My Last Entry

Dear Readers,

Blogger allows me to write an entry for my blog and schedule it to be published well into the future. So, as I write this, in April of 2009, I intend to schedule it for several years from now.

This idea intrigues me because it's almost like a "time capsule." I hope it will be unearthed at some point in the future, but I don't know what will have happened in the interval.

Why is this the last entry? What might be the reasons that I'm no longer writing my blog?

When I first wrote this entry, I went on to list several negative reasons, but I must have been in quite a mood at that point.  Well, whatever the reason, this is it -- it's my last entry.

So, with that in mind, I have to say the following:

• Each of my family and friends mean a great deal to me. In each of you I've found more than enough reason to like and love you. You add joy and happiness to my life. If you and I have ever had a disagreement, or hard feelings, you can be sure that I did not carry those feelings with me at the end. It's not in my nature to harbor grudges (my memory is just not that good!) and you have always added to my life.
• Kids, I love you. If you have kids of your own, you will appreciate just how much love there can be in a parent's heart. How much the happiness and struggles of a child's life affect the parent. I am truly blessed to be your father.
• Sherry. Wow. What can I say? I love you more deeply, more completely, more intensely than anything in life. From the day we decided we had to be together forever, my life drew into focus, and our love and commitment formed the solid base for everything else. You mean more to me than words can state. Without a doubt, I know that you know that.

And those things are true, no matter the reason for my blog ending.

To anyone who reads this, and to the others who did not, I wish you Peace, Faith, Hope and Love.

Happy Anniversary, Sherry!

How did I manage to get this amazing woman to marry me all those years ago?




I think it helped that I got to her early.



How can she look exactly the same, when I have gotten --- ummm -- more substantial?



I love you, Sherry! Happy Anniversary!

Sherry's Fashion Show Video

For the past six semesters, my wife, Sherry has been pursuing a degree in Apparel Design in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota.  This will be her second Bachelor's degree, because she and I both graduated from Luther College a while back, and she majored in Chemistry and Biology for that degree.

As one might expect from an Apparel Design program, the big final project is the creation of a line of apparel.  The resulting fashions were on display in a show called Flux in February.

Here is the video from the show.  I am imbedding the whole video; Sherry's work comes down the runway starting at 12:19.  She designed a line for professional women, and used professional women to model the pieces, including our daughter Sarah, my sister Deb, and our neighbor Judy.

I'm so proud of her, and impressed by her work.  Enjoy!

Feeding Myself

My wife is a wonderful cook.  But for these three years while she is at the U of M, I have had plenty of opportunity to cook.  Sometimes for the two of us.  Much of the time, for myself.

Sometimes, my meals look like this.

Yes, that's leftover pizza.

But then again, I have made myself some real meals.  And, though I am not sure I would have predicted it, I have even had the chance to created one or two things.  Last night, I had one of those "recipes" again.   I will make it for Sherry sometime, now that I am pretty sure I can recreate it.  (When I first put the ingredients together, I didn't exactly keep track of things.  So when I made it yesterday, I paid more attention.)

It's a chicken bake.  I like it.

We Go Around Again

Summer ends today.

Not astronomically, perhaps, but today school begins again for my wife, the student.  And so, once again, "summer" is over.

And so, once again, this "new normal" resumes.

My weekday evenings find me in a big house.  Hers find her in a tiny apartment, or in a work area on campus, or at her internship.

I try to use my time wisely, and succeed in fits and starts.  She doesn't have a moment to waste, and so spends her days and nights learning and creating.

Weekends are even more anticipated than during the summer, because they mean reunion -- brief, but appreciated.

Some weeks, I will travel for work.  It won't seem quite as much of an imposition, because whether I am in Illinois or Kentucky, Nevada or Japan, I'm not really "home" even in Rochester as long as she's not here.

Do I sound sad?  I don't intend to. 

I am inspired by the task she has undertaken, and I am impressed by the things she's learning and creating.  I am happy she loves her new endeavors, and I'm proud to be her husband. 

No, I am not sad.  I am prepared.  I am readjusting.  I am focusing on making the best of some time alone, but smiling inside whenever I think of the next time I'll see her.

