The Parish Family Blog

Lily in Bad Schandau, Germany, Monday June 23

Hey Dad!

So...Zac and I are at an Internet cafe in Bad Schandau. We're the weirdos who aren't at a spa (too expensive). It's really nice here, though. We did go for a short while yesterday and it was incredible! They have a whole section of different kind of pools filled with mineral water that is apparently very healing. It made my skin all soft. The best ones were inside and all bubbly. There was this one round pool that was really warm and had a ton of salt in it, and there was music playing in the water, so if you just floated you could listen to really relaxing music. There was also warm-colored light and it was kinda dark and cozy. There has been so much going on, and I am running out of time, but in short everything is amazing and I love it here and I'm coming back for some larger amount of time. Hopefully more later.

Love you!

Lily

RampenFest - the Movie by BMW

It's Friday and Lily is traveling. So let's relax some and enjoy a movie. This movie was filmed in Germany and produced by BMW. You can see a larger or higher-definition version at http://www.rampenfest.com

Click the image to make it play. Once it starts there is no stop (odd, but hey, just enjoy the journey).

Have a great weekend.
Tom

Lily in Germany - Thursday June 19th

Hey Dad!

Well, I am at Katrin's house right now, Chase is with me, washing her face I think. My face is so dry! I had a great day today, we went shopping, I didn't get anything, but Chase, Olivia and I did split a giant icecream. You know those Rocher chocolate balls you can get? It was like that. It had one scoop of chocolate one scoop of fudge, one of peanut butter and one of vanilla with cream on top, and macadamian nuts and chocolate stick thingys and some other kind of chocolate thingy and chocolate syrup and Chase added love. It was amazing. If we hadn't have split it I would be in a sugar-induced coma. 

So...a small request, can you (really only if you can) could you put just a little money in the bank for me? I don't need it, but it would be nice to know I have back-up just in case.

That's all! So, LOVE YOU! And I must go now!

Love,

Lily

Lily in Germany Wednesday June 18th

Hello!
     Well, I have just gotten off the phone with my dad and I told him everything! And second time around is never quite as fun, so in a nutshell today was yet another marvelous adventure. I am feeling more and more comfortable with my german and even asked for directions auf Deutsch to complete strangers and carried on a conversation. I was very proud of myself! Well, I still am! It is almost 11 here, and I have no idea how I am going to get to bed because I am so jittery with excitment.

Tomorrow I begin my journey onward! New land ho! I am going to Chase's host sister's house to spend the night because the rest of the people (or at least a lot.) are going to an all night party and I must be ready to leave Darmstadt via the train early Friday morning. So I will leave my much loved adopted home and venture forth into a new one, and then a new city.

Here is the scoop for the next few weeks. We go to Bad Schandau next, where we might hike into the Czech Republic for one day I beleive. It is a 6 hour train ride to get there, so I may run out of reading material. But yesterday I bought Harry Potter if German, so maybe I can struggle with that a little bit. We will stay there for four days, then go to Dresden (I think.) In Dresden, we are going to see a Wagner opera which opened in that same city many, many years ago. I am so excited! I love operas, I just hope that I understand some of it. From there we go to Nürnberg for four days, I am not sure what the exact plan is for that city, but I imagine museums and aimless wandering around (which I so enjoy!). Then we go back to Frankfurt for one night only and fly out early the next day. We will be home again, home again on July 2. And I will be normal again shortly there after, with constant sleep and an occasional pee break.

So that is the plan, hope everything goes accordingly. I am pretty sure that internet access will be hard to come by for a while after that, so this may be one of the last for a while. But I might have time to email tomorrow evening at my friends house!
I love you all!
Lily

--
Om Mani Padme hum

Tuesday, 17 June 2008 with Lily in Germany

Dear Whoever!

