Seasons of Change, Seasons of Goodbye

An article by Don Quixote    1 Comment

Fall can be such a melancholy time of year for me.

The often abrupt change in weather, the gloomy, frigid rain soaked days (much like what is happening outside my window right now), and the methodic melting of the world into gray.

It’s the season of change; the passing of life into slumber. It’s saying goodbye to the warm embrace of summer, and bidding fare-thee-well to the soft kiss of heat in the passing breeze.

I am reminded of all of the many things that have changed in my life over the past several months; the goodbyes that have been shared time and time again. My best friend Nathan packed up and headed to Wisconsin to take a ministry there. My sister and her husband migrated to Tulsa, OK to work with a church in the area. My own father headed father west to take a new preaching gig in Buffalo (Indiana that is). My dear friend Joel left to San Diego, and my boss at the University moved on to other things as well.

I feel like the barren trees outside; that some how those things that had made me full and filled have passed to the ground never to be part of me again.

Yet even as I stare, I marvel at the beauty of what is there, and pieces scatter on the floor of the earth. I lot of wonderful things have happened since last I sat down and really wrote to you.

In June I got to take the boys to their first MLB game in Detroit. We had a great time (and a wonderful culture experience, walking the streets of MoTown to get dinner). Who would have thought (aside from Tom Flammer) that the Tigers would be making their way to the world series this year? I also got to take my Mom and Dad with us (Mom being a HUGE Tigers fan – it was so funny this week she called me on the phone shouting, “We’re going to the world series, we’re going to the world series.” I’m like, “you’ve got tickets to the world series?” “No, the Tigers won.” – the neat little aside is that the last time they went I was 10 years old and stayed up with my mom watching the games. This year Dafyd is 10, so that’s kinda fun). At the same time I did get to spend the day with Autumn and Gideon and the aforementioned group at the Detroit Zoo, so that was a great time of making memories.

Also in June we got a cool new sectional for the living room and had an opportunity to take a good of people to see Andrew Peterson as he made a stop over in Ligonier, IN.

July continued the trend of making memories as Michelle and I took off for an extended weekend in Indy. We stayed at this cool place called Sybaris where we had a 20’ swimming pool inside of room (with a water slide) and let’s not forget those awesome Sharper Image massage chairs… mmmmm.. those were nice. The next day we headed out to the Verizon Wireless Music center to see the Goo Goo Dolls & The Counting Crows (which was an awesome show). Through my spontaneous long term planning we had great seats in the 6th row. Needless to say my wife was happy.

July of course is the much celebrated month of Michelle’s birthday, and as tradition holds we took several days off to pamper and adore her. Last year we headed to Ohio to Old Man’s cave and what have you. This year I decided to do something a little different and we packed up and headed to Canada for the Stratford Festival. What an amazing time. It had been a few years since I traveled with Great Lakes there and I had forgotten how great the productions where. We had a chance to catch Oliver! which was wow, Much Ado About Nothing (which was very good, but not as good as I had seen in the past), and South Pacific (sets were stunning). Keeping in the tradition of trying new things we had some frogs legs, ox tail & lobster ravioli, and a several other interesting dinning treats. While in Stratford, we stayed at this wonderful little bed and breakfast called the Avery house and spent our mornings having wonderful conversations with folks from all over North America.

As if spending several days in Stratford wasn’t enough, we headed to Niagara and stayed on the 31st floor of the Hilton and just a stunning view of both falls right outside our window. We pulled the couch up and just sat together looking out as sun set and they lit the falls. In the morning we headed down, parked on the street in front of the falls and took it all in.

August didn’t prove as exciting as far as travel goes, but I did manage to move into my new office and we got the new Pope John Paul II center opened at work and most everything is working. So that was a HUGE load off my plate as we’ve spent the better part of last year planning and purchasing equipment for the building. All in all I am very happy with it.

September kicked off with Michelle and I heading to Las Vegas with our dear friends the Rothrocks. Believe it or not, but this is the trip that I’ve been planning since November of last year. When Michelle and I got married in Dec. 2004, we got suckered into signing up for one of the trial time shares, so we cashed in all of our points and booked the 3 room presidential suite. The original plan was for Michelle and I, Bobby & Stephanie, and Joel (as mentioned above) and Jarrod to all stay, but for various reason, J & J backed out. But despite all of that we had a wonderful time, and for the first time, Michelle and I actually have a lot of pictures of us together at some place (you’ve already seen the photos posted here).

We had a chance to see a lot of wonderful shows while we were there (I’m not much of a gambler and have yet to play a table game). The first night we caught LOVE, the new Cirque show based on the music of the Beatles, which was amazing. The next day we saw a showing of Jubilee!, which is an old school style Vegas show with show girls and the big head pieces. Sunday we headed back out to the Grand Canyon (we rented a jeep and drove out there [the four of us]) and that’s always a moving experience. The next night Michelle and I caught the new Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian (I never caught a stage version of it before), and it too was very well done. Tuesday brought Mamma Mia! and dinner at this wonderful little Italian Café called Caffe Giorgio. Wednesday was our anchor Vegas outing that we conned Bobby & Steph into going on. We eat at Prime Steakhouse at the Bellagio and head off to see “O”. Due to a strange twist of fate and an error on the hotels part, we ended up with some breath taking VIP seats for the show which just made it all the more stunning. We closed the week on Thursday with a trip to see our friends Penn & Teller. We hung around after the show to shake a few hands and snap a picture. A great time was had by all.

A couple of weeks later we took the boys to their first Detroit Lions game. That was a lot of fun. Even though they lost, we got to see the play Green Bay and just watching Dafyd cheering was worth ever penny. Jace wasn’t as into the game as he’s a fan of the Colts (“The Colts are the real deal”).

Fill the rest in with a lot of hours at work and there you go, all caught up.

Last week I spent in Dallas at the annual EDUCAUSE event, so that was pretty exciting. I got to reconnect in a small way with a buddy from college who works at IPFW. I also got to head out to a reception at Texas Stadium and meet Tony Dorsett (who was a really good guy). So all and all, a good time.

The near future looks pretty tame as far as travel, but exciting things are always happening at work and I’m elbow deep in a barrel of projects.

We are back out on the search for a church home as Seekers isn’t really what we are looking for doctrinally, but if you can think of us in your prayers, that would be awesome. Until next time… try and stay out of trouble.