This past week -- taking some time off to be with her, getting our lives ready for the "school schedule" again, enjoying the fulfillment which can come from just sitting next to each other -- this has been a perfect runway for the flight through this school year.

And so, summer ends.  And so, the school year begins.  We go around, again.

I propose we make this time around even better than the last.  Are you with me on that, Sherry?

I think she is.

Favorite Foto Friday - Dresses, Daughters, Wife and Landmark 1000

I have two great photos to share today -- Sherry designed a dress for Leah and another for Sarah in her first year as an Apparel Design student.  Here, they model them.  What beautiful women!




And, to make this blog entry a bit more special, it is my thousandth!  That's right!  1000 entries have been posted to Snippets and Wisps since it moved here to blogger.com.

Many "Blogs of Note" have been named, and then fallen into disuse, while I've been writing snippets, wisps reviews and the occasional advice or small sermon. I've really enjoyed talking about games, books, learning, and of course my family in my own little corner of the blogosphere.  I think I'll keep doing it!

And, because I just can't get enough of them, here are a couple more photos of these girls and their outfits.  And another photo of something Sherry didn't design, but she made and altered for Marisa - for Renaissance Festival.  Wow.

30 Years Ago Today

Thirty years ago today, in beautiful Decorah, Iowa, I asked my an amazing woman to become my wife.  Sherry said yes, and the rest is history.  I don't have a photo handy from 1981, so here's one from 2007.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary, Sherry



29 years!

Happy Birthday, Sherry!

To my wonderful wife:

Happy Birthday beautiful!

Last year, I did not get to see you on your birthday.  This year, I will!  Hurray!



You will always be 21 years old in my mind's eye -- that vision of love walking down the aisle. I love you! Have a great day! See you SOON!

Fashion Show

On Saturday, Sherry and I attended a fashion show. Each year, the Seniors in the College of Design hold a fashion show, titled Distortion." Since Sherry will be a Senior in two or three years, she was interested to see what she would be expected to do. And, of course, since she is studying apparel design, she also enjoys seeing fashion.

Ahead of the main show, each Sophomore & Junior had an outfit displayed on the runway. Then main show began, and each Senior had four or five outfits displayed. Each line was accompanied by music which set the mood, and the models -- though only a few of them were professional -- did a good job of letting the crowd see the pieces.

A couple of years ago, I would never have imagined I'd see a fashion show. It's still ironic, in a way, to think that my wife would invite me to watch pretty young women walk up and down the runway. :-)

But this was interesting, and I can see that it excites Sherry to think that she will get to create new designs and show them to an appreciative audience.

What did the designs look like? Well, they have a "Look Book" on Facebook. Click through to see it. I'll put a sample here, but you really should check it out if you are interested. I liked most of the outfits, from an artistic point of view. True, there were several which I could not imagine "real people" wearing. But then again, I live here, not there, and not in New York, Paris or Milan. Sherry already has enough skill that she could evaluate who had worked hardest, and who had done the most challenging work. I just watched.

Next year, Sherry will have something in the show. And she will be involved in the event, so I suspect I will be in the audience without her, proudly taking in the product of her new journey.

The New Normal is Weird

My life has a new "normal" and it's hard to get used to.

Sherry and I got married just before our senior year in college. Since then, except for occasional business trips (mine) and mission trips (hers) we haven't spent long stretches of time away from one another.

Now, however, we're apart five nights a week every week. And that's just ...

Weird.

Thank God for phones. And Skype (it's so great to see her smile.)

But it's not the same as being in the same place.

We're adapting. She's learning lots of stuff, and doing very well (of course!) And we certainly enjoy seeing each other when we get the chance -- all of that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" stuff can be so true.

But it's weird.

Good night, Sherry. Sleep well.

[See, that's weird!]

Happy Birthday, Sherry!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife!

I can't be with her on her birthday, but I know she'll have a great day.

See you soon, beautiful. I hope you get some French Silk pie to celebrate!

Congratulations, Sherry!

Yesterday Sherry got her acceptance letter! She'll be attending the College of Design of the University of Minnesota for a BS Degree program in Apparel Design starting in the Fall of 2010. That's up in St. Paul, so we have some logistics to work through between now and then. But, as Sherry says, it's just part of the adventure.