     Wow! Today was amazing. The best yet for me. Last night was cold as it is normally. We tell the people in our class that the weather at night is as cold as it is in the Winter in Texas.  But today it got very warm which was refreshing, I even put on a skirt! Which is a big deal for me. At school we had chemistry in the morning, as usual, then...ummm...let me think. Ahh! We had a break and then we went to the seventh grade to tell them about Texas. To be fair, they asked us questions in English and we responded in German. Then we taught them "Deep in the Heart of Texas." which was imediatly (wow, bad spelling) stuck in all their heads. It was cute. They were curious and embarrassed and eager. I saw our class in them a lot. Then we had English class with our class. We stood up in the front of the class and told them about Texas. They of course wanted to know about the stereotypes and everything, which was fun. They tried to get us to talk like Texans and stuff. Then we had a break.

   And this...is when the fun began. Katrin told me to quickly get on my bike and we rode as fast as we could (which still royally freaks me out), to a Turkish restaraunt to get a dish called a Döner, I think. Basically, it is a piece of bread much like pita bread that looks like it has been through a panini press. Inside there is thinly sliced meat, lettuce, tomato, a lot of mayo, and some other goodies. It is extremely messy to eat. I sat on a grassy hill with the sandwhich thing in my hand, my legs sprawled out. Dripping all over the place. It was crazy. I just embraced the un-gracefulness of the moment. When I was done eating, Chase and a girl from the class walked over. Her name is Marie and is crazy sweet! She might do an exchange in Texas, and we are considering her staying with us! That would be awesome. We had music after the break, then Eurythmy, which was very fun in German, and very very similar to Austin class.

    After school, Katie and Chase and I got cleaned up a little and then walked around the little village. We stopped at the bakery and had a pastry and a coffee. Then we just got lost around the city until it was time to go back up to the school for...DANCE TIME! At home, we had prepared a bunch of Texan dances and songs (and one German dance) to show them. When we were practicing them it was so emabarrassing. I mean, here we are, a bunch of crazy, loud Texans who sometime speak Spanish, and we are about to dance and sing. But, it wasn't that bad. We performed our amazing gifts in the cafeteria, for two rows of a tightly packed audience. We sang first songs like Cotton-eyed Joe, Home on the Range, The Yellow Rose of Texas, and ending with The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You. Among many others. Then we danced a German dance, then a very southern one, then one where the ENTIRE audience joined in. Everyone was saying the steps aloud in German. It was so funny! We had a lot of fun. After our round of humiliation, we retired to the gardens for a potluck dinner. Chase and I weren't very hungry, so we split a plate. Overcome with gratitude for the tastiness of the food, I began to make up descriptions for them. Like a particularily ripe strawberry could be, "One small bite transforms the humble environment of the school into a blissfull world of ruby red juice, gushing from every corner, like sweet goodness..." and on and on. Zac chimed in too, and soon we were having Author-offs, as we call them. It was a very intense game.

    At the school they have this weird rotating flying saucer thing, so naturally we decided since we had just eaten it would be swell to go round on it. We spun around, and around, and around for quite a long time, singing Beatles songs, and other songs we know well. It was amazing. Finally, around 9:00, we left, and I am at home now, in dire need of a good long shower!

     Today was the first day I felt completly as though I was giving my undivided attention to enjoying my stay here. The other days I have so enjoyed being here, but I get preoccupied with being homesick or cold, or needing to write every detail of every moment down. Maybe it was because I was mostly with my friends, and so needing to speak German was not as necessary, or maybe it was because it was a little warmer, or that it has been now exactly a week, but it felt like home to me. And that feeling was beautiful. After we danced, as we laughed and sang with our German counterparts, I felt as though I was laughing and singing with my brothers and sisters. They were one part of my many-faceted soul, a part of me. They are so like us, it is amazing. Anyone for even a moment doubts Waldorf, should have seen the intense bond that has been created between us. It is so there it is nearly tangible. We love them for their humanity, and their appreciation of it. We see it, and in it we find our own.

     I miss everyone! And I can't wait to come home. But in a way, I am already there!

Much, much love!

