Three Beautiful Things 09/05/17: Ran Myself Ragged, RIP Brice Bemis, Old Friends at Old Line

1. Today it all caught up with me. I have been running myself ragged for the last two and a half months with daily visits to see Mom, her passing away, beginning to clear things out of her house, a fun trip to Eugene, flying back to Greenbelt to begin packing up our apartment home in preparation for our move to Kellogg, and a wonderful drive to Huntingdon, PA to officiate Julie and Curtis' wedding. Until these past two and a half months, I had not run myself ragged since working full time at LCC. It's why retirement has been so good for my health.

But, today, I hit the wall. I've been achy, had a constant cough, and a sore throat. I reached a ragged point of exhaustion.

I worked on some things around the apartment, but mostly I lay in bed, sleeping on and off, definitely resting.  We have a trip planned to NY and NJ this weekend, so I want to be well again and rested up for it. We have more packing to finish up and our drive across the country looms ahead, too.

I need to rest up for another day and stop acting like I can go and go and go -- I'd say like I used to, but I've never been very good at going and going and going -- it has always caught up to me like this!

2.  It shocked me today when I read on Facebook that Coeur d' Alene High School, Class of '71, former Viking basketball standout, Brice Bemis died on Monday. I never knew Brice. Our basketball lives, however, will be forever intertwined. In the late fall of 1970, we, the KHS Wildcats, and the CdA Vikings opened the basketball season against each other in the first game ever played in CdA's new high school gymnasium and it was the most monumentally one-sided game I ever played in. Cd'A beat us by just over fifty points.

That night, I was assigned to guard Brice Bemis. The Viks secured the opening tip, set up their offense, and Brice Bemis launched a 12-15 foot jump shot with me "guarding" him. I lunged his way, feebly put my hand up about five feet short of his face, and he splashed it -- it was the first basket scored in the new CdA gym and, just a couple of years ago, through his friend Marion Richardson, Brice reminded me that he scored the first bucket in that gym. I told Marion to be sure to tell Brice that I knew that was true because I had an up close view of the shot and its success.

3. I rallied for a couple of hours this afternoon and the Deke and I went to Old Line to try to nail down when we might leave Greenbelt and arrive in Kellogg. It's still a little fuzzy in my mind, but we at least know we are staying in Greenbelt though the weekend of the 16th and 17th.

While we were conferring at the bar, to our surprise, members of a group of educators we know from Prince George's County School District strolled in, talked to us at the bar, and we joined them at their table. Over the past couple of years or so, we've enjoyed many late afternoons with this group and it was really fun to see them again -- for the last time before we leave? I'm not sure.