We’ve just spent 4 days wandering around Rochester trying to find a house. (We have an accepted offer but until we get through the initial stages, I don’t want to say anything that might jinx it!) In the process, of driving all over eastern Monroe county and traipsing through more than a dozen houses, we had lots of opportunity to reflect on what is important to us and what is not. None of the houses were perfect – we knew we wouldn’t find that – so we needed to figure out which kind of imperfect was best for us.

One of the lessons we learned from our soujourn in KC is that we are not “quaint little house” people. While we still love our quirky little Brookside bungalow, we had to let go of the notion that the charm of a 90 year old house outweighed the pain of the upkeep for us. It wasn’t that there was so much work to do really; it was more that everything that needed done was just that much harder. For example, it’s a plaster and lathe house so even fixing the ceiling in the foyer when the bathtub above leaked meant a lot more work than just some drywall and mud. So for this go round, we decided to look at newer houses. Although there was nothing wrong with the houses from the 20th century, they felt very dated and not what we had in mind.

The second thing we had to think carefully about was space. While we know that we have downsized just a *little* too much in our move to KC, we weren’t sure exactly how much space was the right amount. We saw several gorgeous houses that were upward of 3500 square feet – comparable to what we had in VA before we gave away all the furniture that you need for a house that size. We had to let go of the idea that more is always better and find a happy medium between our current cozy 1800 square feet and the cavernous homes that we could afford to buy but not furnish.

And lastly, we had to really focus on how the space was distributed. We are still of the “formal living room and dining room” generation. I like having a room with comfy seating and no TV and another room to have Christmas dinner. Apparently, that isn’t how youngsters roll these days so builders concentrate on “great rooms” off the kitchen and “morning rooms” where you do all your eating. We nearly needed to let go of our antiquated floor plan requirements but we were lucky enough to find a 5 year old house that was built for people like us. Instead, I needed to let go of the notion that I needed a separate study. I have one now where I do all my school work (lecture prep, grading, etc.) but since I have promised Frank that I will only have one job (at least for a while 🙂 ), I don’t really need a study. (Then again, we have an extra bedroom upstairs so maybe I just need to let go of the first floor qualifier….)

So stay tuned to see what we gained when we let go.

Apologies for the silence on the Cannon Chronicles – we have been doing a lot of soul searching and contemplating the future which would have made for abstruse and often depressing blog posts.  It’s funny that we started this blog four years ago to chronicle the move to a new stage of our lives.  And here I am doing a reboot for the blog as we prepare to do it all over again.

The last four years have been a real growth and learning experience for us.  We thought that “going back” to the part of the country where our family started and “going back” to the kinds of work we did then (Frank – turning wrenches, San – working with researchers) would be a breath of fresh air and just what we needed after the stress and agony that much of our lives in VA had become.  We didn’t realize how much we had grown and how hard “going back” to anything would be.  Frank realized that “just” fixing cars isn’t enough.  He basically ran his own shop at South County High School and was able to be a mentor and a leader.  What he found here was that it was much harder for him to do the work and lead the work in the way he wanted.  His particular place of employment provided particular challenges but every workplace has issues. I thought I was going to my dream job, working for a great boss and with people who valued my interesting blend of skills.  The great boss part is true but changes in senior management over the last year shed light on the mismatch between what the executives valued and what I had to offer.

So we had to make some choices.  Frank chose to take some time off and not work at all.  After the much needed road trip (chronicled on the travel blog)  He became a “house spouse” – spending time fixing up the 90 year old house that was beginning to lose it’s quirky charm.  After the previously mentioned flood, there was more contractor headaches, a bathroom that needed tiling, a newly build garage that needed customizing, etc. I also needed to make some choices and I chose to look for a new job.  This was an agonizing decision to make because I didn’t hate my job but I realized that while I loved what I was doing, I wasn’t doing what I loved.  So I decided to answer the phone when the next headhunter called.  And the odyssey began.