Lily

Germany - Monday June 16 - with Lily

Dear Dad,
     Today was a more normal school day. It was fun to ride along in their daily routine. Of course it is a little more lax now because all the finals are done and so the students have little to do. I woke up early and made my bed and got dressed. It was so cold last night that I slept in all my clothes so all I had to do was put jeans on and brush my hair. I make my bed here every morning because all I have to do is fold two blankets on a small bed! It is much easier here than at home with my giant bed and plethora of pillows and blankets. When I came downstairs Katrin quickly handed me a bread roll and told me we were running late and we were having 'easy breakfast.' She had stayed out late the night before, which is much more normal and tolerable here. Since I was ready to go right away, her little brother Michael took me to school so that we were not late. I was greeted warmly by my classmates and we sat down for Chemistry, which is their Main Lesson class right now. We played Mad Libs and I read, while Zac wrote me a story about Indians and bugs in my journal. That class is kinda boring because we know no German Chemistry terms, so we have no idea what is going on.

After that we went to the little bistro they have in their school where for like 60 cents you can get a sandwich or something. Katie and I split a raisin cinnamon roll with butter. It was of course very nice. Then Katrin had swimming, so I stayed with the other group who had French because it is really cold here and I had no plans for swimming. We watched a really funny French film that included English, Spanish, French and German in the dialogue, so I was completely confused. But it was funny. Then we putted around in the computer lab for a while, which was fun, even though their keyboards were even more different. Then we had lunch, so we went to the cafeteria where we ate noodles with mushrooms and beef and salad and chocolate pudding. 

Then we all walked to a nearby ice cream shop and got ice cream. I split mine with Chase. We had a short break where Chase, Katie, Makayla and I played on this flying saucer-like thing for a while. It was fun. Mr.Toole thought we were completely crazy (well, I imagine he did). Then we had music, but the teacher never showed up so we went and played in the compute lab some more. Lastly we had clay, which was very exciting. At first I was so sleepy I was afraid I would fall asleep, but when we got clay I woke up! We made faces the size of fists, and the only requirements was that it had all the features of a human. Mine was so cute, it had a GIANT nose. We named it Sir Abicus Moore and I imagined it having a very stuffy British accent and sniffing a lot, kinda nasaly. After school we rode our bikes home like we always do, and I met Katrin's dad who was away in Nigeria! He is very kind.

We ate a small early dinner with mangos from Nigeria for dessert and now I have some free time, or a pause as they say before we go to watch the soccer game, Germany vs. Austria, I think. It's a big one! If I knew more about soccer I would be thrilled.

    We are in Darmstadt for only three more days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then Friday morning we leave for Bad Schandau. We will all be sad to leave our new friends behind, but with Facebook, email and everything I hope we can stay in touch. I am very excited about seeing the other destinations of our trip too. I like this city so much I can't wait to see others! And we are going to see an Opera and a particle accelerator which I have a strange fascination with, and of course many museums. There is too much to be excited about! I am bursting.

    On a more random note, I just really looked outside and saw a HUGE pine tree, that thing must be at least 100 feet tall. Why did I not notice that? Man. It's big.

    Well, that is all for now. I will try to keep writing such detailed, lengthy letters, but I am not sure how constant the internet access will be when we are staying in Youth Hostels. We'll see together!

Love you all so much and miss you so much!!!

Lily

Lily -- Germany, June 13, 2008

Today we went to the Rhein and saw many castles and fortresses! It was very neat. We went on a tour of one, learned about it and got to see inside and everything. It was almost 800 years old! After that we went to Austin's sister city, Koblentz (I'm not sure how to spell that). We were allowed to separate and walk around. Chase and I got gelato, it was soo good! I got a few post cards and stuff, then we came home by bus. Now I am at Katrin's house, we just ate dinner of potatoes and a grün sauce that is traditional of Frankfurt. It is made with seven spices, I didn't recognize the names in German, but I think maybe parsley and basil were in it. It was also good, maybe we can get the recipe and make it ourselves.

I am very tired now, Katrin is going out, but I am staying here and maybe I will go to sleep early. That would be good, she says, because tomorrow we are going to celebrate Makayla's birthday from Saturday night to Sunday (at 12:00) because they celebrate into the Geburstag.

