There are so many we’ll miss. Here’s a few we’ve gotten pictures with recently, though by no means everyone.
2021/07 Ship's Log
My grandparents were in town for my cousin Colby’s boot camp graduation at Great Lakes Naval Center. It was great to see them, and especially to introduce Royal to his great-grandfather (Papaw).
While my grandparents played with the boys, Amie and I toured the Oak Park Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. The pictures don’t do the tour justice, but here are a couple to jog my own memory.
Apologies for the site downtime. I’ve hosted this site on a Raspberry Pi sitting next to me on my desk for two years, but I’ll be shutting the Pi off for our move to Rapid City. That doesn’t mean the site will be gone; I am a developer after all!
I’ve migrated everything to Vultr. My Vultr server runs in Chicago, so you probably won’t notice the change. If you live on the other side of planet Earth; however, I could deploy a second instance nearer to you. Send me an email and I’ll see what I can do :)
A little late, but on June 25th Amie and I watched Un Ballo In Maschera (A Masked Ball) conducted by Riccardo Muti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Choir.
It was magical. Stunning. Breathtaking.
I’ve not been to many operas but I suspect this one was unusual among them. To watch Muti conduct, feeling each movement’s passions: love, fear, anger; is spellbinding. And the opera singers…
I did not until this event realize that a world-class opera singer is gifted, not only with a stellar voice, but also the capacity to act. And what acting! The sly look, the fit of passion; and always planted in place, singing dramatically and synchonously with an entire ochestra.
Amie’s birthday surprise began with a Graeter’s ice cream cake, vanilla bean with chocolate. Royal’s pick.
Maya, our upstairs neighbor and babysitter for the evening, came down at 6:00, and we were out the door before 6:10. Amie didn’t know where we were going, though she had an inkling.
We parked in a private back alley (thanks SpotHero!) and walked down Broadway looking for a dinner spot. Amie chose Cere’s Table. Delicious.
The food was so good we almost missed our event, the Blue Man Group! We jogged the two blocks to Briar Street Theatre and arrived right at 8:00.
Amie said the show was surprisingly funny and she hadn’t expected so much audience participation. The smoke bothered her throat a little, but overall she had a magnificent time. Me too!
Sadly, I didn’t take any pictures so here’s one of Amie from a few days back.
I received the message from Kati while making lunch for the boys. While we’d been playing at a playground, a shooter murdered several people at a parade thirty minutes north of us.
First came the shock, then the anger and the tears. Several children were shot by a man who evaded the police for the entire day. All public events were cancelled. Friends were at a similar parade in a nearby township. The total injured and dead is still not confirmed, but we’re looking at dozens.
In the morning, we’d felt disappointed that we wouldn’t enjoy the fireworks because we didn’t want to keep our boys up late; by noon we were trapped inside our apartment waiting for a child-murderer to be apprehended by the police.
I am not a person who readily dwells upon potential dangers. When the what-if fears do surface: “what if Amie gets in a car accident while taking the boys to school,” “what if Royal falls off that ledge and suffers permanent brain damage,” I do my best to silence the fears by reminding myself that the Lord Jesus will support us through any suffering and that I must release those I love to take measured risks.
But answer me this: how am I to measure risk in an environment where my son can be shot at a 4th of July parade? Or in his elementary school classroom?
Do you know that Highland Park was only the most fatal shooting yesterday? There were 7 mass shootings across the U.S. There’s already been one more today and it’s not even noon.
Before you assume these are happening in gang neighborhoods, go look at the data. Pull up a few of those addresses and see where they’re located. You know what, fuck that, let me show you right here.
Tell me this, dear reader. Is it an acceptable risk to take my son to a 4th of July parade? 😭