Erkie's Adventures

Erk is our own personal entertainment center.

We recently realized that the reason we don't go dancing, hit the movies regularly or skydive is that we get a weekly dose of excitement from watching him play soccer. It helps that he is a goal-scoring machine on the pitch, but it's actually the quality of his play and the fact that he gives 100% on the field that is the attraction! He's currently playing indoor soccer on both a coed and a men's team--so we get double the fun each week. This is the first season he's played indoor since shredding his ACL his freshman year and, while we both had concerns at first, neither of us flinch much less cringe when we watch now. Erk told his friends up front that he wouldn't play unless it was on an indoor turf surface. We've especially loved watching the coed team--the female players are quite skilled and the teamwork and passes are a joy. Outdoor soccer is still a few months away and we should mention that we've watched his men's league team improve continually and were league champs this fall. Go, Lazyboys!

Now that we've got the soccer out of the way...

It took a few years, but he realized that sitting inside in front of a computer for eight hours a day wasn't really the way he wanted to spend his work hours. He'd been quite impressed with the physical therapists during his ACL rehabilitation so...farewell, Computer Science and hello, P.T! He's officially majoring in Health Ecology now (the catch-all title for those interested in a career pertaining to Medicine in some way, shape or form). He's a Physical Therapy aide for a group downtown--a way of earning money and getting experience in his newly-chosen field. We are thrilled that he's found his niche--with all his people skills and athletic experience, this just feels right to us. He has no problem getting to work at 8 a.m. so we know he must really like what he's doing.

He's still living in the same house fairly close to campus although the roommates have changed a bit as they graduate and get jobs. It's convenient to his job and it's not too far from us either. We enjoy a weekly family dinner so we can catch up, but still let him have plenty of independence. He'd love to have a dog, but knows school and work eat up too much time, so for now his parakeet keeps him company.




He's been an immense help at Grammy's. Her backyard landscape project wouldn't have gotten nearly as far without his muscles and willing gift of time over and over throughout a very hot summer. We are quite impressed with his hard work. Turns out that he and Amanda make a good team when it comes to landscaping. They somehow made it fun to move large quantities of soil. We all miss her as she completes her master's degree in Montana.

It doesn't seem that he could possibly be 23 now. We're glad he's still nearby. We trade haircuts for backrubs and he doesn't let us get away with any parental nonsense. We compare notes on novels and swap copies. Holidays are happier with at least one kid around and it's been wonderful to have three generations seated around the dinner table!

(Thank you, Pam, you got me blogging on him!)