A Blizzard, the Flu, and a Flat Tire

Ahh, the holidays.  Wonderful times, wonderful memories.  The joy of family and presents.  And then the trials and tribulations.  A road trip the day after Christmas this year began late and without a check of the weather.  Alas we were heading directly into a blizzard with 12-16" of snow expected.  What should have been a 7.5 hour drive turned into an overnight odyssey with over 16 hours of road time.  Then we had a marvelous visit with my sister and her family ... A great time was had playing in the snow and enjoying snow sports:  snowshoeing, sledding, cross country skiing, and for some snowboarding.   Unfortunately her husband was sick and unfortunately he passed it on to my daughter.

Time to travel home - complete with one sick person.  A roundabout way and a stop to pick up mom - now we are traveling in 2 cars.  And then a missed turn ... at dinner time on the road on New Year's Eve and we ended up with a flat tire.  Murphy's Law I guess.  Fortunately my wonderful husband quickly put on the spare and we were on the road again.  Finally got home about 11:15 pm.  An 11 hour odyssey this time.  Vermont seems very far away.  I think next time we will opt for a summer visit!  A very tired foursome celebrated at midnight with some sparkling grape juice and retired for the night.  Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013.

My Daughter, the Nomad

My oldest spent this summer between her junior and senior year of college doing a 5 week long internship and then leading 4 mission trips.  She ended up traveling over 5,000 miles this summer all over the Eastern half of the U.S.


This does not include a flight from Atlanta to Providence, the drive back to Chicago or the flight home for Labor Day Weekend.

This is what comes of being raised in a mission organization and spending childhood traveling!
One summer we drove from Georgia to Maine [Acadia] and then to Orlando.  This time she was behind the wheel and did most of the driving solo.

Life in the Fast Lane

I have a torn rotator cuff which is keeping me in constant pain and causing difficulty sleeping.  I spend all day on the computer at work and the injury is probably due to overuse - so typing and working on a paper is hard.  I am going back to the Dr tomorrow for a follow up visit.

I have to work 3 hours this Saturday [and make two airport runs]

One of my daughters is home for 6 days before heading back to college and has been sick these 4 days.  Meanwhile I am coordinating the repair of the car she totaled earlier this summer (minor accident/old car) so she can drive it back to Chicago.

We are invited to two parties this weekend [only the 3rd and 4th invitations we have received since moving here 1.5 years ago, so we don't want to turn them down].

Then we have 3 house guests coming this weekend through Labor Day [my nephew is getting married on the 2nd] and 7-14 more the following weekend since my sister-in-law's house is overflowing with guests.

Both my daughters will be home for labor day for the wedding [having both been gone all summer].

My husband just returned from a week on Martha's Vineyard and will head to Chicago this weekend and Rhode Island late next week.

A paper was completed for grad school this past weekend, and another longer paper is due soon.

This is normal life!

Book Review: Take This Bread

This was quite a challenging read, mostly because I did not always agree with the author or her logic.  But the book stretched me in good ways; it made me less judgmental and gave me insights into new points of view.

The descriptions of her church in San Francisco are fascinating - made me want to visit!

This author takes us through her personal spiritual journey of discovery, helping us understand her background and the experiences that shaped her.

I've had many great conversations about the concepts in the book, including the notion of "open communion."  Miles' description of feeling accepted and welcome at the communion table were very powerful.  She associates food with family and love and considers the communion a somewhat mystical experience.

One of the best things about this book, is that Miles takes action - she opens a food pantry in her church and goes on to feed many throughout her neighborhood and city.  She puts her faith into action, caring for the needs of others.

Book Review

Fascinating historical account of the Chicago World's Fair in the 1890s.  This author did thorough research and follows 2 characters through the building and running of the fair, one an architect and the other a serial killer.  The descriptions of the buildings, landscape, and exhibits of the fair are fascinating.  The drama of the murders set against the determination of others to showcase the best of this great city provides an interesting contrast.

The book provides a great deal of background knowledge of the development of cities, structural aspects of building, and landscape architecture.  At the same time, it provides a glimpse of life in another era.

Larson was meticulous in his research and manages to provide a good read at the same time.

Canvas of the Sky

Spring weather in Philly this year has provided many beautiful vistas with flowers, green grass, new leaves on trees, vibrant bushes, and ever changing patterns of clouds and sky.

Reflections on Starting Graduate School

So, I find myself back in school after more than 25 years in the adult world of jobs, parenting, and being an ordinary citizen.  It is both exhilarating and exhausting.  We had an intense first weekend with over 31 hours classroom time in 3 days; someone likened it to drinking from a fire hose!  At times I wondered, 'what was I thinking?' and at other times I thought, 'I can do this.'

Now that I have done some writing and lots of reading, I feel a bit more prepared ... I think that this is a goal that I can accomplish.  Go Cohort 41 - our goal is 2014!  Don't lose sight of the end result - new skills that will be valuable in whatever nonprofit we serve.  I am not so intimidated as I was just a few weeks ago.

One phenomenon that I found frustrating, until I had an "aha" moment, was the tendency of the profs to go from the general to the specific - sometimes over a period of days.  I would hear the big picture and think, 'that's great, but I need to know x ...'  Once I saw the pattern, I was able to relax a bit and trust that all my questions would eventually get answered.