After a few whirlwind months of Skype interviews and flying hither and yon for in person conversations, I was in the enviable position of having choices.  I could stay in the comfortable central banking world where I had 20+ years of contacts and a good reputation.  I could move into teaching full time and enjoy the comfort of great colleagues and no relocation requirement. Or I could move out of my comfort zone and move into a new area where my expertise was very relevant but where my contacts were limited and the location involved moving (again). After much contemplation and lots of discussions¹, I picked the hardest path. Let me explain.

A dear friend once complained about hiking with me.  She insisted that when faced with a choice on the trail, I would always choose the route that went up.  It has become a standing joke in my family that mom always chooses to go up: up mountains, up towers, up whatever is there. (I’ve written about the challenges of “going up” while hiking in MO.) I like the challenge and the promise of birds eye view which you don’t get from the bottom of the mountain. So I applied that same reasoning here.  I could easily have stayed where I was and kept doing the things that I had been doing.  There was no drastic imperative to change but that felt like going around the mountain: familiar but tedious, without pain but without payoff.  Teaching full time would have required some climbing to really do it right but it felt more like a hill than a mountain.  I wanted to be happy climbing the hill.  I tried to figure out how to make that work.  But alas, when it comes down to it, I do really need to go UP.

So Frank gets to follow me up another hill.  This trail leads to Rochester, New York where I’ll start a new challenge in a new industry and new location: Chief Data Officer for the University of Rochester.  I’ll be the first person to hold this position so I’ll be climbing with a compass but no map.  (Have I tortured this metaphor long enough?) The position involves all the nerdy data stuff that I love but applied to running an academic institution rather than supporting monetary policy research.  I’m stupidly excited and scared to death at the same time.  And that’s how I know it’s the right thing for me.

Be prepared for more frequent posts as we figure out how to market and sell our “cozy Brookside bungalow oozing with charm and replete with upgrades” or whatever the real estate agent decides to use as a marketing quote. Then I hope to have lots of interesting stories to tell about this next leg of our adventure.  If nothing else, there are real mountains nearby that I can climb!

¹ For those who listened to all my angst and helped me walk through this difficult decision: ten thousand thanks.

It has been a tough couple of months in the Cannon household.  Following the joy and family fun that went with Jesse’s graduation, there has been the proverbial one thing after another.  From the never ending saga of the garage construction (a complete rant on that will be published when the damn thing is finally done!) to an unusual amount of insanity and stress at both our places of employment, we have been soldering through with the assistance of an unusual amount of caffeine and alcohol.  We knew that the current atmosphere was unhealthy and that the status quo was unsustainable.  But we also knew that we had a two week vacation coming up where we were planning for the Great American Road Trip:  San and Frank in the Mercedes convertible heading west to see some of the great sights of this beautiful country and have a break from our everyday woes.

We had been looking forward to this trip forever.  It got us through the never ending rain that turned our dug up back yard into a mud pit worthy of monster truck competitions.  It got us through the 115 degree heat index days that Frank sweltered through without AC at his shop.  It was the only thing that got me through the days of painful and pointless meetings at work.  Everyone on my floor could tell you when I was going on vacation because I told everyone at every chance.  This past week it had gotten into single digits.  On Wednesday, I made it through the 4pm pointless conference call because there was only 3 more wake ups until my vacation.

But God or Mother Nature or some other all powerful existence had other plans and the massive thunderstorm that rolled through Kansas City late Wednesday night dropped 7 inches of rain on us.  That was enough to take out the massive tree in my neighbor’s yard which went crashing down on 3 cars, two fences, and one garage.  And the power lines.  The thunder was astoundingly loud and drove the dog insane so Frank took him down to the basement where it wasn’t quite so loud and where it would be cooler since the power was out.  When the alarm on my iPhone went off Thursday morning, there was still no power and when I went to check on the boys in the basement, the dog jumped off the couch into the 4-6 inches of water that had built up when the power went out and the sump pump stopped pumping.

The newly finished man cave

The newly gutted man cave

Frank had been sleeping on the futon not realizing that water was rising all around him.  When I think of what might have happened if there had been something electrical going on as well….

