Tales of the Ordinary Days

Durango mug shots We are a week into our Durango adventure. Larry and I arrived last Tuesday night. On a scale from 1 to 10, we ranked our road trip an 8 for our 1,200 miles cross country together. Keep in mind, this is blended rating for our trip. By 5 pm last Tuesday, when we arrived at our storage unit in Durango after four days of driving, we were done. We were at a low score of a five. I was driving too fast. Larry was driving too slow. Four days on the road and we were delirious. And then Garrett interjected into our scene. Cool. Calm. The peacemaker. The three of us worked together to unload Larry's truck into the storage unit before dark with his U-Haul trailer returned shortly thereafter. With a visit to a local craft brewery and a warm dinner later, we were all good. Our new trio + Zeke was revived and ready to embark on our new adventure. Yes, all is good in the world. It is amazing what a good night's sleep and unpacking can do for a person. Fast fo...

Prosecco and Scotch kind of night. We are in Colorado!! Three Hampton Inn stays, four states covered, two time zone changes, seven McDonald's stops, one ice storm endured, and 1,085 miles logged. No, Dorothy, it certainly isn't Kansas anymore. After 400 miles across Kansas and a Mountain Time switch, we crossed the Colorado border early this afternoon. With sunny skies and dry roads, it was a drastic change from our crawl into Junction City, KS last night. With me following Larry in his pick-up + U-Haul, our speed was at a steady 40 MPH last night as we navigated over icy bridges on the Kansas Interstate stretch. My last count was seven cars and one semi that had slid off the road. The temp dropped to a perfect ice storm of 28 degrees. Not cold enough to turn to snow, but not warm enough to avoid icing over. Although mentally spent, we made it to our hotel destination safely. With a quick dinner and the viewing of a Packers impressive game start, Larry was down for...

Old Guy and me We did it. Somehow, someway...with a lot of help from a lot of wonderful people, we got my father-in-law moved out of his long-time home in Monterey, Indiana. I flew in last Monday to assist with the move. Larry and I 'flew out' today, via our packed vehicles and a stuffed U-Haul trailer. Oh what a week. Let me start by saying that I have never met Larry's mom, Mabel, nor have I met the prior owner of his house, Agnes. But I now feel like we are intimately acquainted and I am grateful for the experience. I have also relived the years of Larry's ex's and Garrett's ex through the house cleansing process. Photos, cards, memorabilia from trips...you name it, I've been through it. As Larry and I reflected over wine and steak tonight, so much of our journey is lived in a home. A journey full of people who have walked by our side. The home being the ultimate holder of these memories. Now I need to digress a bit on Mabel and Agnes and the m...

This is Us I don't even know where to start in describing this day. Our day for Smokey. A random Facebook event post. A trip to get a signed wine bottle at a grocery store. A missed movie. A bunch of strangers. An aging R&B icon. A really long wait. A group of new friends. Yeah. It went something like that. The story starts with what we thought would be a quick stop for a Christmas gift. We were also hoping for a picture with the famed singer, Smokey Robinson. All these hopes were to happen on December 21st, which also was the last Saturday before Christmas. Hopes and dreams. The event of note came to our attention through Facebook. It was advertised as a wine bottle signing from 2-4 pm at a nearby Albertson's grocery store. Who knew Smokey had his own wine line? I didn't. But Facebook is always there to remind me of obscure happenings like these. My cousin, Bill, saw the post and after an exchange of texts, we added to our calendars. It sounded like a ...

Old Guy (Larry's nickname from cousin Judy) and me From my recent trip to help orchestrate our many life moves We have news. And the best kind - good news. We are on the move again! Our adventure in Boise will come to a close as we ring in the new year. 2020 will bring a change of address to Durango, Colorado. Why you ask? My answer? Pretty much....why not? Life is grand when the world is your oyster and you allow yourself to think that way. So here is the more detailed story on how we came up with Durango... Knowing our short-term rental in Boise was done at the end of the year, Garrett and I discussed our next steps over some cocktails mid-summer. We tentatively decided to stay in Boise for another year, feeling like we hadn't yet experienced all Boise and Idaho had to offer. We have really enjoyed our time here. I summed up my experience in one word - joyful. Holding that thought under our cap, we moved through the summer. I did some work in Colorado in l...

Carol, Cindy, (Shimerda girls-Anna, Sarah, Mary), me, Melanie, Barb, Nicky, LuAnn Picture was taken at Sarah's bridal shower a few years back With every great first meeting, there is a story. The moments in time where lasting relationships begin. This is the case with my neighbors of Elm Circle. Over the last nineteen years, we have co-existed like a close extended family. There were times when we needed each other, but was also the comfort in distance between own homes. My neighbors perfected the art of knowing the difference. Driving away from my home for the last time, I called each of my boys. We shared these years as a family with roots that grew deep. I felt the urge to share the finality of the moment with them. All responded with encouragement, but Grant nailed it with his comment. "Mom, it's really not about the house. It's about the people. I miss the people. You'll miss the people." He was so right. My home was not the same, now empty of...

October 2009 - October 2019 Garrett and I just wrapped an amazing 9 day road trip through Oregon, focusing our travels on the southwestern region of the state. By our calculations (which was basically a combo of loose memory and verification through my flipping through iPhone pictures), this was our sixth annual fall trip together. We started this tradition with hiking the Rocky Mountain National Park in 2014, taking in the beautiful orange aspen leaves and all the great fall mountainous views. The other calculation that came to light was that it was ten years ago when Garrett and I first met. TEN YEARS. Wow. We had to recheck our math on that one too. A lot has happened in our collective lives since that fall day in 2009. By twist of fate, I followed up with Garrett, a presenter at a conference I was attending in Denver ten years ago and so it all began. This was before texting was the prevalent form of communication. I sent him an e-mail on my way out of town and we later se...