Get your kicks by getting active this fall

With only a few days left in August, autumn is pretty much looking us right in the face.

Usually, autumn is associated with cooler temperatures, and that's more or less true, though around here, it really doesn't get too chilly until November. That means we've got a couple of months here of some pretty nice weather, providing ample opportunity to get outside and get active.

Some folks will use that time to watch a few football games. Others will do some fall yard work. Both are fine activities.

But there's a couple of upcoming community activities that deserve mention, for they offer a chance for some healthy fun for local citizens young and old alike.

The first is the fall soccer season sponsored by the Blytheville Area Soccer Association. BASA provides soccer leagues for children ages 4-16, with games played every Saturday at the Blytheville Youth Sportsplex. Cost is only $30 per child, which includes a cool jersey the kids get to keep.

Registration has already been under way, with the last registration session set for Saturday, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Greater Blytheville Area Chamber of Commerce.

This will be the fourth year that our family has participated in the local soccer program. We're big fans. Soccer is a great game for its simplicity. You run. You kick. You have fun. There's not a better way to spend a Saturday morning.

I'll be coaching my son, Drew's U8 team this year. It's my third year to coach, though my first time with that age group. It should be interesting. 10-year-old Katie, meanwhile, will be moving up to the U12 division this year. With her speed and and nose for the ball, she should do great. Needless to say, we're all getting excited.

But if you're too old for soccer, but still have an urge to get out and move around this fall, mark your calendars for Oct. 17. That's the date for the inaugural Greater Blytheville Chili Cookoff 5K Walk/Run and 2-Mile Family Fun Walk. Proceeds raised will benefit the United Way.

I started doing a little running a couple of years ago, after growing weary of increasing time spent as a couch potato. I still remember the first time I tried "running" — I got about four driveways down the street before I thought I was going to die. But luckily, I stuck with it, and earlier this year, ran in my first 5K down in Marion. It was a fun day, and I've been looking forward to doing another one ever since.

This local event is the perfect opportunity for runners and walkers, new and experienced, young and old, fast and slow, to take part in a healthy autumn activity.

The event will begin and end near Great River Medical Center, with a course that will loop participants out along June Gosnell Drive to the Sportsplex. Medals will be awards to top finishers in each of several age groups. A professional timing service has been hired to make the event something runners will want to come back to each year.

With the run/walk beginning at 8 a.m., there will still be plenty of time for participants to head downtown for the Chili Cookoff, or over to the Sportsplex for some soccer action.

Registration is $20. You can register online by visiting www.racesonline.com Mail-in registrations are available any of committee member or at the United Way office.

Whether your interests are running or walking or kicking, this is a great time of the year to get outside, get active and get healthy. It won't be long before it's too cold and ugly to do any of this, so we ought to take advantage of it while we can.

Time running out on Summer 2009

Though the slow bake typical for August in the mid-South continues in full force, the calendar tells a different story. The sand is quickly running through the hourglass, and Summer 2009 is virtually in the record books.

As early as this week, kids in Missouri will be heading back to school. Here in Arkansas, the school year won’t be under way until next week, but the verdict is still the same: Summer is pretty much over.

If you’re a regular reader of this column, you no doubt know my views when it comes to the seasons of the year. To put it simply, I’m a big fan of summer. Not so much for winter. Spring is good, in that it leads up to summer. Fall, by virtue of preceding winter, lands a place on my unpopular list.

So this would generally be the time of the year for me to start getting retrospective and nostalgic about the fall of summer’s glory, complete with all the seasonal affective disorders that go with it.

But I’m hoping to do better this year. After all, the fall/winter season isn’t all bad. There are more than a couple silver linings in every winter cloud. And I’m hoping to spend more time focusing on the positives this go-around.

For starters, fall is football season, and that’s a very good thing, though my wife might disagree. I’m more of a fan of the college game than the pros, but whether it’s Saturday or Sunday, there’s nothing more synonymous with fall than an afternoon with a good football game.

Fall is also soccer season, at least here in Blytheville. This will be the fourth year for my kids to take part in the Blytheville Area Soccer Association. Games are played every Saturday morning out on the Youth Sportsplex. Watching hundreds of kids in bright-colored jerseys chase a ball around the pitch is always a great start to any autumn weekend.

The end of summer also means an end to scorching heat. I’m looking forward to being able to go outside for walks or runs, or just to sit on the patio, maybe enjoying a small campfire. Such pursuits have been less than comfortable under the blazing August sun.

Summer reruns are, thankfully, nearing an end as well. The onset of fall and winter means favorite network shows will be back with new episodes. “Lost” and “The Amazing Race” still top my lists of scheduled viewing, and I’ve gone months without a new fix from either.

