Coffee Cup Perspectives: May 2011

Sunrise in Las Vegas, April 11, 2011

So when the sun slowly rises on the coveted Day Off, I am faced with answering a most interesting question: what to do with the sudden explosion of time? Some may have the luxury of sleeping in, but my brain has not been so accomodating as to learn this valuable capacity. There are also days in which the Tyranny of the Ordinary takes rapid precedence: laundry, groceries, the cleaning spree. Not such a bad thing, really, and usually I enjoy the satisfaction of a job that actually gets done. But some days are different.

Those days, capture the moment! (Las Vegas, April)

Many of those days off were marked by travel this year! Last July I trekked out to New York City and proceeded to use every mode of transportation available to the footloose short of hitchhiking, horses & boat.

I've been to the Big Apple before, but this would be my first solo navigation of taxis and subways...

View from my room on Hyatt on the Hudson, Jersey City, NJ July 2010

The first was a great way to see the city if I could ignore the way just sitting there caused palpable shrinkage of the wallet and many moments of acute palpitations.

Hudson Harbor, Statue of Liberty on a gorgeous July afternoon

The second was a great way too see what's under NYC (or sometimes above) and bond with many fellow travelers about being confused how going southeast will actually bring you northwest, and whether you will make your flight now that we were on our third construction detour. New Yorkers may not have the expansive warmth of other areas of the country but the subway brings out the somewhat wry sense of the comic. This helps as those of us unarmed with i-Pads & pocket reading, who are all thinking of the minutes of spare time that are slipping elusively by us - could we be doing something else?? But then we wouldn't be knowingly chuckling under our breath as we catch ourselves all looking at our watches at the same time. I guess today, we're just reading humanity.

Backyard dinners with the CL group at home

Ostensibily the reason for the excursion was a medical ethics conference hosted by the Italian-founded Catholic lay movement CL (Communio & Libertate) - a group of energetic Catholics who have a vibrant commitment to living their faith within their profession. They have a unique emphasis on fostering the community life, for the flourishing of the individual person (hence the movements' title). Sounds pretty heady. And it is, some days - you do start thinking more attentively about daily life and friendships you might otherwise take for granted. But between weekly readings and dinners, it's also a regular source of sanity, inspiration and laughter.

My dear friend Adriana's wedding to Sam Vasquez, August 2010

The following month, I was back out to the East Coast for Adriana & Sam's wedding... which was conveniently in the same city as Julie & Stephen. So what could be be a better perk than time with the (rapidly growing!) nephews??

Philip, August 2010

Christopher & Peter, Chefs in Training, August 2010

Sunday Brunch is serious, Aunt Teresa!!

In the meantime, home life remained really busy.... There's always the garden, which was crazy-abundant last year.

And then there was the addition of Jeff...

October, 2010

Jeff & I started off talking about gardens. That morphed into conversations and emails about favortite books, traveling, great food, and photography... which led to a coffee date, which led to a hiking date, which led to a lot of other dates.... And that led to many good things, including indulging in our mutually nerdy love of historical things with a day trip to the home of Abraham Lincoln in the rebuilt village of New Salem, IL.

Needless to say, spare time became much more occupied at home. (You may have wondered why updates are over 6 months old?) But that was not the end of the wedding joy!

Susan's Wedding, a reunion of old friend from Loyola, October 2010

Nor was it the end to the end to the historical meanderings of Jeff and myself as we took in the Hemingway House and other architectural beauties of Oak Park. We actually saved the indoor tour for a return trip at Christmastime. After all, if it's sunny in Autumn AND you have spare time, there's no place to spend it but outdoors!

Christmas saw more cross-country travel: to Chicago for Christmas Eve with Jeff's family and on to home in Rochester the next day. Got time for trains? Hang out with Gregory these days.

And nephews & nieces? Got time for that too.

Patrick & Uncle Greg checking the scores

Madeline & Aunt Teresa

OH YES! The excitement of being almost 1. (Brother Colin in the background.)

Bowling! (We did give up on everyone looking the same direction.)

Winter was cold, quieter, and well-spent in study and dinner dates with Jeff, and home projects - none of any big caliber. March and April were marked by travel to training conferences in Chicago and Las Vegas! Very different cities. And other than the outstanding seminars on being a chief resident and teaching in the medical center, I enjoyed the food of Chicago and the sunrise of Las Vegas. (And not much else in Las Vegas, except the Belagio Fountains.)