    Today my host family said they would not speak English, and though they spoke much less, they occasionally slipped into English to straighten out my confused and often bemused face. I think in German, and have trouble saying English without a German accent or with English grammar, but I am still too shy to speak only in German, but I did some in the cities, though my accent is not good enough to disguise my Americanness. I am trying to learn the money here! It is hard, everything looks different which seems like it should be good, but confuses me even more. Some things are very cheap, like most food. For example, when I bought Chase's and my gelatos, it was only about 2 American dollars. But some things are very expensive, like a lot of clothes that I have seen. Hopefully when we reach a bigger city I can buy a map so I can trace where I was, then I can show you all! Because I am very confused where I am in Germany. I know the area, but not all the specifics.

Everything I have eaten here has been so good! They eat pretty much only food that is in season, like right now the things that are ripe are strawberries, herbs, most berries actually, asparagus and some other things. One day Martina brought home bushels of strawberries and taught me how to make marmelade. It was so good, we now eat it on toast. Yesterday we had asparagus soup, which I was suspicious about but it was so yummy! Their asparagus is white because they grow it underground, and it is much bigger and harder than ours. I think I like it better. I also tried the local würst -- every region as a special würst -- it was very good, but like you, dad, they smother it in Ketchup!!!

Last night we went out with Olivia, Sawyer, Katie and all of our host siblings and a boy named Peter. They showed us around all the old buildings of their village. They of course were all so beautiful. There is one building I got a very neat brochure for Bubba. It was built around a really old fortress wall. The old meets the new and the inside meets the outside. Their motto is 'just open!' Then we went to a restaurant to eat and watch the big soccer or Fußball game Germany vs. Croatia. I had the best tea ever, and apple cake. When we went outside the crowd was crazy and it took us a long time to get home. Sadly, Croatia won. :(

I miss you all like CRAZY! I wish I wasn't staying here for so long, but I am learning so much German, dass ist gut. I like my family and the town and everything, but I am eager to see more Germany! However I think that the rest of the trip after Darmstadt will pass very quickly.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lily, or if I am German Lili (to be said leeeleee).

----
PS from Tom: I received a very sweet note from Lily today for Father's day. She's doing well though missing her traveling companions who are all staying in different homes in different locations. I could detect just a bit of loneliness this evening as she prepares for setting for bed.

She will re-unite with everyone in a couple of days and begin their journey to many other places in Germany. Lily said her German is definitely getting better and flowing more easily.

Freitag in Duetchland

From Ann (German teacher):

What a beautiful day!  Cold and drizzly, then warm and sunny, now it is cool and sunny.  We met at school at 8:00, everyone shining and happy, then took the bus along the Rhine to a 12th-century fortress where we had an English tour.  The kids walked all the way down the mountain to the banks of the Rhine and had a picnic then we got an hour-long boat trip to Coblenz where we had a walking tour, then gave the kids time to relax (they lay and sat under a huge statue of a doctor whose name I forget but he had something to do with cellular biology) and eat ice cream, then got the bus back to school.

They took off happily with lots of different plans for the weekend. They are so integrated that most of them didn't even say goodbye! They just waved and walked, rode bikes or were picked up by parents. What a great bunch they are, and what lovely host students they all seem to have.  It was delightful evesdropping on their conversations, all in a mixture of German and English, and watching their reactions to the tours, the excitement with which they took photos, of big things and tiny details.  They loved the medieval herb garden at the top of the fortress!
Will be back in touch with you on Monday.
Ann

Thursday June 11th in Germany

This is a periodic update from Lily's teacher (Ann) to the parents back home.
Tom
-----

Guten Morgen, liebe Eltern,

Today Bill (Tool) and I met the students at the student cafe after main lesson -- they were all shining, some a little more tired than others, but all enthusiastic about their experiences, their families, and their first mainlesson -- physics for the 10th grade, math for the 11th grade.  Two of the German 10th graders were in Hawaii for a semester, so their English is fabulous, and all of the other students speak more English than ours do German.  They were all giggling about the trials and tribulations of communicating in two languages, especially when jet-lagged.  Our students were amazed at how much of their grade-school Spanish surfaced!

