Nova Nation?

Last Saturday morning, while I was laboring to start a six mile run, two of the three “hanging” TV screens in the gym were showing the same college basketball game. Two sports announcers, seated before the stands, were analyzing what we were about to see, and an obnoxious fan kept flashing a large, rectangle sign he held in his outstretched hands between them.

I found myself darn nearly laughing out loud when I read the words neatly printed on that rectangle poster. “Nova Nation,” it proudly proclaimed. Seeing this started a chain of imperceptibly related thoughts in my mind that made me completely forget my struggle on the treadmill.

I find it hard to imagine “Fan Nations” even though I am proudly a part of “Red Sox Nation.” I can’t recall when I first saw the word “nation” tacked on behind a sports team, but I’m pretty sure it was connected to the Florida Gators – as in “Gator Nation.”

But what started the chain of thought that led to my smile and then chuckle was the word, “Nova” on the fan banner. In this case it signified the fans of Villanova’s fine basketball team.

Nova is the name of a great science show, but I best recall the Nova as a short, "squatty" auto, designed by Chevrolet, that never did look too good unless it was a jacked-up, two-door with over-wide tires on "boss" mag rims. It helped if it was painted a light color and had stripes down the sides to make it appear longer.

I remember all too well when General Motors (GM) decided to export the Chevy Nova across the border to Mexico. It became an immediate joke. You see in Spanish, Nova translated roughly to “No Go.” The story of GMs failure was told over and over by consultants and business reformers. It was an example of American ineptness in foreign markets juxtaposed against the clever success the Japanese were having in the US.

If you were thinking about entering a foreign market in the 1980s and 90s, then you were urged to be smarter than the boys and girls at GM who didn’t even take the time to check something as simple as name translation.

So, I broke into a smile, then a chuckle, and just sailed on for a satisfying and almost effortless six and a half miles. You see, the chain of thought ended when it then dawned on me that these days we really are a “Nova Nation.” And how fitting that once again, GM plays such a prominent part!

Centers

I count myself politically and intellectually among a segment of the Democratic Party known as “Blue Dog” Democrats. Blue Dogs tend to be fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and often work to build a bridge between the right and left wings of “politics as usual.”

Years ago I found the harsh voices on either side of the divide exhausting. Feeling like a politically “battered” Rodney King, I wanted to shout, “Can’t we all just get along and get something worthwhile done?!" I’ve no time for the hatred and entrenched positions. Such rancor may sell ad space, but it is so detrimental to anything productive.

With this in mind, I’d direct you to the writings of Gerald Seib in the Wall Street Journal yesterday (Centrist Bloc Finds a Voice Amid Senate Stimulus Debate, Gerald F. Seib, WSJ 02.05.2009). Seib reports on a group in the Senate who have met by that proverbial water fountain, and worked to cut $100-$300 Billion from the Stimulus Package the House passed with such partisan acrimony.

According to Seib, Senator Susan Collins (Maine) is largely responsible for bringing and holding together a “hardy band of senators from both parties” and their proposal is likely to be voted on today (Friday, February 06, 2009).

After pledging allegiance to the United States of America we often run off in our various directions trying to prove that the patriotism of our group is greater than all others. We’d be better off placing our allegiance to America above that of party or state and working to re-build our once great nation.

We need the Center in the Senate not only to live but to grow. We need the birth of a new Center in the House. More than that, we need an overwhelming Center to cut across the partisanship that divides our nation and to pull us together as Americans.

I hope the newly formed Center in the Senate will hold. More than that, I hope it will spread.

Cha-Cha-Cha-Change!

Some of you have noticed – and commented – that I have not had much to say of late. I’ve said to at least one of you that there may be many people who wish it were so!

But it is true: I haven’t written a lot recently, not even in those little notebooks I always carry with me. I’ve been trying to come to grips with the rapid change that occurred over the last year. I’ve tracked back from the events of 2008 and determined that Halloween 2007 was the pivotal day and Lyssha’s home was the pivotal space (Lyssha is my oldest daughter.) Life was beginning to change in drastic ways and I had no idea!

On October 31, 2007, Natalie turned down a date with Nathan Terry because she was going to a Halloween Party at Lyssha’s and Nicole met Danny Saldivar at that same party.

In the weeks that followed, Nathan went off to Navy Basic Training in Illinois, and then to Florida to learn to repair aircraft radar. While he was in Florida, Nathan and Natalie began to correspond (whatever that means in this day of instant messages, cell phones, texting, and email.)

While that relationship simmered on the back burner, Nicole and Dan moved rapidly from interest, to interested, and then just as quickly to seriously interested. By the time Nicole and Dan were married in mid-July, Natalie and Nate were utilizing Verizon to its fullest – hour after hour, each and every day.

While Dan was attending Air Force Basic Training in Lackland, Texas, Nate “dropped by” on his way to his new duty station to “drop off” a ring. While Natalie planned a wedding that was as beautiful as it was different from Nicole’s, Dan went on to Missouri to learn Nuclear, Biological and Chemical emergency management.

After Nat and Nate tied the knot in a pre-Christmas ceremony that included both new sons-in-law in uniform, there was one last Christmas in South Jordan before everyone headed off in different directions.

Driving the rental truck from South Jordan to Whidbey Island, while Idaho, Oregon and Washington endured “30-year” storms (you know, those storms that newscasters start a broadcast saying, “This is the worst storm in thirty-something years!”) was nothing short of terrifying.

Moving Natalie into her new home was satisfying but leaving her at the airport to return home was wretched. Walking past the empty rooms at the house was miserable, but having Nicole close at hand is comforting, and getting Dan back home from training in Missouri was heart-warming.

Just that quickly they are grown up and gone. I always thought we’d have more time and I always thought that time would take longer to pass. I hope they will be happy. I miss them each and every day. I hope their new spouses will be kind, loving and good (like they appear to be.) I enjoy every text, phone call and visit.

Let me say for the record, they were lovable children and fascinating teens, but make no mistake; they leave home just as they are becoming truly interesting adults. Other than a few days when they were teens, I grew to love them more each and every day. I was blessed to watch them grow up. I was blessed to live with them for so long. I was blessed to see them become adults.

Now that they are grown and gone, I can also see how much I grew up with them – how they changed me into someone worthwhile. And so today, I love them for their patience with this transformed child they still call “Daddy.” They may never know just how they changed my life - and that it will never be the same.