Meta-posting

With a little luck, the life updates in this blog should get a little more boring. Kelly joins the dog and I in California today, and should be able to get some well deserved rest and relaxation. The house is still on the market, but that is a worry for another day.

I expect to fill this space more with my philosophical ruminations, which I find more fascinating than most of my daily life. Hopefully, you will too.

I came up with the title for this blog almost two years ago. Samwise Gamgee has always been my favorite fictional character ever since seeing the animated "Return of the King" at a very young age. ("Where there's a whip... there's a way..."). In some ways, it is odd that I grabbed onto him rather than Frodo. It could be that by starting with the RotK (it took me a couple more years to finish the books for the first time), my first impression of Frodo was a whining, tired and indecisive hobbit while Sam did all the real work.

While my appreciation for Frodo has grown with the dozen or two times I have read the books, so has my admiration and identification with Sam. I have always seen myself as the able assistant rather than the leader. I tend to be the practical minded supporter who figures out how to make it happen rather than the idea creator.

Which brings me to the quote... "Where there is life, there is hope, as my gaffer would say. And need for vittles, he'd mostwise add." When I was younger, and EVEN more idealistic than I am today, I think I only focused on the first part. Just having hope in the middle of Mordor surrounded by a million orcs is a significant achievement. But the power comes from the second part. Without a practical mindset, hope is an ephemeral and transient entity.

The challenge comes in finding the balance... how much practicality and how much idealism. Samwise knew when to stop saving food and water for the return journey from Mount Doom and to just concentrate on keeping Frodo going. The challenge is finding the balance that you can live with in your own head.

That was old Hamfast's advice for his son. My dad offered advice from the confusing "You can't have your cake and eat it too" (what else do you do with cake?) to another of my life mantras "There are two things in life worth their money every single time... education and travel." On this Father's Day, anyone reading the blog is encouraged to leave comments with good, bad or humorous tidbits their fathers passed along to them.

Power of positive thinking time....

I am trying not have this blog be subtitled "Michael bitches and moans about having to work at a really cool job in the spectacular weather of the Bay Area", so I have held off posting until I can temper the challenges of moving with some positive thoughts.

I want to give a big shout out to my wife. As hard as this has been on me, this has been seven times harder on her. She managed to juggle working, school and getting the house on the market and has done it all very well. I went back to Dayton over Memorial Day for a brief fly-by and the house is amazing. We have had some interest and foot traffic, so hopefully that will pay off with a sale before too long. Kelly will be out here in about a week and finally able to take some long deserved relaxation.

Another shout out goes to Carol. She made me a phenomenal scrap-book of Dayton sights, stories and histories. It really is a work of art that captures what makes the place so special. Then to cap it off, when I thanked her she added some great wisdom.

So, in San Jose, . . . you will appreciate the little things that you will find in your new home. ... but you have to earn all the memories. And you can't give up just because there aren't any memories there yet.

That is so true. A place has meaning because of the stories associated with it. Some of those stories are personal experiences and others are curious pieces of history that one has to learn. I need to be open to those experiences here.

I could feel that most strongly when "other" Michael and I went to watch the San Jose Earthquakes play. Standing in the crowd, screaming my lungs out with my great friend by my side reminded me of some of the positive memories of my previous California adventure. And there will be more good memories to come.

I am looking forward to finally going on my ultimate date (with my ultimate woman) to watch Shakespeare under the stars at a winery in Sonoma. I am looking forward to lots of friends coming to visit (hint, hint). I am looking forward to lots of tennis, biking, hiking and other things that are so often weather precluded in Ohio. I look forward to lots of mini-vacations to places that were too far to visit from back east, like Yosemite, San Diego or even Hawaii.

It is hard to stay focused on the future when the present is so turbulent, but calmer waters are ahead.


On a side note... Mazel Tov to Stephen and Hannah who got married in New York last weekend. That was one of the most fun weddings I have ever been to. The circle dancing and partying was like a scene from a TV show or a movie, and the ceremony was a wonderful blend of traditional and personal.

It also gave me the opportunity to utter the immortal words... "A wife is like an adventure person".