The Trouble with Traditions

As most of you know, I come from a freakishly large family which loves to spend a lot of time doing things together. This attitude didn't appear overnight. It was carefully and lovingly nurtured by generations of women before me or my sisters. When I was little time was marked by events such as Easter picnics

Family reunions, which of course included luaus
And of course the biggest end of year event- Christmas Eve

It seemed we would just get done with one event and planning would begin for the next. Everyone in my family can recall-sometimes with fondness; sometimes not- all of these traditional family events and gatherings. I still can't comprehend the idea of spending Christmas Eve quietly watching movies.

Anyway, as time has gone by and as noted in previous posts I have been blessed/cursed with the genetic desire to continue traditions. Well, it turns out that traditions take a lot of work. When I was little I didn't truly appreciate all the work that went into all the events around me. But now as I get older I appreciate the need for traditions. Not all the traditions that I had as a child have continued. We no longer do large family Easter picnics, Sunday dinners are a thing of the past, and luaus are simply a fond memory. But a few years ago I woke up one day and realized that while I couldn't do all the traditions my Grandma did, I did have the opportunity to start creating my own traditions within my family.

You see, that's the trouble with traditions, they take a lot of work or they go away. It doesn't count when you sit around and just tell your kids about the great things you did way back when. You need to actually get up...and do something. If you aren't willing to help, you deserve to not enjoy them. So...as the time gets closer for the 2011 RE Whiting Family Reunion, and I hear "well...I don't think we are going to make it this year" or as Christmas approaches and I hear "I just can't make it this time...but for sure next year" I wonder what your children will be doing in 20 years. You see, kids learn from example, if you didn't have the time for your family I wonder if they will ever have the time for you.

Traditions create a sense of stability. Something that you can count on no matter what is going on. Unfortunately, many members of my family, while they enjoy the traditions, are not willing to put the work into them. To them I say--"Quit ****ing and get to work! You think it was easy for people before? Well, they did it, so suck it up cupcake!"

The Rivers Edge

It's runoff time. Usually that means that we get dirty water in the water treatment world, which, oddly enough is actually easier to treat than clean December water. Anyway, this year we had watershed snowpack levels around 248% of normal. That means a lot of snow, add to that a nice cold spring, and you have the opportunity for a lovely runoff year. Normally the Colorado River in the summer runs around 10,000 cfs, runoff on a normal year is around 20,000 cfs. This year we are expected to peak around 34,000 cfs. While this won't be the record year of 1983 which was 40,000 cfs it's still pretty serious.

My work has been preparing for this flood for a couple months, but it wasn't until the last two weeks that we got into high gear. We have been building berms and filling sandbags, lining banks and watching the weather like crazy. Since our treatment plant is right along the river, we have to take all this seriously. In the record year of 1983, the river decided to use it's old channel, which happens to be our across our driveway, so the operators were literally boating in to work. This year we have a boat, life jackets, and plans for evacuating the building for things like documents and some of my lab equipment. Hopefully we won't have to do that.

However, since the river usually crests around 2 a.m. we have all volunteered for shifts to watch the river in the middle of the night. Mine is for Thursday morning 2-6 a.m. For some reason this has my mother and my supervisor very nervous. My supervisor, because I am the only woman who volunteered (apparently the secretaries aren't interested in being team players) and my mother because, well...she's my Mom. The crest is supposed to be here on Wednesday or Thursday, right when I will be checking. I'm not worried, but to make my Mother happy, maybe I'll give her a call so she knows I'm safe! A 3 a.m. check in should make her very happy indeed!