I'm super excited for her! Congratulations, Sherry!



[We do find it ironic that her degree in Chemistry and Biology from Luther is a Bachelor of Arts, but her degree for Apparel Design will be a Bachelor of Science.]

My Life's Soundtrack - Part 3 - Secular List 2

The third in a series [begun here, and continued here] of music which has formed My Life's Soundtrack. Today another list of secular pieces.

Linus & Lucy - Vince Guaraldi - Motivated me to take piano lessons (from Ann) - though I never did get good enough to play it. And it makes me smile - I've always loved Peanuts.

Three Pieces from "Star Wars" - John Williams - Was there ever a better set of movie score bookends than "Main Title/Blockade Runner" (Heroic, Exciting Annunciation) and "The Throne Room/End Title" (Exultant, Victorious Majesty)? And then, for character definition, "Binary Sunset" sets the tone for Luke Skywalker throughout the films and on into every (good) book written about him thereafter. The personal connection? Well, [ahem] I saw this movie in the theater, 22 & ³/4 times when it was released in '77. Kind of a favorite of mine.

Silly Little Love Songs - Paul McCartney & Wings - This song was on the jukebox in the office/rec room at "The Lake" resort, where we went on vacation with my dad's side of the family every year. I listened to this and many, many other songs many, many times with my cousins. (When we weren't playing volleyball, or playing pinochle, or fishing for northern pike and walleye, or splashing around in the lake....)

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel - I remember hearing it in Ames, Iowa. Married student housing. 3rd grade or so. Perhaps the song I first remember hearing on an album.

Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce - I loved it for what it was -- a love song -- and then it was sung at a cousin's funeral after he died too early in his life in an accident. Now it will always affect me, and prompt me to appreciate the time I have now.

Lucky One - Amy Grant - I listened to the House of Love album in general, and this song in particular, over and over when Sherry was away on her mission trips. It reminds me of her, and that's always good.

The Call - Regina Spektor - This was the choice we made for the "Father/Daughter" dance for Sarah's wedding, and it was perfect. I sang while we danced. Sarah sang, too. For the two of us, it made sense. We are both inclined to break into song, and certainly to sing along with music we love. We danced, we sang, we danced. And now she's Troy's wife.

My Life's Soundtrack - Part 1 - Secular List 1

I suppose this is true for many people, but it's certainly true for me: Music is woven into my memories. In a very real way, it's a soundtrack to my life. When I hear certain songs, I think of certain people, places, events. When I see certain things, a related song immediately comes to mind.

I started jotting down songs that have special meaning in my life, preparing for a blog entry. The list got too long! So, here's the first installment. I'll focus on some secular songs this time.

Longer - Dan Fogelberg - Our friend Dave sang this song at our wedding. Though Sherry and I don't have anything we would call "our song," I think of this one.

Oh, Sherry - Steve Perry - A great video, and if I had Steve Perry's voice, I'd sing for a living, too. But it's the subject that makes it special to me. [Love you, Sherry!]

Let's Hear it for the Boy - Deniece Williams - The afternoon after Adam [my first child] was born, I heard this song as I was driving back from the hospital to our apartment in married student housing at Purdue. Yes, I had already seen Footloose, and yes, Willard learning to dance is one of the great scenes from that movie. But for me, I will always associate this song with the day of Adam's birth.

Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World -IZ - In Hawaii, on our 25th Anniversary trip, we heard this song many, many times. Of course, we've heard it other times, as well, but in my mind, it will always conjure up images of flying over the islands in a helicopter.

Very Soft Shoes - Once Upon a Mattress (Rodgers and Barer) - The Jester's Song; my song. I sang and danced; and in one memorable rehearsal, I got a huge ovation. It's one of the best memories of my high school years.

Jungle - Electric Light Orchestra - One of two songs that instantly brings me back to college; the Craig part of college. Todd, Kirk, Andy! How fun! It always makes me smile, and sometimes I just have to laugh.

Rosanna - Toto - The other college song; the Luther House part. Inimitable. Stones, Sul, Ran, Keith, Hawk, Hops - and the whole gang.

Oh, Sherry

'Nuff said! :-)

Cinco de Mayo - Happy Birthday, Sherry

In our house, "Cinco de Mayo" is cause for celebration because it's Sherry's birthday!