There's also a few decent holidays to look forward to over the coming months. I've always loved the Christmas season, and Thanksgiving and New Year's can be rewarding as well. The kids are big fans of Halloween, of course, and even Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day have a few redeeming qualities.

I'm also looking forward to not having to mow my lawn for a few months. Honestly, in the spring, I really enjoy mowing. By mid-summer, it's tolerable. But by this time, I'm sick of it. I'm ready for a break.

But the best thing about the fall/winter season is that it, ultimately, is what makes the spring/summer season so great. Just as lightness is meaningless without darkness, and cleanliness means nothing without dirt, summer means nothing without winter. The very greatness of summertime is defined by its contrast to winter. If it were 85 degrees and sunny every day, life would get boring. (Or we'd at least be a lot less appreciative of it.)

So I'm ending the summer on an optimistic note. Fall and winter may not be my favorite seasons of of year, but there's some things I can look forward to.

Besides that, eventually, summer will be back. I'm sure I'll be ready for it.

How one summer can change your world

I remember that May 29 was a beautiful night. School had just gotten out for the year, there was a car race and a baseball tournament in town for the weekend, and summer was at its glorious dawn.

I was eating supper at Perkins when the call came. It was my mom. She had not been feeling well for several weeks, and she confirmed family speculation when she told me it was not just a cold or a stomach bug that was ailing her. It was cancer. In the days that followed, we would learn that the cancer, which had started in her breast, had already spread into the bone and the abdominal area, perhaps into other organs as well.

Of course, the prognosis was not good. Doctors were hesitant to speculate on how much time she had, but it became pretty obvious pretty quick that we were dealing in months, not years.

It turned out to be 55 days. Just after dawn on July 23 — 37 years to the day that I came into this world — Cathy Weld passed from it. She was 67.

I will forever remember her final 24 hours. We already knew my mom’s condition was rapidly deteriorating when my sister called about 5:30 a.m. on the 22nd. The nurses had said she was likely in her final 24 hours. An hour later, when told she had a son eight-plus hours away, the nurses speculated that she likely would not last that long.

My wife and I raced to complete our daily obligations, packed a couple of suitcases, loaded the kids in the van and headed north. It was after 10 p.m. when we arrived, and Mom was still hanging in there. She was completely unresponsive, and the telltale “death rattle” could be heard every time she took a breath.

The vigil continued throughout the night — a night of prayers and tears and introspection. With every labored breath, the end seemed to be upon us, only to be followed by another labored breath. As dawn broke, the breathing became shallower and shallower, and quieter and quieter, until there was no more. Around 6:20 a.m., Mom took her last breath, and then it was over.

Knowing your mom is going to die — and then watching it happen — is no joyous ordeal, to be sure. The weeks leading up to this have been characterized by a growing sense of emptiness that has only been intensified by the ultimate loss of life. I’ve made several trips to Iowa this summer, and while I’m grateful for the time I got to spent with my mom before she died, it doesn’t begin to fill the void that her death has left.

Though I spent the night at my mother’s side in her final hours, I wasn’t in the room when she took her final breath. I had stepped outside for a short break. I’ve thought about this a lot since then, and I can only conclude that this was a gift my mom gave me. For whatever reason, it was meant to be that I didn’t see my mom die. My sister and father were on hand, but it was moments later that I received the news.

This is but one of several gifts my mom has left me — perhaps inadvertently — with her passing. In her death I have learned the importance of being vigilant about one’s health, that being healthy is not something that just happens automatically. I’ve learned that it’s important to reach out to others when you’re challenged with a foe you can’t defeat on your own. And I’ve learned the value in being sympathetic and empathetic with others who are enduring a loss. If I can take something positive out of the loss of my mom, I hope it is in these morsels of wisdom.

But no amount of wisdom can change the fact that the world is a little bit lonelier today. It is an emptier place. The woman who rocked me in her arms, put band-aids on my knee, packed countless school lunches, helped make my dorm room livable and was always my greatest source of advice when my kids were sick, is no longer with us. She’s gone. And all that’s left is a haze of grief that follows me everywhere I go.

At last June’s Relay for Life — the local fundraiser for the American Cancer Society — I purchased a luminary “in honor” of my mom. Next year, I will purchase one in her memory. It’s a way of coping — one of many small gestures that helps fill the void.

That void will likely never be filled. But it gives me comfort to know that she is no longer suffering. And every time a bird flitters past me in a most peculiar way, or when the breeze blows ever so gently in my face, I will know it could be my mom passing by, just to say hello, or to look after me as she did so often in life. There’s a new angel in heaven today, and it’s good to know she’s on my side.