
Monday, November 17, 2008
Cross 26.2 off my bucket list

Friday, September 26, 2008
Picked Sures
Friday, September 19, 2008
Have YOU ever been referenced in a poem? I have. I am famous!
So I Googled myself the other day, as I am wont to do, just to be sure there was nothing too incriminating out there. Not that there even could be unless it was completely false. I am, after all, an angel and always have been. Lately though, every time I've Googled myself, the results returned are the same: a Linkedin profile, my race time from the Moonlight Margarita Run last month, and a random link or two to some accounting projects while in school. But this last time there was something new! How exciting...
Here's what I found: a poem, by an old classmate from Doherty who, I discovered (by Googling her), is a prolific poet and writer. I've copied the entire poem and posted link below, adding the emphasis where I appear:
4/16/2008 1:40:28 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
I posted one already--a more William Carlos Williams inspired poem. But I think this is the one I really wanted to write, it just took longer to pull it out!
Wrongfully Accused
Perhaps it was because I
was a lowly high school student—
not, a you were, a grown-up
with a degree—that you couldn’t say
the two words due me.
You had plenty of other words, cheater, liar, willful,
(all thrown out in private, after class,
but everyone heard them clearly.)
Yet when truth slapped you upside your head (before Brady Fitzwater,
who so gallantly offered, had his chance)
you only said “You’re off the hook,”
as if I were a fish, stupid enough
to bite your line.
You retired the next year
and I like to think your
quitting had something to do
with the weight those two little words
hold over the ones
who refuse to release them.
-Sara Diane Doyle
I was not sure what to make of the poem at first, and indeed am still not entirely sure. Clearly I was part of an experience in some way that left a lasting impact on this former classmate of mine. So much so, that she is writing and posting poems about it more than 10 years after the fact. I do remember Sara, and did have classes with her, and I think I probably even know the specific teacher who is the main subject of this poem (as may some of my siblings-anyone have a guess?). I do not recall the event she is writing about, but for some reason found this poem amusing on many levels. I do not entirely understand it-and perhaps, Sara, if this post comes up while Googling yourself you would be willing to discuss your poem with me-but it is well written and it made me feel, just for a moment, as if I were literally sitting back in that classroom, at that desk, at Doherty years ago. That was a neat, in a strange way, so thank you, Sara, for that.
To my knowledge this is the first and only original work I am in that I was not directly involved in producing myself. And for some reason that just fascinates me. Thanks, Al, for bringing us the www. And because I know you read my blog, I ask that for all of our sakes you please zip it about global warming. It is tired already coming from you.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Conversations with 3 year olds

SCENE I. Fitzwater living room. Daddy (played by Bradach Fitzwater) takes a peanut butter M&M hidden in his hands to Bair's (played by Bair Fitzwater) ear, setting up the ensuing magic trick.
DADDY (grasping the M&M by Bair's ear): Whoa! Bair, what is this in your ear?
BAIR (wide-eyed and excited): What is it, Daddy?
DADDY (pulling the M&M from Bair's ear while making a popping sound): Oh my goodness! It is a peanut butter M&M!
BAIR: Yeah! I like that!
DADDY: What on earth was a peanut butter M&M doing in your ear?
BAIR: Well, um, you know...I was just saving it.
DADDY: Oh. Really?
BAIR: Yes. For a long day.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sunday, May 18, 2008
MUDDY BUDDY
Bair and Cal, the fiercest and most critical Muddy Buddy spectators in all of the Texas Hill Country eagerly awaited the teams to see who would impress and who shouldn't have gotten out of bed. Here, Bair snickers at a team clearly out of their element. "Hacks" he says.
"Seriously! Bunch of circus animals!" agrees Cal before non-chalantly taking another stoke on his thumb to emphasize how un-impressed he had been with the field thus far.
Then finally, out of the blue, Cat comes pawing around the hill and immediately spots the camera (as any intensely focused athlete in 'the Zone' would have.) "Yeah BABY!!" she snarls. Bring on the mud!

MUDD!!!! If you haven't heard of the Muddy Buddy (perhaps your city is not cool enough to be on the prestigious tour that includes the select few cities of Orlando, Austin, San Jose, Atlanta, Richmond, Chicago, Boulder, Dallas, and Los Angeles) consists of a 6-7 mile course of alternating bike/run/and obstacles, and finishes with the grand-daddy of them all, the beast itself, the Mud Pit:

Kelly's freestyle is no match for The Mud, and the Machine plows on through, undaunted, and no stranger to The Mud.
