Summer 2022: Days 23-34

The last 12 days have been a whirlwind of activity, travel, emotions, and transition. Do I go backward or forward as I recap?

I'll start in the middle: I traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona, for my company's annual retreat. As a remote organization, we don't see each other much, so these 3-4 days are special. The weather was ungodly hot in Arizona, and the pools at the five-star resort felt like bathwater and weren't so refreshing. But everything indoor was heavily air-conditioned, and the outdoor activities had giant misters blasting. And the water slides were fun. Most importantly, I got to see coworkers and, especially, hang out with good friends that I only communicate with on Slack and Zoom. The event goes by too fast, but the next one is not even 11 months away. 

I flew back Wednesday afternoon and got about 15 minutes in the house before Lori, Ben and I hit the road to drive to Grand Junction, Colorado, for a swim meet. We stayed in an Airbnb that worked out really well. Ben swam just OK, but the trip itself was fun. We didn't get to see too much of the scenery (I was still working Thursday and Friday) -- and after four days in Arizona I wasn't in a hurry to experience more heat. Plus, we hit some rain on Sunday, so we just drove home, with Lori powering through behind the wheel for the entire drive. 

Today was July 4, and my sabbatical officially starts tomorrow. It sort of started Friday when I logged off, but this still feels like a long holiday weekend -- I'm thinking it really kicks in tomorrow. I did a few things on my sabbatical list today: laundry, grilling, book purging, and a trip to the Container Store (I didn't buy anything ... yet). 

The sad news today was a mass shooting at a parade in Highland Park, Illinois, in which six people were killed. The last couple weeks have been jarring, including the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. We're all feeling a little helpless.

But summer marches on, and I have six weeks of no work ahead of me. Let the Joe-batical begin!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summer, Day 8

Today was Memorial Day, and as far as Memorial Days go, this one seemed somewhat anticlimactic. The sun came out after three less-than-stellar days, perhaps preventing the weekend from being a total bust. I worked late last night but was awake earlier than I wanted to be this morning. I fell back asleep and woke up around 10:30 to a thumping sound outside. Michael, Lori and my father-in-law got the rest of the sand in the base of the new basketball hoop, and Michael and his friend from across the street were shooting around. This was Lori's parents' last day in Utah, so we treated them to The Cheesecake Factory at the new City Creek mall downtown. I had the macaroni and cheese burger and most of a piece of Oreo cheesecake (no matter how much I pushed on my sons -- they wanted to share Lori's banana cream cheesecake). The boys and I wandered City Creek a little and came home. The afternoon wasn't much more eventful. Michael and I took Popcorn to the park for about
Read more

Vacation finale

Image
As expected, the last three days of vacation were much less eventful than the first 12. This happens every year -- we get back from Wisconsin for at least one day before leaving for Utah, and it's just wind-down time. And that's OK -- going nonstop for two weeks isn't easy, especially with kids. And vacation is supposed to be a time to relax, and for the past three days, that's what we did. The past few days weren't that relaxing, however. Monday, we met my mom, who is in Chicago this week, for lunch and then to Old Orchard Mall. That night, we met some friends at the new Superdawg (my favorite Chicago hot dog restaurant) in Wheeling. Tuesday, after pondering going downtown, we ended up just seeing the Smurfs movie with my dad. Last night, we went to dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant here in Edgebrook. Wednesday was mostly devoted to getting ready for our return trip Thursday morning. The heat and thunderstorms finally subsided -- this might have been the m
Read more

Nine days after the solstice

Image
The summer solstice was nine days ago, but I'm only now getting around to writing my annual reflection that is supposed to be created on the first day of summer. Nine days ago, I was frenetically trying to finish up work and get ready for a road trip to Denver, where Benji was competing in a swim meet. We got back Monday afternoon, but I was too exhausted to come up to my usual spot in Donner Park. The last three nights were overcast (though the skies cleared a little too late to embark on my quest last night), spoiling the goal of watching the sunset. So, nine days later, I'm finally here. And now that I am, I'm not totally sure what to write about. To say the last year has been a blur would be cliche, and I don't think it's gone faster than any other past year. But I've been struggling to wrap my head around the current summer and, thus, what's really on my mind. I could write about how we're a year away of having two kids in college and being sort of
Read more