With only 2 wake ups before our trip, we had black water in basement which means everything it touches that isn’t metal or plastic has to go.  The insurance company sent out their water remediation company right away but they couldn’t do anything until we had power back.  I had an all day meeting that I couldn’t miss (another part of the “what is wrong with San’s job” story) so Frank was on duty to see what could be salvaged and what work could be done without any power.  It took a very large tree crew most of the day to cut up the tree and release the power lines and KCP&L finally got our power restored late Thursday afternoon.  Then the clean up could begin.

But it was going to be a long process.  And we had hotel reservations – some prepaid – hundreds of miles away where we were supposed to arrive in 36 hours.  My heart was breaking with the though that our vacation couldn’t happen.  In the process of typing this, I realize how petty this sounds.  Neighbors lost vehicles and across KC people lost businesses in the storm.  Our damage was not as extensive but it will still take months to recover and all I could think about was not going on vacation.  How shallow!  It wasn’t losing the trip itself that made me want to cry every hour of my all day meeting – it was what it represented in our lives.  A chance to rebalance, reclaim an important part of our lives that had gotten lost, save our sanity and possibly our marriage as well.

After the work crew left Thursday night, I set about canceling reservations that I knew we couldn’t keep, negotiating where I could for lost payments and deposits, and trying to see what contingency plans we might possibly be able to salvage.  We figured out that if all went well and we could get through the clean up, we might be able to salvage part and maybe most of the trip.  When Friday arrived, it was San’s turn to stay home with the work crew while Frank headed to work.  Luckily, Frank had worked his butt off on Thursday trying to salvage stuff and because we actually had an empty garage, there was somewhere to put stuff.  The water mediation crew spent the day Friday, tearing up the carpet, removing substantial parts of the drywall, breaking down the furniture that would have to go (after letting me photograph everything for the insurance), and hauling the wet, smelly remains out to the driveway.  They departed late Friday afternoon after setting up the monster dehumidifier and industrial strength fans.

We spent Friday night wallowing in self pity (and way too much wine) and did some real soul searching until the wee hours.  On Saturday, we were determined to make things work and so our real work began.  We hauled away some remaining items and spent the next 8 hours schlepping, evaluating, disinfecting, unpacking, repacking, cleaning, photographing, documenting, weeping, reminiscing, and generally doing what we needed to do to make the best of what we had. By the end of the day,  the stinky pile was twice as big and contained everything that we knew couldn’t be saved no matter how much we wanted to pretend otherwise.  This included not just furniture and assortment of CDs and DVDs but a collection of framed cross stitch pictures I had done over the years that never made it out of the cardboard moving box; the toddler sized rocking chair my grandfather had made for my dad as a child, and other irreplaceable items. But there was a lot that we could save – thank you Lord for Rubbermaid tubs! – and we went through Lysol, 409, and industrial strength disinfectant like there was no tomorrow.

Water marks on the book cases

The soggy threads

The pile waiting to be hauled away

The things we could salvage

Buddy the Clean Up Supervisor

We still need the junk guys to come and haul stuff away but we are now well enough sorted that it is possible for us to think about departing.  We have everything provisionally booked to be able to leave tomorrow if everything works out with the insurance.  I am grateful to the understanding bed and breakfast owners who let us cancel our reservations at the last minute with no or minimal penalty.  (Special shout out to Jasper Stone B&B in Sioux Falls, SD and West Yellowstone B&B) as well as those who were able to accommodate us at the last minute – especially since we had to warn them that we might have to cancel if things don’t go as planned tomorrow.

More importantly than the trip though is that this whole experience brought some things to a head for us and even if we don’t have the trip that we’ve been planning for so long, I think we have figured out how to move forward and make things better without “needing” a vacation quite so badly.  Don’t get me wrong – I am still very much looking forward to a change of scenery and a lot of hiking.  But now it is because I want to refresh and rejuvenate my spirit, and not because I feel like it need it to save my soul.

If all goes well, you’ll be able to find new travel tales on the Cannon Family Travel blog starting tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed!!!!

And as all good things must come to an end, so did the business part of the trip.  After 2.5 days of presentations on data curation, data science, research data management and all the hallway discussions that went with them, my brain was full.  It was time to move on and the weather agreed:  it decided to snow during our last few hours in Edinburgh so we got well and truly soaked.

