Highlights: Final day of my brief vacation in Minnesota. I had a wonderful time. I can not say enough just how this short time away from work with these friends brought about a much-needed increase in my sense of calm and balance. My problems are 1st world problems, and I'm grateful for that and so much more. So I say these things with conscious awareness of my good fortune and opportunities in life. But the time I've taken to "restore" throughout the past 1.5yrs + has been fragmented and minimal. This wasn't "enough," but it was a start. Genuinely disconnecting from the pressures, even for just two days (due to Labor Day), helped. I had at first intended to be far less engaged in doing 'stuff' with my friends than I ended up doing but the one day I had to focus on my interests was enough. And what I found in the way of inspiration from that time made me value the people an opportunity I had to be present with them all the more. The last day today was spent having a great breakfast together, going on a long (4+ mile) walk through a neighborhood and park near Teri's house. We stopped so I could pick up a bag of "Caribou" coffee for home and a box of pods for them. Once we returned, we just hung out at the house. I packed up, cleaned up and tidied up. Then I grabbed the 1994 calendar from Steve's cache of those mentioned previously. I seized about six years' worth, but just that one alone was an opportunity to walk through a year in our shared lives and reflect back some 28 years. It was everything I thought it would be to review the constant entries of people, places and things and to talk through the details behind so many summaries as written. Matt found one of the photo albums covering that same date range, showing photos that accompanied the entries about trips to Washington, New Mexico and more. Parties, movie nights, concerts, dinners, life events and milestones… all were recounted. It took at least an hour or so, and after that one year, I was satisfied and didn't want to force another. I'm hoping this might carry forward, and they might take other calendars to Leavenworth next week. We also ended up talking through and brainstorming a way for Steve to see his long-desired "blue wall of cow skulls" come to fruition through painting, texture and potentially Matt B donating his own bovine artifact to the project. The first-class return flight was great. The meal and service and early boarding almost made it worthwhile, but at least on Delta, the "comfort+" row has better legroom and equal benefits outside of a proper 'meal.' Not sure I'd do Firs Class again. TBD. We'll see in January. Jen picked us up at SJC and we dropped Matt at home, checked out his new kitchen, and returned home. I had a slew of 'vinyl' waiting from some recent ebay purchases. Buying records getting shipped in 100 degree weather isn't something I considered. I"m looking forward to playing them tomorrow. I'm tempted to take one more day off. I need it, and since Jen's going away Friday it'll be a good chance for us to have some 1:1 time beforehand.