It doesn't matter how many years pass, she is still the light in my days and the warmth in my heart.

To me, she will always be 21 years old, walking down the aisle to meet me at the altar.

Happy Birthday, Sherry!

Region A - Complete!

Yeah, so most people won't care about this but...

The D&D Dudes completed Region A of The World's Largest Dungeon last night, February 12, 2009.

I thought I had blogged about TWLD before, but I can't seem to find it -- at least not in the blog since I moved from Angelfire over here to Blogger.

The World's Largest Dungeon is a hard-bound, 840-page book which contains one massive D&D dungeon. It is written for the 3.0 (or 3.5) rules, and it contains 15 large regions, labeled "A" through "O." In combination with the DM Genie application, I have been able to run nine evenings of adventures with much less preparation time than if I had designed every part of the adventure myself and run it using paper and pencil.

We took a look at the record sheets for the characters which the Dudes brought into TWLD. Wow. We started them on February 7, 2007. Two years ago! So, it took us 2 years to do one region. That means we have 28 years left before we're done!

Or, another way to look at it: We took 9 sessions to get through Region A. If we could stick to monthly D&D Dude Nights, taking a couple off each year, we'd be able to get through another region by this time next year. Still, that's 14 more years of fun!

TWLD was a gift from Sherry for Christmas 2006. I had seen it for several months in Jimmy Jam's, but couldn't justify spending that much money on a D&D item, especially since I didn't know if we would ever play regularly enough to make use of it. Wise and sweet as she is, Sherry realized I'd play it, if I just had it. It's been a wonderful gift. We've had nine evenings of fun, plus plenty of time talking about it in between.

Oh, and Big Dog -- if you want to run a dungeon again for a while, just let me know. We can pause again. It's not like we have a schedule to keep in our progress through TWLD. (That's one of the reasons it took us two years to get to this point -- we took time off to play in another campaign for a while, and that was definitely fun, too. I get to play a character of my own. Lyric the Sprite [Not a 'fairy!' Never a 'fairy!' Fairies are silly!])

Valentine's Day - In Moderation

I'm not quite willing to throw out Valentine's Day, as Roland Martin suggests, but I agree with the basic points he makes. 1) Husbands should show love to our wives (and vice versa) on a regular basis, and attentive spouses should not feel pressured to go overboard on Valentine's Day simply because our culture says we are "bad" if we don't up the ante on that day. 2) Showing affection and appreciation should not be a competition.

Unlike Roland, I like having a particular day of the year devoted to romance, even though it's primarily driven by retailers, because I think many people need a reminder to treat their spouse or significant other in a special way. In fact, I think many men need an excuse, given the peer pressure that exists in society to appear non-romantic -- until Valentine's Day, when everyone is supposed to be a combination of Romeo & Cassanova & Brad Pitt.

I think the key is moderation. We should not give in to the pressure to outdo others with the gifts we buy or events we plan. In fact, I've felt pressure to outdo myself, but I realize that type of escalation is self-imposed; Sherry doesn't judge me based on gifts or plans getting bigger, better and pricier each year.


.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Photo from the Flickr photos of clarescupcakes. Don't they look yummy?

Homeward Bound

After a week away, home will be sweet.

When you have a best friend, you want to talk to her more often than once a day, and for longer than five or ten minutes. And hearing a smile is nice, but seeing it is ever so much better. Tomorrow, I see her smile.

Oh, I have to remember to tell her that I got a nice compliment on my Luther ring.

I never expected to have as fulfilling and inspiring a trip as this was, but I am ready to go home. I've met some people with whom I will stay in contact, and more who I will see again next year at this conference. And, amazingly, meeting the new people does not have to be nerve-wracking. (Well, except for a couple of executives, but that's goes with the territory known as "Type A" people.)

And I need to remind myself that I can find time to exercise at a hotel, if I just make my mind up to do it. Only twice in seven days, but I could possibly have squeezed in one more -- and twice is better than I was afraid I'd do. The treadmills here are really nice - with built-in TVs and radios, if you want them. And a convenient place to set my MP3 player while I run.

I doubt I will continue to Twitter, though. It was interesting, but I don't think it fits me.