All in all it was a good few days.  Other than business travel and the occasional odd day in town while visiting family in Stirling, I never really get to Edinburgh.  We did a lot of walking – this is a 3D city:  no Google map can really do justice to the layers of buildings and roadways.  Our hotel was on Southbridge and the floor you entered the lobby at was at road level in the front but was the 4th floor.  The back of the building went down another 3 floors to the Cowgate which looks on a map like it crosses Southbridge but in fact it goes underneath it.  The hotel was fine: fabulous location, respectable albeit small room (although the plug placement and lack of clock in the room means I won’t rave about it) and very inexpensive:  the whole 5 days only cost $400.  Now breakfast wasn’t included in that rate so we did cough up an extra £10 each on the first few days for the buffet so that added a bit more.  But it was all you can eat and they had gluten free bread for me so I had bacon sandwiches on more than one occasion.  Then we found the lovely little cafe across the street where I could get bacon, fried eggs and beans for £4!  Yummy!

We did have some lovely meals and great pub time although we never did get to the local BBQ place. 😀 Our dinner at Cafe Rouge on our first night was very nice especially since there were GF items clearly marked on the menu and we were still to jetlagged to figure things out ourselves.  I had a very nice lunch with my friend Peter at Mother India Cafe where I experienced Indian tapas (and spicy haddock!) for the first time. The best meal by far and the one I would recommend most highly was dinner at Angels with Bagpipes, a place I normally would have overlooked because it’s on the Royal Mile which usually means that it’s a tourist stop. Not so!  We were joined by another friend for a lovely dinner (lamb for me, venison for Frank and Bill with haggis to start!) with wine and whisky with the haggis for the boys and all the trimmings.

We also had the chance to check out a few pubs.  We made a quick stop at the Edinburgh installation of Brew Dog where they had just tapped the keg of their gluten free beer – which means that Bill has the honor of having been with me both times that I have been able to have GF beer on draft.  Two other pubs worth a mention are local landmarks.  We had drinks with our friend Stuart at the Sandy Bells, self described world renowned folk bar.  Indeed, we sat at the back of the bar and were quickly displaced by half a dozen folks with fiddles who proceeded to sit and play.  Not necessarily as a performance but just as a group of people playing traditional fiddle music. First time that’s ever happened! We also made a quick stop at the Royal Oak, another folk bar right by the hotel.  It can’t hold more than two dozen people and there was a solo guitarist playing everything from Dylan to Bowie while we were there but it was still quite entertaining.  I’d love to find the equivalent in KC!

Now that we are on the “visit” portion of the trip, we are far less likely to have such experiences.  On one hand it’s a welcome change because we are staying in an AirBnB flat that we’ve stayed in before so even that feels like home.  We made tea and did some laundry before heading to Cambusbarron for the annual knees up and “box of curry” which has been described repeatedly in the travel blog and has yet again resulted in the need for lots of ibuprofen and coffee this morning.  I’d like to think we’ll learn our lesson some day but somehow I doubt it. 🙂

It turns out that when I have a business trip to a place where my spouse has family, he thinks it’s a good idea to join me.  Hmmm.  After nearly 30 years of solo business travel, I have now had company on two trips in just over one year. Yes, I’m going to Scotland for a conference. And yes, it makes sense that he comes along and we spend some time visiting family when I’m not learning stuff.  Okay, fine – I’ll share.

Travel now is more “interesting” since the arrival of our newest “child” – Buddy the beagle mix joined us in late October and we’ve been adjusting ever since.  There needs to be an entire separate post on adopting a dog as empty nesters – this isn’t it.  But it does affect our ability to travel.  We now need to make sure that we arrange for space in the kennel in advance.  Luckily, he boards at the vet and seems to be quite happy about it so we feel a *little* less guilty about leaving him behind.

So now we are off to Edinburgh so that I can spend 4 days at the International Digital Curation Conference and then a few extra days visiting friends and family.  Frank gets to spend all the time visiting:  work for me, holiday for him.

