Midwest Weather, Midwest Life
Trying to acclimate to an ever-changing environment.
Spring is here, I think. If you live in the Omaha area you know what I mean. In this post I’m discussing:
Midwest Weather, Midwest Life - Acclimating to ever-changing weather and life.
Second Vehicle Update - Swiping left on used vehicles unfortunately.
Blessing of Coaching - The high school track season has begun.
Midwest Weather, Midwest Life
It’s a Wednesday afternoon and a blizzard still rages outside. The wind is howling upwards of 60 mph at times, and with each gust ice and packed snow is blown off the trees and into the side of our house. We see the limbs swaying in every direction, and notice a neighbor’s tree has fallen into their fence. Once the plows come through the neighborhood in the afternoon, the end of my driveway looks like the wall from Game of Thrones. Two days prior it was sunny and eighty degrees.
Growing up in the midwest you get used to mother nature’s mood swings when it comes to the weather. Those of us who have lived here for a few years know the “midwest gonna midwest” when it comes to weather, but as we start 2025 it seems particularly extreme with its fluctuations. It makes planning and living difficult.
That’s just the weather. Now, let’s expand out to what’s taking place in our country and the chaos being inflicted upon…where do we start? Legal immigrants, refugees, civil servants, the justice system, teachers, meteorologists, international allies, people of color, LGBTQ community, farmers, unions, Medicaid, cancer funding, social security, science, veterans, active duty service members, and so many more individuals, groups, resources, and communities. Flooding the zone indeed. We’re trying to wrap our head around whatever happened three days ago while processing the new thing that oozing out of the swamp.
Many politicians are acting out of fear and/or self-preservation rather than leading and representing their constituents right now. I’ve talked before about how all of this is weighing on everyone, including the students and teachers Jana and I work with currently. One of my boys’ teachers resolutely affirmed their stance to teach the approved curriculum to us regardless of the new Department of Education website to report “woke” teaching.
I see some politicians telling me now is the time to get involved, but I’m wondering what they are doing since it is their full-time job. Some who should be leading the country seem more interested in their burgeoning podcasts or upcoming book tours, and they want me, with all my non-existent free time, to lead the charge?
Again, how do we acclimate to this way of life when our livelihood is at stake? And it’s not just ourselves. We care for others. We care for our communities. We’re trying to love our neighbors while loving ourselves.
There is a faith component for most of us. Even though I am not pastoring at the moment I still have people reaching out to me. People need help processing some issue, they have prayer requests, they aren’t sure where to get resources now. I am glad people think they can even if I don’t have the time and energy like I used to. We need community.
I am trying to make time. A number of people tell me their pastors and churches aren’t saying anything about the current state of affairs. Forget sermons, people just want their pastors to acknowledge life in our country is hard and on a downward trajectory for people and communities. Pastors won’t even do that. The bare minimum is apparently too tall a mountain to scale when wanting to be neutral and inoffensive.
I was talking with an old church friend earlier this week and he remarked how in our stages of life we take care of some crisis and think we have a bit of margin in our lives once again only to have some new issue pop up and fill that sliver of margin that cracked open briefly. “Amen,” as I thought of the past decade.
We can’t do it alone. We need each other. Part of what’s been hard since I left my job at the church last August is I don’t see the church community my family has been with since the fall of 2017 consistently anymore.
That’s what made seeing my church friend earlier in the week unexpectedly so special. It brought joy…and grief. A reminder of how sweet it is to have healthy church community, and how painful the void is when you are no longer a part of it. It takes time to build relationships at a new church. (Thankfully, we have our small group.)
We need each other to get us through these storms. I was out shoveling after the blizzard, but how grateful I was when two of my neighbors showed up to take on the ice wall at the end of the driveway.
Love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
As one of the runners asked me in the midst of running hill sprints earlier this week, “Who’s that guy that’s always pushing that rock up the hill?” I smiled as I replied, “Sisyphus.” Speaking of Sisyphean life…
Second Vehicle Update
The journey to purchasing a second vehicle continues to be an adventure. I’ve never used dating apps, but I can only imagine how some people feel let down after seeing a prospective individual’s photos online and then seeing them in-person. Is it anything like the audible sigh my friend and I let out when the used car salesman pulled up in the minivan we were there to test drive? What we thought was a perfect body was pockmarked with hail damage and chipped paint.
I did a test drive, and it was nice, but it was hard to get over the body damage riddled over half of it. No wonder the minivan was a great value online. (Some dealerships, like dating apps I’m guessing, should be avoided at all costs unless you like to live on the wild side.)
I have come to terms with the fact that we will need to spend more on this elusive second vehicle than I had planned. This means less money for other home maintenance repairs we need to make, and purchasing things the boys need with their schooling and activities. Used cars continue to be expensive and the uncertainty with tariffs and how it affects the auto industry doesn’t help. We are zeroing in on a minivan and hope to have it soon, barring any more blizzards or expenses. (If you want to help with the vehicle purchase click here to go to our GoFundMe page.)
Blessing of Coaching
One thing that helps me right now, while rolling the boulder up the hill repeatedly, is coaching. The high school track season officially started earlier this month and it continues to be a daily highlight. The people side of things hasn’t changed, but I’m doing more technical running work with the students than I did during cross country. It’s challenging me in a good way.
It’s one thing when I implement a change to my running routine to improve my performance and/or recovery, but I think about it differently when it affects the students I coach. I know for some of them any thing I ask of them that deviates from their routine and/or preparation might be a big ask. Some need reassurance that I have thought this through when I ask something different and/or more of them.
Many of them experience their own Sisyphean struggles as teenagers in this day and age. Besides two hours of track practice six days a week, they have academic, artistic, and other activities they participate within at Burke. When they drive away from Burke some head to an area club team to practice or play. Some of them have part-time jobs. Some of the students have extra demands placed on them by their families. They are growing up with an uncertain future. I hope they know I’m alongside them helping them roll that boulder up the hill. (Figuratively speaking because I can’t keep up with most of them on the track anymore.)
When a student on the team asked me to write a reference for their National Honor Society application I leaped at the opportunity. Anything I can do to champion them I want to do.
Starting today we will have three track meets over the next week. (Two varsity meets and one JV meet.) We will be off to a quick start this season! You can follow along on my Burke Distance Running Substack.
Thanks
Thanks again for reading my Substack. The onset of track season, spring break, and weather interruptions has impeded my writing. I want to get something out before too much time had passed since the last post. The posts will be intermittent as I acclimate to this new schedule, and am writing more on my Burke Substack, but I will be posting here when I can.
Currently, I’m working on posts dealing with:
Healthier Doesn’t Mean Healthy
The Problem With NDAs In The Church
Church Abuse and Coverups
If you’d like to help my family with our vehicle purchase, click here.
Thanks!
