Friday, January 30, 2009

Brendan the invincible, Brendan the brave or Brendan the crazy kid...you decide.

Yesterday morning I awoke to the not so gentle shaking of my body and the pleading words of my son saying "Mom, mom, mom."

Startled but now definitely awake I said, "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing. It's time for me to go to school." (Matt had to be to work earlier than normal and I had just gotten in from an extremely tiring 3 day trip. )

"OK buddy. I'll take you in just a minute." Here's where it gets interesting.

"Can I bike to school?"


Now there are many things that go through your mind when your child asks you to bike to school in the middle of January. The first thing that went through mine is are you nuts??? But of course I did not say that. In an attempt to reason with my son, I went through a laundry list of reasons this was not a good idea.

  1. It's really cold outside. (We are in the middle of a "warm up"...yeah right...if 3 below is warm, I'm a blue smurf.)

  2. Are the bike paths and side walks plowed?

  3. Cars aren't looking for bikes during the winter.

  4. You might slip and fall.

  5. The tires on your bike are probably flat.

Every reason I had given was met with a pretty good rebuttal.


  1. It's is supposed to be 17 and sunny when school gets out.

  2. Yes, they plow the paths for the kids who have to walk.

  3. I'm always careful around cars.

  4. It's no worse than walking. I'll be careful.

  5. Already checked. They look good.
So I rather reluctantly let him bike to school in this wonderful winter wonderland. I must admit, he looked pretty cute biking out there.




I drove over to school to make sure he made it there in one piece. Sure enough, there was his bike...alone in the bike rack.

When afternoon rolled around, I waited in the kitchen to see how his day was. I think Murphy may have known I was a little anxious. He just sat moping, looking out the front window for his buddy.


Brendan came though the front door where he was happily greeted by Murphy of course. No worse for the wear. Rosy cheeks and runny nose; par for the course during a Minnesota winter. He told me had a great day and didn't have any homework. Wow! No homework??? This biking thing was magic.


Then I thought back to my own childhood. What ever happened to that great fearless attitude that I had when I was a kid? The endless energy. Sledding in the dead of winter when it was freezing cold out. I didn't care if I had stalagmites coming out of my nose, there was no way I was going in until it was dark out. I wonder what happens to that part of us? Now I walk from the front door of my house to my car and wonder if there is a way Matt could rig something up to heat the area. Crazy huh?

So you be the judge...invincible, brave or crazy? I think maybe a little bit of all three.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

My First Post

I must admit that I never thought that I would be creating a blog. I am one of those semi-traditional types who feels that the world has become too technologically advanced. Our kids don't know how to talk to one another, they only know how to text. My Space and Facebook are where kids go to "hang out" and chat. What happened to meeting at Godfather's Pizza or some other local joint and having a soda and a good gossip session? Kind of impersonal in my opinion but who am I to judge.

Flashback to October. While vacationing in Jamaica, Matt and I met some fabulous people who we are honored to consider friends. One couple, David and Tiffany, sent us a Christmas e-mail with a link to their blogspot. A blogspot...what's that? I clicked on the link and voila. How cool is this?!? Pictures, stories, a virtual glimpse in to their daily lives. I got to see what Noah looked like yesterday, not the 3 month old portrait I saw on the bus. After reading I felt like I knew them even better. Basically it's a way to keep in touch with people without really keeping in touch. I know, ironic from the semi-traditionalist. But I have come to the realization that if I truly wanted to stay in touch with all of my friends, I would be on the phone about 12 hours a day. I am honest enough to admit that is impossible.

So here we are...the inception of Bjerke's Blog. I will definitely be learning as I go but I know that I have friends out there who will probably help me if I ask. Hope you enjoy!