Not only does travel require more planning now, we are also seriously risk averse when it comes to planning.  After the hellacious travel experience of last summer,  I no longer assume that 1.5 hours connecting time in Newark airport is sufficient.  So when faced with that option for this trip, I decided to go for the earlier flight out of KC which meant we had 7 hours in EWR.  Ugh.  Well, this gave us an opportunity to try out our new Priority Pass membership to airport lounges that we got with our newest Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card (because Sapphire out ranks Platinum apparently!).

href=”https://cannonchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_0702.jpg”>We landed from KCI just after 1pm and wandered from terminal C to terminal B where the Arts & Lounge was.  Our card got us in and we had a place to sit and munch and drink and do some work and talk to the kids on the phone and just chill. We worked through sandwiches (Frank), salad (me), several glasses of cava (both) before the noise level and boredom chased us back to C terminal.

So now we sit in the United Club lounge – aren’t we just the globetrotters! – where there is a bit more ambiance as well as wifi and alcohol.  And only 3 more hours til the plane leaves. {sigh}

Cross your fingers that this is an uneventful trip and the next post just raves about all my newly gained knowledge or complaints about the weather.

We picked the early morning departure for a reason: given our recent luck with air travel, I wanted lots of opportunities to make sure we got to Burlington when something inevitably goes wrong.  And we started with a 45 minute delay out of KC which meant our 1 hour connecting time in Philly wouldn’t be enough.  Luckily the plane out of Philly was also delayed so we got to Burlington just over an hour after we planned.  We managed a quick visit with Jesse between classes, checked into the hotel and then the real visit began.

We had 2 1/2 days to spend in Burlington for what would be our last casual visit.  The purpose for this trip was to see the show for which Jesse designed the set as her theater capstone project.  We spent our time doing all the things we like to do in Burlington:

• Eating at such fabulous places as the Farmhouse and Sweetwaters for dinner and Magnolia and of course the Skinny Pancake for breakfast.
• Wandering up and down Church Street, drinking coffee and counting the various combinations of unique foot wear and hair colors
• Visiting nearby Waterbury where Frank sometimes finds cans of Heddy Topper for sale and I always find neat stuff in the Stowe Street Emporium

And of course, we went to the theater to see “That F(*&king Bird” – a play on Chekov’s “The Seagull” which was very good.  The acting was excellent and of course, the set design was outstanding (Mommy brag!).  I did have a small part in it – I picked out the calendar that hung on the refrigerator during Act 2. (They needed to hide the gaffer tape… )

And we played tourist.  On Saturday, we hit the farmer’s market – where Frank tasted at ry local distillery booth there, including our favorite “Rail Dog” stand. A local gin purchase later, we were off to Montpelier, the smallest state capital in the country and an impossibly adorable place.  Another farmers market to visit as well as several shops and we wandered off with a variety of fabulous smelling soaps, yarn, and other goodies.

And from there we visited a sugaring house (and learned how maple syrup was made), a covered bridge, a pumpkin patch and a corn maze! Grey skies and intermittent drizzle was not going to stop us! Although the corn maze did defeat us – we never found checkpoint #2 but we found checkpoint 3 four times so we feel like we accomplished something.  And Jesse won a pumpkin by finding an ear of corn in the maze with a pumpkin drawn on it (a teeny tiny pumpkin that I couldn’t have seen if my life depended on it!)

And then in the blink of an eye, we were back at the airport for the early flight out and made it home with no drama or delays.  (I had to admit even American Airlines gets it right sometimes).  So while we’ll have several chances to see Jesse again in the coming months, we won’t see Burlington again until May 2017 when it will probably be the last time because she really is going to graduate.  {sniff, sniff}

Three months since the last post? I can’t decide if I should use the excuse of having nothing to report or no time to report it.  How about both?

This summer has been the first where we have had far less time to play – and no good weather for playing outside.  With me teaching summer session and 90+ degree temps for days on end, things like tennis are just not on the agenda like they were last year.

We have done a little more traveling – a long weekend in Virginia to visit Duncan.  That should have been a blog post on it’s own because of the entertainment afforded by leaving my wallet on the plane.  It covered more miles than I did as it eventually wound up in the Raleigh airport.  No matter what the current sentiment about Southwest Airlines is right now given their technology troubles, I have nothing but good things to say about their baggage folks who went out of their way to help me track down the missing wallet.  And then shipped it back to me entirely intact.

