You could feel the moment the air quality changed in Penticton this afternoon. The wind blew in and suddenly there were more mountains in the distance. It was like driving from Los Angeles to Big Bear in Southern California in the summer time and taking a deep breath – everything just seems so much better with clean air.
With most of the smoke from the fire in Washington out of the valley, the sky opened up with a spectacular sunset.
This afternoon, after a bike ride, a million phone calls, and a billion e-mails followed by a short run, I was sitting on a bench taking photos of the sunset and I could hear laughing, screaming, and splashing. I followed the laughter to the end of the dock and found some kids jumping off of the railing at the end of the pier.
One of the kids remarked, “The Ironman is awesome! My mom and I are going to hand out stuff again this year – it’s so cool because if we help, they let us keep all the stuff we don’t hand out. Last year we got two cases of soda!”
The simple life. Summer on a lake. Friends who push you into the lake, and friends who help you climb out. Jumping off piers. Getting fired up because you get some free soda. Why do our lives tend to get so complicated?
Here I am, at the end of the dock, 5 days away from Ironman Canada 2006, laughing at belly flops, and funny jumps, yet I feel this black hole of responsibility and all I can think about is getting back to my wireless connection, more e-mails and writing a proposal.
Tomorrow, I’m going to do a cannon ball off of the pier and bring my cell phone. I wonder if it will still ring. Anyone want to join me?
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