Let those who will

Let those who will buy lands and horde money. We will have our memories, glad memories of golden experiences together.


-From the 1920's journals of Margaret Gehrke regarding her visits to U.S. national parks, as quoted on Ken Burns' documentaries on that same subject


(Don't worry... we're not really "done" yet...)

the end

So here we are.

Last week I heard someone on the local Michigan NPR station mention a program that would "help us understand our state better." I let the words pass over me as an outsider, as I've been doing for years, feeling only partially obligated or occasionally compelled by the concerns of my neighbors. It was quite literally with a start that I realized I was included in that statement. I was in that "us" and "our." I could listen, even let myself be affected, with a larger sense of future relationship with the place on topic, the place in which I reside. I could learn the names of my state representatives, consider school districts, and anticipate events happening beyond the immediate future.

So here we are. I began working at an architecture firm in Grand Rapids over a month ago, and Josh is following up on leads in youth work at churches in the area while he quite happily works with my father, helping the asparagus grow. So that's the end of the story. Grand Rapids. Full circle, nearly, for both of us.

We are looking at homes in Cherry Hill and Eastown and may well end up in one early next year. We look forward to seeing what's inside the un-opened vacuum cleaner box from our wedding. I think there are coasters in that closet somewhere, too, and a mixer and another set of plates. Such goodies. Such goodies we've had little trouble living without for six years.

It's been quite the journey, and this blog has helped us share it along the way. We can honestly say that it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without your comments and followings. Almost. But not quite... everything is better shared, and these last few years are no exception. That being said, we don't entirely understand blogging without far-off adventures to chronicle or distant grandparents in need of updating, so we're calling it quits. It was never our intent to let our writing fizzle out, but as we kept waiting for our lives to settle down so that we could make our big exit, we were reminded that things rarely end as scripted.

The blog will remain for your vacation-research and our memory-jogging perusal as long as they let it.

Finally, it feels fitting to harken back to our very first post, dated February 6, 2006:

Now, as for the adventure itself... In brief, Josh and I quit our stable and decent-paying jobs in New York, NY at the end of 2006 to finally do what we had been talking and dreaming about since we got married. Our original excuse for "taking time off" was to get reacquainted with each other after living as two poor grad students in one of the most stressful cities in the world, but it's since grown into a whole lot of other reasons. From January to April, we are working as kids ski instructors in Colorado, using our days off to explore other ski resorts and to recover from days filled with I-want-my-mommy-syndrome and I-can't-get-up-disease. In April, we will be heading to Michigan and Texas for two weddings before flying off to SE Asia and India for about 5 months. Crazy? Yes. Terrifying? You bet. Exciting? Absolutely!

We could say so many things about the last three years, but as I'm already getting a bit too sentimental, I think we'll just call it at that.

Time of death: midnight 12.09.09

A new passport

Got a new passport in the mail the other day... I feel a bit like I have to leave a dear, old friend at home next I travel. In honor of the well-worn and faithful thing, here are a few of my favorite pages. The new guy's got big shoes to fill.