It was a nice weekend in Charlottesville and Frank got to spend Father’s day with one of
the people who call him “father” (insert joke about what else his family calls him!) and we visited a winery, brewery, cidery, and distillery all in the one day.  Four new food groups anyone?

The following weekend was less exciting – a rainy start to the 4th of July weekend where temps barely got into the 70s – led to a cloudy but dry 4th.  And what do you do with that? Visit wineries of course!  In the convertible.  Then grill lots of meat with home made beans and slaw.  And drink the newly acquired wine.

And so now, we count the days until we REALLY travel.  So here’s the warning:  beginning next week we will start the annual overseas pilgrimage.  Keep an eye on the Cannon Family Travel blog where we keep the tales of our travel triumphs and travails.

And so the Cannon clan descended on the poor unsuspecting city of Burlington for the epic occasion of Jesse’s 21st birthday.  This would be the first time all four of us had been to Burlington at the same time. Duncan was staying with his sister but Frank and I had rented our first airBnB accommodation and boy were we pleased.  A small, one bedroom apartment with fully fitted kitchen, really comfy queen size bed and all around a neat and tidy wee place.  We got a good night sleep and then headed to the rugby pitch the next day for the tournament – where Jesse scored twice!  The sun was blazing and though the breeze was cool – this is Vermont after all – it was beautiful way to spend the morning. We then parted ways for a bit:  Frank to replace a valve cover gasket (yes, he did); me for a long run (10 miles – longer than was good for me!) and Duncan and Jesse to the rugby social.  They were allowed to shower and change for the occasion which is apparently not always the case which is why the gatherings are sometimes referred to as “stink and drink.”   Jesse was appropriately roasted and got toasted – as befits the birthday girl/co-MVP of the game.

Sunday was to be our grand day out with a hike up Camel’s Hump but Mother Nature had other plans and the glorious sunshine turned to grey drizzle.  We are not to be deterred, however, and instead headed up and down the coast of Lake Champlain visiting wineries.  Yup, Vermont has them and both Shelburne Vineyard (just south of Burlington) and East Shore Vineyard to the north provided lovely experiences.  The former was busy and bustling and was our first chance to taste sparking wine from the Louise Swenson grape. (We don’t have those in MO.)  The latter was empty and had a very congenial woman running the tasting and so much conviviality (and a great family picture) ensued.

But wine isn’t the star of the show in Vermont.  They have an amazing array of craft breweries including The Alchemist which brews Frank’s very favorite IPA – Heddy Topper – that is nearly impossible to find even in Vermont but for the first time we were able to procure his very own four-pack. (Sales are limited to one four-pack per customer per day when you can find it.)   beer isn’t the only fizzy beverage popular in Vermont and we found ourselves sampling a couple of flights of cider at the Citizen Cider tasting room.  It is by far my favorite cider anywhere but of course you can’t get it in MO.  We enjoyed snacks and drinks and then what is one to do on a rainy Saturday?  Why bowl, of course.  We got two games in before enjoying a fabulous birthday dinner at a farm-to-table restaurant (are there any other kinds in Vermont?) in South Burlington.

Monday also dawned grey and dreary and also meant a return to class for Jesse who has less than two weeks left in the semester. But we had a quest to find one other Vermont specific beverage: Rail Dog maple spirit.  I don’t know how to describe it – it’s not whiskey or vodka but it is liquor made from distilling maple syrup.  Frank loves it and, again, it can’t be had anywhere outside Vermont.  In fact, it’s getting hard to find in Vermont because it is produced in such small batches which have such a loyal following that it rarely makes it to the store.  Such was the case on this day and so off we went to the farm where it’s distilled, 45 minutes north of Burlington and not far from the Canadian border. There we met Dave Howe, chemical engineer turned craft distiller, who gave us a private “tour” of the small building where he distills Rail Dog and a vodka, Literary Dog, which is the most amazing vodka (I don’t know how vodka can be creamy but this really is!) We also met the dogs for which the spirits are  

named and had a fabulous time talking about the distillation process, favorite single malts, and the best hikes in the area.  We parted with several bottles to bring home and an invitation to come back and hike the farm in the fall.  Oh and if Duncan wanted to put his biochem degree to good use, Dave would be happy to teach him everything he knows.  It was really the most singular day.

