Back home for a week

Being back home for a week was great. There was a little bit of traveling drama (lost bag) and some family flare ups, but these things happen when you travel and when you spend time with family. They were more than balanced out by the the good times with friends and family. The downtime from biking was nice too.

My dad's memorial in Pittsfield, MA was great. It gave me a great look at a side of my father that I rarely, if ever, saw. I objectively knew about that side of his life, but it isn't the same as when people give their subjective opinions of it. It was moving. There were tears. There was laughter. I think it was what everyone was looking for and that my father would have liked it.

Coming home for the memorial gave me a great chance to hang out with my all my siblings in Northampton, MA. We were able to commiserate and share our own memories. Perhaps more importantly, it just gave us the chance to be together. Since my parents divorce, we have been getting closer. However, we live in three different states (if I am even in the country) no less than 250 miles from each other so these opportunities to be with each other are treasured, even under bad circumstances.

After the celebration of my dad's completed life, I went to celebrate two lives still in progress at Kate and Kent's wedding. I had thought I was going to miss their wedding on Cape Cod, but due to the timing of my dad's memorial I was able to catch it and it was the perfect pick me up. I got to spend a little time with the happy couple, meet their families, and even see one of my dearest Denver friends. The only bad part was driving back to my sister's home when I was so tired.


Kate and Kent Martin.
I closed out my final few days in the USA in my favorite big city in the world, New York. I hung out with Betty, as always. We made some biking plans for Jordan and Egypt. Ate a ton of great food that I have been missing. Also, I had a brilliant visit with a high school classmate, James M., that I have not seen in maybe fourteen years. We played soccer and did high school theater together. He also was the one who introduced me to ultimate frisbee way back when. We played 2v2 during high school lunch. He doesn't still play ultimate, but he is acting in NYC which is incredible. He just wrapped up a production of Our Town in SoHo(?). Unfortunately, I can't remember the play he is about to start.

What else . . . I thought I was flying Thursday which was partly true. I had a flight from Paris to Ljubljana on Thursday. My flight out of NYC was on Wednesday which did not leave me as much time to run all the errands that I wanted to run. I got them taken care of, but it was a little more stressful than I would have liked. Also, my passport had not arrived on Wednesday morning. Luckily, it finally came in around noon and everything was set for my trip back to Europe. That flight went off without a hitch. No, I did not check my bag this time.