Aah, my fingers and brain are all working together this morning so I can type. Bill and I will be in the cafeteria at lunchtime today but the students most likely won't -- they get out of school early and have activities planned with their host students.   Bill and I will attend part of the faculty meeting this evening so we'll catch up then on anything else that takes place during the day.  I believe a couple of students were able to send emails yesterday.  I'm at a Turkish-run internet cafe right now since the school computers are being used by faculty desperately getting their grades in before the faculty meeting this afternoon.

I wanted to correct the chornology of what I wrote yesterday:  we got to the school at about 11:30, Nicole Lueker and Ina Meyer introduced the students and gave a brief welcome speech and orientation, then the kids and Bill went with Ina and the host students for a school tour while Nicole took me to the doctor.  (My knee is tender but not anything like yesterday -- elevation, ice, a brace and very little walking should take care of it.)

We leave at 8am tomorrow on a bus tour to the Rhine, the Lorelei, Koblenz (Austin's partner city), and a 9th century fortress are on the books.

I'll give you an update tomorrow.  The sky is blue, the Amseln (larks) started singing at 4 am when the sky began to lighten, and it is in the low 70s.  Perfect!

The weekend will be spent with the host families -- they all have activities and excursions planned.
Schoene Gruesse aus Eberstadt (the little town/suburb where the school is).

Ann

Video of Our Visit to Justin and Juliet's in May

I'm a bit late in getting this video up from May. This is the first trip to Boulder to see Justin and Juliet's new place. It's quite beautiful, lots of nice touches by Juliet, I can see. We visited where she works and she's very excited about it.  We also visited many fine restaurants and Justin's school.

Tom

What Does It Look Like in Germany?

These links are from Jerry, one of the parents of the kids on the trip to Germany. Thank you, Jerry, for passing these along!

He found some webcams:

http://myworld.nav4all.com/map.php?id=182504802

None were close to the school, though, which is further south.

Just in case anyone hadn't seen the school (wow!).

http://www.waldorfschule-darmstadt.de/cpo4/mod_latest_news/index.php?profid=1

more to come.
Tom

Google Chat with Lily

Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 9:13 AM

Lily: dad!

me: hi Lil !!!!!

you tired?

Lily: Yes, but pumped on caffein and chocolate

me: lol

what's the weather like?

Lily: very nice, cool, like maybe in the 70s with no humidity!!!!

me: oh how nice. It's hot here.

Lily: I  bet

me: the doggies are fine but I'm seeing fleas now .. I am going to wash them and put flea medicine on them.

What's on the agenda for today?

Lily: good for you and the dogs, I am just resting, it's almost 5:00 here

me: eat any good German food?

Lily: What time is it there?

yes, this veggie, rice thingy, and fresh strawberries and pudding for dessert

I think they might be vegetarians

me: almost 10am here

yum Are you having to speak 100% German?

Lily: Oh, early. No...they are going to give me a few days to get warmed up and then I might have to, but hopefully no.

me: ok well good.

I'm curious about the stars at night.

It's an Adventure!!! 

Lily: I'll write about the stars, I have a window in my room with a big sill I have been sitting on.

me: Reminds me of Immortal Beloved

Lily: Well, I need to go!

me: ah darn.

Lily: I love you sooooooooo much!

me: well ok. write me often. I'm posting your emails on the blog

I love you SOOO much too my dear.

Hey is everyone else ok?

Lily: yep! love you! talk soon I promise.

me:  love you too, Dad

1st Update from Lily - She Has Arrived Safetly

Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 9:13 AM
Hallo!

Well, I am finally here in Germany.

I am in Darmstadt, Germany. I think it's a little southeast of Franfurt. But

I don't know for sure.

After a long, fairly uneventful flight, we arrived safely and I am at my host family's very sweet home in Darmstadt. It is hard to type on this keyboard because there are all of these öäü all over the place, and the y is at the bottom. Grrr...

   After we arrived in Frankfurt, a couple from the school met us to take us to the Waldorf school in Darmstadt.