Cat emerges from The Mud first, cleaner than when she went in, and stronger too! She screams "Grrrrrr!!!!"
How sweet; that is teamwork at its finest. Nothing says "I got your back Teamie" like a mud-drenched cuddle as you slosh towards the finish line. Cat & Kelly smell blood and they're going for the kill.
In the end, it was Cat & Kelly (AKA Coffee Chuggers) emerging victorious over James & Ken (Dirty Laundry), by an impressively sloppy 2 minutes! Its back to the drawing board, back to the gym, and back to the dirty laundry for the men, while the ladies revel in their Mud.
Who's driving home?
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A post to let you know I am posting
Monday, February 25, 2008
February 25
Then I recall the balloons that Mike Caughlin (Mr. Caughlin, at the time) had gotten for Dad's birthday. I always remember a melancholy about that day. It sits in my mind, and every memory I have of the day sort of glows in an almost halo-ish soft light in my mind. I remember us kids all gathered around to talk about what had happened and what it meant. How could any of us possibly have known what our Mother's passing would mean? I know I wouldn't fully understand it for years, and even to this date I don't have a complete comprehension, I just know I understand more and more what it meant for my life each day. And, like Aryn, I constantly wonder how things might be different if she were still alive.
I remember sitting at a table, just running a pen on a paper and crying. Someone was there comforting me. There were so many people there it seemed. The memory that stands out the most is the look I saw on my father's face as he came through our front door for the first time after losing Rae Lynn, knowing he would not come through those doors with her again. That look was all I ever needed to see. I knew right then what had happened before anything needed to be said.
I don't think I will ever understand what the past 20 years - and the two before that - have been like for Dad. So today he turns 60. He was 30 when I was born, and now I am 30. Amazing! Linda asked me to write my favorite memory of Dad for his birthday party, a party I regrettably could not attend. But I didn't write a memory either, and don't know if I ever will be able to. I have thought about his 60th birthday for months. What to do? What to say? I thought long and hard about a favorite memory. But thus far I haven't been able to put such a memory in words. Not because I have none. A boy's memory of his father cannot be fonder than mine. I simply can not find a way to express what my father has meant to me in words. He means far to much to sufficiently capture with my limited command of our language.
So if you're reading this blog, Dad, suffice it say I continue to grow aware of the profound sacrifices you have made and the love you have for me (and all of your kids), and it has meant everything to me for my life. As you yourself put it, I was born into most fortunate circumstances, and it is indeed a fact I do appreciate more deeply as I experience fatherhood.
So though I may try, I simply cannot at this point describe the feelings I have for my Dad. Just like I can't describe to Catherine why I still keep an old tattered and worn Navy T-shirt I've had for as long as I can remember. Perhaps only my siblings will get that.
And as I was typing this, I discovered that my own sons have raided our refrigerator and managed to spread chocolate syrup and salad dressing over half of the kitchen, living room, and Cal. Strangely, Bair kept it mainly on his hands and feet, while Cal ended up bathed from head to to toe...life continues to happen!
So with that, I will say happy 60th, Dad! I love you. And, uh, I am sorry for all the messes I made!
Happenings
We put in a new floor, and aside from a few edges and trim to put it all together, its done. Our carpet was horrible and we are loving the new floor, and proud that we did it ourselves. Catherine's father is quite handy and got us started with the tough stuff and planning it out, and I must say it has come out quite nicely. Bair helped mainly by running around and driving his trucks over pieces of wood we really didn't want him to touch and was responsible for more than one nick in the floor. His other contribution was to make funny faces, which are all we seem to be able to capture on camera anymore. He is genetically predispositioned to hamming it up due to his being 1/2 Catherine's.
Speaking of genetics, there's only one word to describe the combination of Catherine and me: Magnificence! (as you can see right here...)
Catherine seems to have been tailor made to raise boys. Its easy to say now, not having any girls, but she just seems to have a way with these guys. Here they put on a carefully balanced dance routine to the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song, which for some reason plays approximately 98% of the time in our house when we are awake.
Cal. Cal Pal. Cal Cheese. The Big Cheese. The Little Cheese. CP. C3PO. Cal.
