MindStillRacingintheStreet: January 2023

Monday, January 23, 2023

Calmness in One's Heart

A nickel's worth of thought to interrupt your mid-to-late January Monday...

Be careful out there.

-AK

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

I did not know Jacqueline Montanaro, Supervisory U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer at Newark Airport. I shall never have the chance to make her acquaintance. On Friday night, a fire ripped through the Montanaro home in Hazlet, New Jersey. Jacqueline, her husband William, and their eight-year-old daughter Elena, the older of their two girls, made it out safely. However, when neither mom nor dad saw six-year-old Madelyn, their baby, outside, each went back into the home looking for her.

Jacqueline and William re-entered the home separately in a desperate effort to rescue Madelyn. William, overwhelmed by thick black smoke, made it back outside. Jacqueline did not. William described what his wife did, "Without hesitation, Jackie then charged in with a mother's love and the courage of a police officer fueling her attempt to save our daughter."

Jacqueline Montanaro died as she lived - risking her own life for someone and something she prized more than her own safety. She was a hero and a mother. She shall forever be so. Young Madelyn shall never have the chance to grow old, which is incomprehensibly sad and incalculably unfair. Yet, she shall spend eternity in the protective embrace of her mother and engrained in the heart and soul of the father and big sister who shall forever love her.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up by Jackie Montanaro's colleagues at CBP for the Montanaro family. The link to it is here.

-AK

Monday, January 16, 2023

A Tiger's Tale

I can be a bit brave - telling a birthday joke at Wilma's expense - since I am safely ensconced in my office when she reads this. Selective valor, baby. Nothing in the world quite like it.

All kidding aside, I hope for nothing other than my sister getting the birthday she more than deserves. She is little in size, enormous in heart, and pound-for-pound the fiercest human being I know.

Happy Birthday, Wilma! Much love today, tomorrow, and always.

-AK

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Dreamin' These Dreams For Free

Now, it's over that ridge for one last mile

'Til we're fast asleep by the fire side

Dreamin' these dreams for free

Yeah, it's just my dog and me.

"My Dog and Me"

-John Hiatt

It is my faithful canine running companion's fifth birthday today. There is no truth to the rumor that she ate her birthday card shortly after this photograph was taken.

Sam I Am & her "Boop! It's Your Birthday" Card

She has been an invaluable member of our family since we adopted her from Home for Good Dogs Rescue in Berkeley Heights when she was but twelve weeks old. She arrived in our home just three weeks after we had to put Rosie down. Sam had big paws to fill. She has filled them.

The Nappers (sharing the Kennedys blanket)

I hope that as she grows older she still enjoys playing Dingo and that she still enjoys running with me. She is a source of great joy in my life.

The Six-Legged, Two-Animal Running Team

More than that, she is a source of great joy for Joe, Margaret, and me. Not to mention companionship and comfort - especially during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is when this photograph was taken...

Front Porch Photo - March 2020

Happy Birthday, Fats.

Sam I Am - Christmas 2022

May we continue to keep dreaming these dreams for free.

-AK

Sunday, January 8, 2023

The Rising Son

Having never met Dr. Freud and having never worn a slip, Freudian or otherwise, I know not whether he actually ever said this of the Irish. However, as one who is Irish and who believes not at all in psychoanalysis, I choose to accept that he did.

Speaking of people and races, this morning my nephew R.J., Kara and Russ's oldest, shall run a marathon at Walt Disney World. An impressive undertaking in and of itself, right? Consider this. The 26.2 miles he completes today will put the bow on his jaw-dropping past several days. Today's marathon is the final race of the four that comprise the Dopey Challenge. He blasted his way through a 5K on Thursday morning, a 10K on Friday morning, and a half-marathon yesterday morning - in 1:41 no less.

He is a son, a brother, a teacher, a cancer survivor and, in 2023, a father. Later this year, he and his wife Kari will welcome their first child, a little girl, whose arrival will add Russ and Kara's names to the members list of the Grandparents' Club (a/k/a "the best club ever").

Today, he is - of course - a marathoner. Challenge accepted and, this morning, a couple of hours after the starting gun goes off, it will be challenge fulfilled... and mission accomplished.

...and mission accomplished.

-AK

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Focus

Thought for the first Thursday of 2023…

Be careful out there.

-AK

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

The Power of Youth

I cannot tell a lie. As someone who watches almost no NFL football, I have no memory of ever having heard Damar Hamlin's name prior to Monday night. My unfamiliarity with this young man unquestionably was, and remains, my loss. He is just twenty-four years old.

My voice joins the chorus of countless others rooting for him to make a full recovery from the cardiac arrest he suffered on the field in Cincinnati during the first quarter of the Monday Night Football game between his Buffalo Bills and the homestanding Bengals. May the strength of this young man, which strength has served him well throughout his life, continue to do so.

-AK

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Foundational Strength

Mom had more integrity than any person I have ever known or, candidly, any person I shall ever know. It is no surprise. She remains the bravest person I have ever known. As Mark Twain correctly noted, it is courage that is integrity's foundation.

Sixty-seven months ago today was a Saturday. I awakened at the Shore and went for a run north on the boards, having hopped up onto the Belmar boardwalk at our beach, which was the 17th Avenue Beach. The sky was extraordinary.

17th Avenue Beach - Belmar, N.J.

June 3, 2017

I ran north, towards and then past the Belmar Fishing Club, and then towards and past the Shark River Inlet before heading over the Inlet into, first, Avon-by-the-Sea, and thereafter Bradley Beach. The morning sky's resplendence kept me company as I ran.

Belmar Fishing Club - Belmar, N.J.

June 3, 2017

Shark River Inlet - Belmar, N.J.

June 3, 2017

Little did I know, of course, this beautiful morning would herald the arrival of the final day of Mom's life. As we rapidly approach the sixth anniversary of that day, I smile at the memory of all of those I was fortunate to spend with her, including Christmases from this century and the last, and the wedding days of both of my kids, including her walk down the aisle with Joe in the pre-ceremony rehearsal at Suzanne and Ryan's wedding in September, 2013.

Mom and Yours truly - Princeton, N.J.

Christmas 1998

Mom and Joe - Suzanne and Ryan's Wedding Day

September 2013

Foundational strength. Mom had it. She instilled it in each of her six children. The greatest tribute any of us can pay to her is to continue to demonstrate it. Today. Tomorrow. Every day.

-AK

Monday, January 2, 2023

The Beach and The Wave

I'm the rhythm in your tune

I'm the sun and you're the moon

I'm the bat and you're the cave

You're the beach and I'm the wave (brand new day)

"Brand New Day"

-Sting

I suppose there might be places on this earth as beautiful as the Jersey Shore where one could have greeted 2023. As I personally can attest to, based upon my sunrise run on New Year's Day, there is no place more beautiful.

Eighth Avenue Beach - Normandy Beach

10 minutes to sunrise January 1, 2023

Eighth Avenue Beach - Normandy Beach

10 minutes to sunrise January 1, 2023

After checking out the view from our beach, I ran south. A few minutes later, I ran up Silver Beach Road and onto Silver Beach. Silver Beach is where Margaret spent every July with the kids and her mom and her grandmother thirty-plus years ago. I reached the beach roughly four minutes before sunrise.