I haven’t had much time to write lately. Some of that is due to how depressing I find most of my favorite topics to be right now. But mostly I have just been very busy.

2020 and 2021 have been hard on humanity. The social isolation, career disruption, stress, illness, and loss that our family suffered are sadly common experiences over the last year. In the midst of a global pandemic, a hyper partisan election (and the precarious status of American democracy after it), and the acceleration of economic change I made some radical changes to my life. Since we haven’t been able to share much with people in real-life I thought I’d share a bit of that journey here with everyone.

After many years of consulting in publishing, higher ed, utilities, and manufacturing I settled into an internal role with the Boston Beer Company. It is really fun to be working with great people making great products that I can genuinely vouch for and enthusiastically support.

I sold my beautiful old Victorian house!

Oh, I’m also married with two wild, curious, brilliant, and noisy little boys.

Let me tell you, getting married on the tail-end of the pandemic lockdown was difficult, but not without some real positives.

Pros:

Small wedding was mandatory!

Travel was not crowded.

Venue’s were easy to book on short notice.

Cons:

Almost none of my people could be part of this.

2021 in Images

Here are our boys, waiting in the hotel lobby for all the festivities to begin. It really captures the two boys personalities. Dante, anxious and buttoned up. Adrian, restless and loose.

The scientist, the historian, and the ham.

The boys were more interested in hanging with their pandemic best bud– phony.

Obligatory family shot. Adrian only gave us a couple chances for this.

We took so many pictures. All of the wonderful professional shots are from the talented Aseel Brodd.

The main takeaway: I look good.

I suppose Olivia does too.

We took advantage of the inability for theaters to host movies to make some public announcements.

Belly up to the open bar.

And then we were off to Cabo. Pictures (at least ones taken by me) cannot do Zadun justice. Top notch experience from wheels down to wheels up. After a year pent up in my old house working from home and home schooling at the same time this escape was long over due.

Olivia got to finally have dinner at Nobu.

We landed back in Ohio and immediately met with the seller of our new house.

We got a wonderful rundown of the home’s history from the son of the only couple who’d ever lived there. Ask me about the spite pines sometime! Learning about his father’s service in Europe after WWII and his mother’s trip over from Germany (Olivia recognized the crate she packed her belongings in, as it was just like the one her Oma had immigrated with) connected Olivia pretty deeply to the house. The historian in me appreciated the stories for how they’d help inform my own narratives of our new home. The change management consultant in me appreciated the tribal knowledge about the neighborhood and community we were able to glean. The Venn diagram of the academic and professional sides of my mind is basically a circle.

The big ravine, with a tributary to the Olentangy River running through the mature trees reminded me of the countless hours I spent playing with my cousins in the woods out behind our grandma and uncles houses. Nostalgia is a powerful force.

This looks like a fine place to plop down a tree house.

Everyone who knows me knows I’d never buy a house that wasn’t a good deal and didn’t have huge untapped potential. So how’d I get a deal on such a large, beautiful home in one of the premier central Ohio communities? I’ve got one word for you: wallpaper.

So if you don’t see me or hear from me in the next four months, I’m probably covered in 32 year old paste and nursing some steam burns. And if I am divorced, it is probably because I posted the picture above this.

It seemed like Ron and Maggie had a great life on Eagle Ridge. We look forward to doing the same. I loved my old house on Central. I miss Delaware– it is a wonderful town. I was living out my best life. But life never stands still. Now I’ve got a new version of the good life. I’m looking forward to what that life can look like for us in our home.