Another totally natural smile from Bair...Noodlebrain. I wonder how long it'll be before we capture a real one again...I also marvel at how big he has become. When did this happen? That is a pretty good size rocking chair - when we got it he couldn't even climb in without help, and now his feet nearly touch the floor. Scary. Slow down boys, slow down! What's the rush in getting big, anyway?
Still a favorite, the Big Brother book from Grandpa Fitz & Grandma Linda. Bair calls each character by name (Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, Bair and Cal are all featured in the book), and will sometime sit down and read it to Cal himself. It is eerie because he actually runs through the book almost word for word, and looks as if he is really reading it to Cal. But Bair actually tends to be very analytical and has simply memorized the words and their location on the page.
We finally had our first unplanned trip to the hospital this weekend, something I feared but knew was inevitable at least a few times over the course of the boys' childhood. Cal had the Croup - and woke up really struggling to breath. Not a pleasant thing to watch your one year old wheeze and struggle for air, but he's fine now. Although a little angry, as the remedy for Croup is steroids. I was tempted to take some of his prescription to try and get an edge in the kickball league I joined, but my gut tells me I'll be the next one randomly tested, and the though of going before congress makes me nervous, so thus far I've resisted.Tuesday, February 19, 2008
You probably already know that neither Catherine and I are particularly suited for distance running. Are we nuts? Perhaps. We have goals of $4,000 each. That's right, $8,000, and not much time to raise it, so we're asking for any help you can give. Our participation in the Marathon is contingent upon reaching our goals, so whether you contribute out of kindness and care for the cause, or out of spite to force into running 26.2 miles, you really can't go wrong! Now, anticipating that this blog is read most likely by my four sisters regularly and perhaps Schuyler or Dad on rare occasion, I'm not really asking for donations here so much as I am circulation. The links to Catherine and my donation sites, respectively, are to the right, and at the end of this post. Anything you are comfortable giving would be greatly appreciated. And even more appreciated would be your help in circulating the links to our pages and directing anyone who you think might be interested in donating to the links.
We've just begun, but are optimistic we can reach our goals. Be sure and check our progress through these links regularly, and we'll even post about how are training progress is going. We each ran 5 solid miles this weekend, more than either of us has run in a long time. I did mine early Saturday in the rain while Catherine somehow kept going on a treadmill with her iPod pushing her along. 26.2 seems pretty darn near impossible, so kudos to you who have already done it. This week we will up the ante to 6 miles, probably me on the treadmill this time with Catherine pounding the pavement. It should be excrutiatingly fun.
Thank you in advance for helping get these links out, and on a serious note, thank you for being what you always have to me. I still often marvel at how charmed a life I feel like I've had despite losing my Mom at such a young age. There is no doubt that you (my family) and your support and fierce loyalty has made all the difference in the world. I miss Mom every day, but could not be more greatful for her having brought me into this world and laying the foundation for a family like ours. We know we won't be able to do this without you, so again, thank you!
Catherine's fundraising link:
http://www.active.com/donate/tntctx/tntctxCFitzwa
Brady's fundraising link:
http://www.active.com/donate/tntctx/tntctxBFitzwa
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
McCall
So, our itinerary for family this summer is as follows:
Saturday July 19th:
We leave Austin with an ETA in Colorado Springs sometime late that night.
Sunday - Monday July 20-21:
We will be enjoying Colorado, old friends and any family who happens to be there. A friend of ours here desperately wants to hike Pikes Peak, and I myself have never come to grips with the fact that I spent my entire childhood there and never hiked it, so, Grothar permitting, we hike the peak Sunday July 20.
Tuesday July 22:
We depart for McCall via the most direct, lease vomited route we can manage. Hopefully it takes no longer than 2 days. ETA in McCall: July 23, Evening.
July 24 - August 1 or 2:
Ski, swim, float, tan, sleep, eat a slab of lettuce under a dollop of cottage cheese topped with a canned pineapple slice, swim, hike, play tennis, golf, swim, read, take on Dad's ill-conceived plans to build, demolish, move, haul, cut, or otherwise take on some project none of us are nearly capable of realistically completing without sustaining serious injury or bodily harm, scratch mosquito bites, eat ice cream, donuts, and drink lake-chilled root beer; among other things.
August 1/2: Depart for home. Cedar Park, TX
I know it is a ways out, but we hope to see you all along the way...






























