GRADUATION AND MOVE
Well our youngest has graduated from college. Matt graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee on May 20th. It was a real joy to watch. There were really two graduation ceremonies – the big one that was a general commencement for all 2000+ students and then the ceremony for those graduating from a particular school where students walk across the stage and accept their diploma. We were very proud.
Also just think – no more tuition payments! Oh yea! Soon we will be rolling in money. Cindy & I expect to be well cared for when in the far distant future we get old. That’s when having children pays off. Matt keeps hinting though about making sure he puts us in the nursing home featured on 60 Minutes. What a son.
Before that big day Cindy & I managed to see our parents in Minnesota. We rented a car in Milwaukee and drove to Rochester to stay with her folks. Then I picked up daughter Laura from the airport in Minneapolis and drove over to spend time with my dad in southwestern Minnesota. It really was great seeing both sets of folks.
Laura & I taught my dad to play Chicken Feet a dominoes game. That was fun. We ate at Trailways and Country Kitchen while there. Wow! We also drove over to Boyd where I served Trinity Lutheran Church for 6 years. It was my first call. While driving through that little village of 300 souls we ran into some folks from my former congregation. You can tell it is a small town when you can stop in the middle of the street and talk and no one gets excited. They roll up the streets at night so it is very quiet there.
After picking up Cindy at her folks we drove to Milwaukee.
We lived in the Milwaukee area for 20 years so there are people to see if possible. I drove over to Mukwonago to my last congregation and managed to see some friends there while the rest of my family went shopping. I also managed to have breakfast with my best friend in Mukwonago. We also managed to see my brother Paul’s family and my brother Joe’s family. Cindy & I also drove by my second congregation – this one in Milwaukee.
This is sort of what our trips north are all about – touching base with family and friends. That time with family and friends is so valuable and precious.
Well Matt, Cindy & I put Laura on the plane in Milwaukee first. Then the next morning Matt & I put Cindy on a plane in Milwaukee. Now the other part of the adventure began. Matt & I were going to load up a rental van with his “stuff” and move him out to Washington, DC where he had just gotten a job in the office of Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
Well after picking up the rental van we had to track down his stuff. We stuffed every nook and cranny of that van but managed to get what we needed into it. There was no room to spare. Then we drove over to his friends apartment to pick up a bed and a bike. Well the only spot left was on the roof. There was no roof rack so we just wrapped the van in rope.
Then it was south toward Chicago and points east. I should mention that this was a one day rental and we planned to drive straight through. Well 2 hours later and $15 poorer we reached Chicago just at rush hour. It took 2 hours and cost $15 because we kept stopping to adjust the mattress. It was making noise and we were certain it was going to fly off and hit the traffic in back of us. The $15 purchased a webbed packing strap that we picked up at a truck stop. Once everything cinched down good and tight we headed south once again. Every time we stopped throughout that trip we checked the rope and that strap.
We got distracted when we got to Chicago. Instead of taking 294 that skirts Chicago we ended up on 94 that goes downtown. What a mistake. It was rush hour and traffic crawled along sometimes stopping all together. Well there was nothing we could do so we joked about our mistake and made the best of it. We paid for it on the other end of our trip.
Once past downtown the rest of our trip was straight forward. We found the toll ways across Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and rolled right along.
Matt had downloaded some Sherlock Holmes adventures so we could listen to them as we drove. That really made the trip move along. We paid for our mistake in Chicago by getting to Washington at rush hour at 7am.
Well once to his place we got his key, unloaded everything and turned the van at Union Station. We were dead on our feet.
We hoped the Metro and got back to his place. We both laid on the mattress on the floor and slept for 4 or 5 hours. While we slept the gas man came and went so we ended up with no hot water and no gas to cook with. It has been some time since I had to take a cold shower. It wasn’t pretty.
The rest of my time there was spent cleaning, putting some furniture together and then going to the mall – think monuments and museums not JC Pennys - to have some fun. We went to the National Portrait gallery then off to dinner in a sidewalk café across from the Spy Museum. We ended the evening by going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3. What a way to end the adventure.
The plane trip home was uneventful and got me home by mid-afternoon on Saturday.