  The airport was giant! And we practically hiked a mile to get to the parking lot. When we

got there it was fun to see all the little Smartcars and other tiny automobiles. We drove in the

stereotypical spy van on the autobahn at 150 kilometers! It seemed really fast. Driving in, it

was hard to see many differences from America, but they soon became more prevalent. I met

Katrine, my host sister at the School. They finish at noon, so they were finished with classes

when we met them at time. After we got a brief, and very confusing tour of the beautiful school,

we went home SEPARATE from one another to our families' homes.

   Between my very shy, jetlaggy German, and Katrine's uncertain, but very good English we managed to talk to one another. She lives very near the school in a really sweet, very Waldorfian home with her  brother and mom. Her dad is working in Africa right now. They have a garden where they grow some food as well as beatiful flowers. There are fresh-cut flowers in every room. Katrine and her mother and I made lunch, and we ate outside. Everyone who passes by shouts 'Bon Appetit!' as if they were there.

    Katrine is practicing piano (klavier) now, and her little brother brought me some really strong

coffee (they have a cappucino machine) to keep me awake. Thank goodness. I realized that I hadn't

slept in more than 24 hours! Except a tiny bit on the plane. But I was having way to much fun watching

movies.

    I gave Katrine some American coins and a cowboy hat and and a bandana, and she was

so tickled. She loved the money, and added it to her collection of American currency which

consisted of a dollar bill. Now they have gone strawberry-picking, I know, how sweet, but

I have a feeling that my coffee is going to wear off soon. Frau Coltman said not to sleep

until nighttime to get in the right cycle.

     They have a really sweet cat who is really soft and has become my Wendy analog. She is

really cute and is sleeping on my bed. Tomorrow I will go to school at 8:00 in the morning and

go to chemistry. After lunch we are meeting Frau Coltman, and I think we will do something together.

I hope...

    Well, I am having a really fun time so far. It's scary and I don't know what they are saying half

the time but I'm getting somewhere! I hope that I can check my email often, but I don't know if

it's expensive for them. They insist it's not but I want to make sure.

Aufwiederzehn meine lieblings! 

Love you all!

Lily

Lily is off to Germany this morning

I'll be posting updates as I get them from Lily's travel abroard. She and seven others in her class and two chaperones are off to Germany for 10 days. The first few days they will actually be living in homes with German families, and they are supposed to speak only German. They all seemed a bit nervous about that part -- I can imagine I would be too.  But they have been studying and practicing like crazy. In fact, when I dropped Lily off at the airport this morning at 8am they were all chattering in half-English and half-German phrases.

The trip over:
Austin to Cincinnati
Cincinnati to NYC JFK
NYC JFK to Frankfurt by 9:35am Wednesday 11 June

So, more updates soon! They are supposed to email or call in every 2-3 days.

Tom

Lauren and Ryan Foresman - Two Visits

I made a trip to Galveston to see them at the end of April and they came the first week of May for a friend's wedding. So, I pulled together a short video of the two visits and got them to talk about their plans for moving to Portland ME. Their next adventure!

Enjoy
Tom (dad)

What Happens when Animals Take a Stand?

You will be amazed at the end result here. It's not gory, though it is about the animal kingdom's quest to survive. Thank you to Gregg Roberts for passing this along. Total time is 8 minutes.

Tom

Rising Prices

I've had some noteworthy lifeshocks around money over the last few months. It all started with my thinking about why the cost of college education seems so outrageously expensive. Why is it our children have come to accept the fact that a college education is synonymous with graduating with tens of thousands of dollars of debt? There seems to be no end in sight for this issue. All I see are businesses interested in lending students money versus finding ways to deliver college-level education at more competitive prices. Where is the SouthWest Airlines of education? What segments of society are getting excluded from higher education because of this?

But more on the home front is the cost of gas and the cost of food. I've been driving more lately. Some of that is work-related and some of it is that I'm out more and dating and just seeing more people in general versus staying home all the time. In the past I was lucky to only fill up with gas once a week or every 10 days. Now it's much more often. It's something I can afford so I choose to drive, but it just seems like there is a powerful trend up in prices that is not letting up. Sure it falls back some, only to rise even more a few months later.