Or it started out that way.  And then we had to fly.  Luckily, the worst thing that happened to me and Frank was an hour delay in Detroit.  Duncan had the day from hell where his flight from Burlington to Charlottesville via Philadelphia turned into a rebooked flight to DC which was diverted to Harrisburg PA due to weather.  They sat for four hours (longer than it would take to drive to Charlottesville from PA) before finally being flown to DC in the wee hours of the morning.  He had to stay in a hotel before heading south Tuesday morning (but I understand there were Georgetown cupcakes to help soften the blow a tiny bit.)  That’s the last time any of us flies American Airlines again.  Ever.

So we ate, drank, and were merry (and then we ate and drank some more).  And it was good to be together as a family again.

I still don’t know quite what to make of having a birthday on Easter. It happened when I turned 40 which seemed prophetic. But that was a while ago when my kids still lived at home and my mom still lived. There were many jokes about being resurrected (and which parts of me would never be. My family is very funny.)

This year was very different though. First, there was only Frank there to carry the “make San feel special” burden. He did a fabulous job – I should say he does because he makes me feel special every day. And my birthday gift was a little over the top.  I asked for a counter top herb garden. I got a diamond necklace.  Okay, I guess that will do.

Easter service is always one of my favorites – I get my Alleluia’s back after a long 40 days without them.  But I felt a bit cheated because our church always goes out of the way to give birthday blessings on Sundays – it’s one of the things that drew us to the quirky little congregation:  the priest calls up everyone who has a birthday that week and the whole congregation prays for them (usually prayer 50 on page 830 of the Book of Common Prayer – feel free to look it up.  I’ll wait.) But of course with this being Easter and the most important day in the liturgical calendar, we didn’t do that part of the service. The egotistical me did have a little bit of a hard time not being the center of attention. Funny, but apparently it’s not always all about me.  Hmm.

I got lots of birthday wishes on FB and by email and text and for those I am grateful.  It’s nice to be reminded that you have connected with other human beings in such a way that they feel compelled to acknowledge a special day in your life.  My kids and brother have phoned and texted and I have been given carte blanche to make this my day as well as Easter at home. So we had champagne and Peeps for lunch.  And watched as the weather cleared from snow and sleet in the morning to cool sunshine in the afternoon.  Frank baked birthday cupcakes to have as dessert after the Easter-themed birthday dinner of lamb chops.  A hot bath tonight a few hands of cribbage (which I should win if there is to be marital harmony) and we’ll call celebration of the resurrection(s) complete.

I did have a very hoppy birthday – thanks for all the good wishes.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one:  A girl walks into the airport with luggage and a boarding pass and NO PHOTO ID.  Welcome to my Tuesday.  Let’s back up a bit.

I am in Dallas (Grapevine actually) at a big IT consulting summit where I will be one of four use case presentations among a sea of consulting advice.  It’s not really nerve wracking necessarily but this trip has been quite the challenge to put together.  First there was the challenges with getting my slides to the organizers – apparently Powerpoint attachments from the Fed get consistently caught in their spam filters.  I don’t know that we ever got a useable slide deck transmitted properly.  So I had to prepare to bring the slides on a memory stick. Except that we can’t just use any old memory sticks in Bank equipment.  So I need to track down the special encrypted kind that we are allowed to use.  We have a loaner one in the office so yesterday I grabbed that and prepare to upload the files. Except it doesn’t work.  The firmware is out of date. Okay.  Let’s try again.  I borrow another one marked quite clearly that it has a particular purpose and is NOT FOR BORROWING in capital letters.  The firmware for this one is up-to-date so I carefully type in the password written on the bottom of the box – great security! – and get a nasty pop up that says “Incorrect Password.  You have 0 more attempts before device self-destructs” or something like that.  Since I apparently wasn’t supposed to be borrowing it in the first place, I was taking NO chances.  That one gets returned and my awesome IT colleagues run around finding one that works.  I left the office yesterday with multiple copies stored on a relatively new encrypted device (and the password written on a piece of paper in my wallet.  Sssh.)

