16th
Model – “That’s How It Is”
It was a
summer morning, and we decided to try a new morning route. Jeff had to be home first, so we thought staying
on the east side of town would be a good idea.
The ride went down hill on Hwy 269 to Normandy, a really fast
section. Then we worked our way toward
Wartrace and turned right on 16th Model Road and climbed the long
hill. Climbing the mile long hill took a little longer than we planned. At
about 6:30 we stopped for a quick break at the corner of Sixteenth Model Road
and Robert’s Ridge Road. The ride back
to Normandy on Roberts Ridge, and Red Hill Road was mostly down hill and fast. Then
back up the long hill on Hwy 269, and to Jeff’s house. We were maybe thirty-five or forty minutes away. The problem was, Jeff was supposed to be home
earlier than that so Stacy could leave for work, and their children could stay
asleep. He said, “I gotta call Stace and
tell her how it is.”
While we all stood
there over our bikes, and got a drink of water, Jeff explained to Stacy that we
were still forty or so minutes from home, and he was going to be late. He said, “Look, That’s how it is.” When he got off the phone, he said Stacy was
going to call Tracy and Gary, who lived just down the street, and one of them would
watch the children till he got home. So together, they adapted, and made a good
plan. We took off and pushed pretty hard
back to Jeff’s house. All the way we
were talking about what each of our wives might say if we called and said, “Look, That’s how it is.” We all agreed that it might not have worked
out as well as it did for Jeff and Stacy.
Jeff did tell it like it was. If you asked a question, he would tell you
the truth. Maybe that’s a coach
thing. You win or lose. You always look
for ways to improve. But most
importantly, you have to be honest about what is going on, and deal with it.