A Heartwarming Weekend

Time is a funny thing. It doesn’t slow down, it doesn’t speed up, it makes the heart grow fonder, it’s the one thing we’ve all got, the third one is a charm, and it’s rumored to fly.

I don’t think time flies if you have a brain injury. My dad had one on March 23, 2003 and there hasn’t been a single day over the past sixteen years that hasn’t been a struggle in one way or another for dear ol’ dad. Brain injuries suck, they tear normalcy to shreds as much as they tear families apart.

Ted King senior, my dad, was the foundation of our family throughout my upbringing. It’s as much my mom’s foundational strength that’s kept our family together as, formerly, it was dad’s. My heart goes out to both of them for their heroic strength through it all.

(This enormous photo below is actually a gallery. Give it a few clicks to see some highlights of the our Saturday…)

Believe it or not, this blog isn’t meant to make you teary-eyed or think that I’m just a sap for emotion. The point is, this past weekend was the ninth annual King Challenge, and it was a day of celebration, fun, family, community, sunshine, spectacular foliage, tasty food, wine, and beer, friends, camaraderie, and ultimately positivity. This is the Krempels Center’s biggest fund-raiser of the year and, selfishly, I think the most fun.

I can’t say thank you enough to all my friends and family who came out, my supporters in my fundraising effort (hint hint, funds are welcome until the end of the month!) the sponsors, vendors, and volunteers who give so freely of their Saturday. The Krempels Center staff is as good as it comes and Arlon Chaffee, the engine behind the event is working doggedly, year after year, to make it happen. To EVERYONE who is involved, I thank you.

Festivities started on Wednesday, quite informally. Then we had a Thursday evening event as we do every year at La Festa. Friday morning is a busy one with a fireside chat at the Krempels Center, which was followed by a video piece I did with Jeremy Powers. JPows himself has been busy over the past nine years, but I call it nine years of preparation for the event. He was awesome and GCN is going to have something cool coming down the pike shortly. Stay tuned! From there, I got a righteous 25 minute ride in and onto hosting dinner for some out of town guests.

The point here is that it’s a busy lead up to the King Challenge and then event day is sleepless. So when Sunday rolled around, what do Laura and I do? Set the alarm for 6am and hightail it to Vermont for the Vermont Forest Fondo!

I’d heard good things about the VTFF. Bryan and his crew are rumored to throw a house party. This time of year, though, it’s tough to muster the motivation to get out of bed when you know it’s brisk. The season has been long so you’re a tad tired and might not want to zip around at maximum effort.

So rolling up to Bryan’s house, deep on some gravel roads in the heart of the Green Mountains, we knew this was going to be a good one. Friends are meandering, hot UnTapped Mapleaid is warming souls, right next to beer already on tap, and no one is stressing about warm-ups.

The Cyclo-bombo-genesis storm from days prior soaked the entire forest, but it wasn’t until about 10 feet into the first section that we’d recognize that. But skidding around on the mud and stunning foliage with friends is exactly what late October is about. Dodging trees, refueling at the aid stations on bacon/blueberry Fluffernutters, hydrating with… okay okay, Miller Lite and Whistle Pig, and then best yet when we rolled back into Bryan’s house to the Korean BBQ that awaited, man oh man, he did it right!

What a weekend. To be home in our own bed on Sunday night capped off a whirlwind weekend. But if these are the things that we get out of bed early for, that we hustle around focusing our fun and attention on, it appears we’re doing something right.

Thanks dear friends for your patience as we’ve revitalized iamtedking.com. Stay tuned for some final tweaks, but please enjoy the new site!