I was speaking with a friend of mine who has retired with his wife in San Miguel, Mexico. They sold both of their cars and walk everywhere or rent on rare occasions.  I know that's not uncommon for New Yorkers or people in Boston or maybe San Francisco but for us Texans that's such a foreign thought. Yet, how enticing is that - no automobile to feed endless amounts of maintenance and gas to. Which reminds me, I need new tires ...

Anyway, what I also wonder is how the price of gas is impacting the cost of food. Sure seems like I'm paying more at the grocery store. How about you?

So let's look at the trends. Notice over the last three years there have been spikes but this current upswing we are on seems to have a head of steam to it ... where is it going to end and what will it mean?

Tom

My Interview on Web2point0.tv from SXSW

Here is yours truly - Tom Parish at SXSW March 2008.  It's always kinda odd at first seeing oneself being interviewed. I so often do the interviewing or I speak in front of a crowd. But being interviewed one-on-one in front of two cameras, I found myself a bit more nervous than I expected. Anyway I am thankful for the opportunity to speak about my services.

Lauren and Ryan - Moving to Portland, Maine, in June

Well, it's official. Ryan matched for a residency position at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, in Anesthesiology.  Lauren is applying to physician assistant school at the University of New England. They leave Galveston on June 4 and head for the East Coast to start their journey together to pursue their careers.  Lauren and I have talked and I can hear both the worry about leaving all her friends and relatives in Texas and the excitement of living on the East Coast for 4 years while they complete their education.  I'm proud and excited for both of them, and look forward to hear about their new adventures as a young couple.

Well, ol' dad is going to have to figure out how to visit Juliet and Justin in Boulder and Ryan and Lauren in Portland. Thank goodness Lily is still in Austin, but that too will change in a couple of years.

For now I'm looking at a short trip to see Lauren at the end of April to connect with both of them and wish them well on their journey. I think May will go by quickly for them as they focus on packing and moving and finishing up school in Galveston.

Here is the lovely couple in Maine in December of 2007 when they were scouting out the location. I understand they already have dibs on a neat little home to rent. More on that soon.

Tom

A Night of Refection

It's saturday night - late. I've been standing outside my bedroom looking up at the twinkling stars. I can hear the chimes on the back deck singing the song of the night air. The air moves around me and feels crisp, cool and so clear. The sky looks lit up with more stars than normal - it's almost creamy.  I'm wondering what goes on up there in the starry heavens, and where are the people I know who have left this earth. I miss them. I wonder why am I still here, what will I be called to do next and in service to whom and what? This is a vein of thought that has been occurring for me more often in the last couple of months.

A business friend from many years ago (early '90s) died this week. He was about my age - Ron Riedesel. We were not close but I do remember going on numerous business trips with him and admiring how gutsy he was in his business dealings.  He was a family man and family was important to him. I'll admit I was shocked, hearing of his passing, and saddened to hear the news of him going so quickly while struggling with cancer.

I'm wondering what my next few years will be like while I'm here. I know I want to cultivate a love for life and a passion for sharing what I know with others.  LIly and I were talking about her graduation in the year 2010 and what life will be like then. I realized that her graduation is in two years and I know from experience how that passes so quickly.  Each passing day becomes another one to cherish.  Justin will graduate the same week, I believe. One phase of my life will be complete and yet I'm sure more will be on offer for me to participate and contribute in Justin's, Lauren's and Lily's lives and others close to me.

But what about society and global issues? How will we shift our consciousness and mindsets around the practice of generating more clean power and using it more wisely, promoting healthy living with more nourishing food, affordable medical attention, education that is affordable and matters of peace versus war? These matters don't just go away by voting a new, seemingly popular president into office and hoping he has all the answers.

I'm not sure where my part is in all this as I enter the second part of my life. I trust this will come to me when it's time. I do feel an urge to be part of the solution versus part of the problem in whatever way I can contribute my skills.

The stars might not care one way or another. They will always be here just as the sun will rise again tomorrow. But I care and will be searching for how I can stay engage and create and continue to inspire others.

Sweet dreams,
Tom