Random ramblings: Daddy, bloody chins, and my link to ACORN

*It must have been about 7:30 a.m. Sunday. I was just waking up. Noah had been asleep in a different room. Then I heard some stirring. Then, all of a sudden, I heard, "Dad-da." I thought I was dreaming and then I heard it again, "Dad-da." Boy, did I feel proud. This picture was taken Sunday evening. Isn't he getting big?

*Scary moment during the Tuesday morning Lukes Locker group run. I'm at about mile 5.5 of a 7-mile tempo run. It's still dark outside and I see a runner up ahead, Leah. Then, I didn't see her. Then, a few seconds later, she's on the ground, having tripped on the edges of the pavement, and landed chin first. When I got to her, blood was gushing out of her chin. Here were my thoughts in about a split-millisecond, "Thank God, I get to stop I was tired....Ohhhh, shit what do I do.....Stay calm." I took my sweaty shirt off and tried to stop the bleeding from her chin. Luckily, a neighbor had been out getting his newspaper. He came over, asked what happened, then ran back inside to get towels and ice. Leah told me to run back to Lukes and get help. I ran the last 1 1/2 miles and told the gang what had happened and some of her good friends drove and picked her up. I have to admit, Leah was a lot more calm than I was.

10/15 update: Leah reports that she is okay. And she hasn't lost her sense of humor. Here is a tidbit of the email she sent out to the running gang Wednesday morning.

"...I wanted to send out a quick note and let everyone know am ok. Just some nasty stitches, a major jaw/headache and a million mosquito bites. After a series of X-rays and CT scans, I can officially be labeled HARD HEADED."

*With ACORN being in the news for voter fraud, it reminds me of my first job. I was 14 and needing some cash for the holidays. ACORN had an ad in the paper needing some "fundraising" help. It wasn't voter registration or anything. It was to fight rising utility bills. My job was to stand on the street median with a bucket in my hand and walk up to people in their cars waiting for the light to change and my speech was, "I'm with ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and we're trying to help lower utility bills. Would you like to help?" Now, this was Nov. and Dec. 1982. So picture this: a skinny black kid in the middle of the street in a well-to-do neighborhood near North Park Mall in North Dallas.

It was the first time I'd seen people lock their doors as I walked towards them.

But enough people rolled down their windows to give me their lose change, some putting it in my bucket before I could even get the words out. (Looking back, maybe they thought they were giving ME the money). They let me keep 30 percent of what I collected and on one Saturday, they let me keep 45 percent because it was close to Christmas. I still remember them counting out $54 for me at the end of the day. "I'm rich, I'm rich," I thought as I caught the city bus home that evening. I lasted about 5 or 6 Saturdays before I finally got tired of working in the cold.