So now I’m ready.  Today was my mandatory “work from home for business continuity purposes” which was fine with me.  I had a quick doctor’s appointment (dermatologist says all is well), voted in the primary (and got to see what the Baptist church up the street looks like inside) and then settled in to get some work done before the car to the airport picks me up at 2:15 for my 4pm flight. (Yup- there are some benefits to being in the middle of the country with a small, navigable airport).  So I am plugging away working in my kitchen when it occurs to me that there’s a lunchtime spin class on Tuesdays at my gym.  I could spend my “lunch hour” getting some exercise before getting packed into the flying sardine can for the trip south.  So I get changed, grab my keys, gym card and driver’s license (foreshadowing here) and head to spin.  And nearly died spending 45 minutes “climbing mountains like we don’t have in Kansas City”.  Ugh.  But I kinda made it through.  Grabbed a protein shake to actually have for my lunch and then headed home for a quick shower, a short conference call, and then off to the airport.

Quick shower:  check.  Short conference call:  not so much.  I was first on the agenda and the participants were most interested in what I was saying so my 10 minute discussion lasted nearly 30 minutes.  So now I have 15 minutes to wrap everything up before heading to the airport.  Logged off the laptop and got that smushed into my “personal item” with my purse and my plane reading.  Closed up the suitcase and got that sorted.  Left the checkbook for Frank since I won’t need it in Dallas.  Left the car keys at home since I won’t need them in Dallas.  The car is now waiting and I rush out the door – remembering to leave the spare key in the mailbox for the cleaners who are coming tomorrow (which is why Frank needs the checkbook.)

So now we’ve caught up with our heroine who has just been dropped off at KCI with the boarding pass and belongings but whose driver’s license is home with the car keys. [Insert favorite swear word here.  Repeat 23 times.]  I tried to call Frank to see if he could run home and get it for me since there was about an hour before my flight left.  Two texts, two voicemails and 10 missed calls and it was obvious that wasn’t going to work.  So I checked with the airline to see if I could get on the next flight so I would have time to get my ID before boarding.  The gate agent told me that I could get on the plane without photo ID.  What?  No.  Really?  Do the presidential candidates know?  I can’t believe that.

So off I go to the TSA line and plead my tale of woe.  I have nothing on me with a photo.  Didn’t bring the work ID either since I wouldn’t need it.  (Had I gone to the office…. grrr…) The TSA agents are very nice and understanding but seem dubious that I have 3 credit cards, 2 ATM cards, insurance cards, etc but nothing with my photo and not even a checkbook with my name and address.  But wait!  I have my voter card cuz I voted!  The poll workers didn’t want to see it but I could show it to the TSA!  I got the most thorough search I have ever seen – every article of clothing I brought got swabbed and you have never actually seen such a pat down.  But I passed. And I got on the plane.

And then had to figure out what to do without ID once I got off.  What’s the first thing they say at the hotel registration desk?  Credit card and photo ID please.  So the tale of woe begins again.  But they have my credit card on file and I know my hotel rewards number so maybe I’m okay.  They also have a FedEx office in the conference center so Frank will be able to FedEx my driver’s license to me!  Yippee!  And while most days, I don’t even think about my driver’s license because it just sits languishing in my wallet, today I feel naked and everyone wants to know who I am.  I stopped by the hotel shop to get some wine and treats and handed over my credit card and was asked “Do you have photo ID?” Really?  How many times do I buy things with my credit card and no one gives a monkey’s rump if I can prove it’s my card.  Yet here, I need to because I can’t.  So my tale of woe told once again and my room key and my Facebook profile shown on my phone (no lie) are sufficient to prove that I am worthy of buying some local wine and Cherry Garcia.  So now to consume both and put this day behind me.  I’m ordering room service – they can’t possibly want to see my ID for that!