The Gambia

You are on your way now...you're in command.  Three continents...one day.

I tried to convince you to let this one pass you by, that going on a two-week mission to Western Africa, was something someone else could do.

But, while patient with me, you never wavered - I want to do this, this is no big deal, this is a great opportunity, an honor, there will be more of this, you said.

So off you go to the capital city, consulting and training, meeting with Gambia's Janet Yellen, representing an organization that's business it is to send its employees to distant places.

What have I packed for this trip while you're gone?

1.  Serenity prayer and my sustaining faith
2.  Others who love you
3.  Several bottles of red
4.  Season 3 of Homeland
5.  WiFi- hope you write, or post, or tweet

"You live inside your parents' lives until, one day, they live inside yours."

~ Donia Bijan, Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen

Joseph Francis

Happy birthday to my baby boy, my big son, my consultant and teacher...my dear Joe.

A quarter-century ago + one day ago - I was eating a grilled pork chop and wondering if you would arrive on Marie's birthday.  The Beijing horror distracted me from the very obvious work at hand - delivering you to the world.  It is not lost on me, now, that you, too, would've soaked in the coverage, despising the tyranny, what was happening to the pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square.

Like those students, you are interested in freedom and liberty and I enjoy our random and, sometimes lengthy, conversations about these important core values.  I like the history lessons you share with me and how you connect the dots between countries and conquerors and help me draw more sophisticated conclusions about the world and my part in it.

Clearly you have evolved in the last quarter century...and I have, too.  Thanks for the birthday gift.  I am better because of you.

JoeJune5

Happy Birthday to my baby...that handsome man we don't get to see enough because he's always working.  So many of the sweet extras in life - history, philosophy, religion, politics, economics, music, languages - I learned the details from him.  Things he knows nothing about?  Not sure - he really knows a lot about a lot.  Well, maybe cooking, although, now that I think about it, he makes a mean crêpe.

Joe . . . you will be working hard on June 5, at that place you go, earning a reputation, a bonus, another opportunity.  In fact, I know it's promising to be one of those 18+ hour days that you have grown so accustomed to grinding through because of another possible acquisition, some secret news that keeps first-year investment banking analysts like you working nearly round the clock.  I admire that you are going through the paces, with so much grace and little complaining, taking the last-minute workload surprises in stride and seeing your proverbial glass (of 5-Hour Energy) half full anyway.  Thanks for still always squeezing a minute (or ten) in for me on a daily basis.  I value those calls!  My birthday wish for you this year is that you get some discretionary time soon - to sit on the couch, to breathe in and breathe out, to run by the lake, to enjoy a coffee, a hair cut, a phone conversation, a weekend.

You bring a light to my life, our lives, as you challenge us to new ways of thinking and share vid clips and tips on authors and artists.  Twenty-four years ago I couldn't imagine the joy of you.  Now I can't live without it.  Love you JFM!

JFM

Flowers from Joe 

There's no place like home, in Milwaukee

Our shortest visit:  a Friday night when dinner plans
became a quick Starbucks trip due to unexpected extra work

Easter 2013

We spent Easter weekend, with two of our favorites - our babies!  (Yes, I did hide baskets for them!)

Celebrating after the Easter Vigil, which clocked 1:45

 And then to Milwaukee . . .

Thanks for brunch, Joe!

                            

Crazy kids anyway...

So I was telling one of my co-workers about my upcoming trip - not in a braggy way (I hope) but more in a so-you-know way, and with furrowed brow, he said, "Why are you doing that?  Oh you be careful over there..."  And it reminded me about something I have read - that 28% of Americans have passports and less than 1/2 of them use them.  While I'm very fond of my comfort zone (tall blonde roast, save room for cream) I am also very excited about finding our way, quite literally, in the world...being dependent on the kindness of strangers, diving in and acting like a local, and finding ourselves amidst the isolation.  How might we behave differently if we traveled more?  That's a question I'm hoping to answer. 

Happy Anniversary, Shawn...where are we going next?

Thanks for the fire and ice roses, JFM!