (those are linked, of course) day here so far. Yesterday's ice was more or less gone by sunrise, so I headed to campus to put in a few hours of work. Even took the time to wash the chalkboards in our classroom, something I always find soothing and satisfying.*

Came home, took a break, then headed out for a walk after lunch. Thinking big thoughts and wrestling with some gloominess...

Then, as I passed her house, I was so happy to speak to the neighbor I wrote about in this post. She came across the street to congratulate me on speaking at the hooding ceremony. (Not sure how she heard about it...) We talked for a bit about how hopeful such events are. I told her that's part of what's so great about my jobs: people keep coming and wanting to learn. "It keeps you going when you want to give up," I said. "Well, don't you stop!" she added. As I walked on, I told that she had once again made my day. As I write about so often, sometimes you get just what you need when you need it.

*Our (wonderful) facilities staff doesn't have the time to clean them anymore, so those of us who are willing take it on, using a bucket and brush they've provided. I don't mind since, again, it gives me a little break if I am putting in some serious weekend hours and I find it relaxing.

Two things...

14 August 2019: Still working through this funk I've been in, which seems more intense when I've got lots of unstructured time on my hands. ("Unstructured," of course, isn't the same as "nothing to do." I've got lots to get done...)

Anyway, as I know I've written about so often before, walking always helps. On my walk today, two things made me feel better. First, The Hilarious World of Depression, particularly this episode about travel. I actually intentionally waited until after my research trip to listen to it because I was a bit worried it would hit too close to home. But it's really interesting and moving, as all the episodes are.

Second, a conversation with a neighbor. As I walked down one cul-de-sac, I waved to a woman doing yard work. (I wave so much on these walks--to passing cars, to people in their yards, to cats sunning themselves...) On my pass back up the street, the woman cut across the road to talk to me. "Are you Dr. Hanrahan?" she asked. Turns out she remembered me from my Lectures and Libations talk. She also remembered that I had won the award right before and congratulated me again. I complimented her yard and asked her about a plant that stands out to me every time I walk by. (Turns out it's a type of milkweed. Huh!)

When you are having a rough time, having something like that happen? It means so much. And yet another reminder of how blessed I am to live in this place and have this job.

That little guy's growing up...

28 May 2016: I have written before about winning the neighbor lottery, so it was really lovely today to stop by a graduation party for Luke, my neighbor's youngest boy, who graduated from high school yesterday. He's a wonderful kid. Ever since I met him (in 2009!), he's struck me as having a 50 year-old's soul trapped inside him--one of those kids who always sounded like he was a trying to be a grown-up, but in a nice way. He's very sincere, very sweet, and just a decent person. He was the first new neighbor to greet me, too. Anyway, now he's off to WVU in the fall, and I am sure he will continue to do great things.