Sunday, August 12 – Columbus, OH

The house is lonely without Mandela. She went home with mom and dad since I will be in Europe for a couple of weeks. They seem to like having her around and she is comfortable with them so it is a good arrangement. We don’t leave until Thursday afternoon, but I would not have time to get out there to drop her off before we left, so this was the plan.

Still, the house is noticeably absent of the little dog’s out sized presence. I got home around noon and mostly did some chores. Washed the car; did laundry; worked a little bit. Thought about a bike ride but then it started raining so I decided to watch a movie instead. I cooked a nice spaghetti sauce all afternoon and made some meatballs so that was dinner along with a salad and olive tapenade bruschetta. Some some white and red wines of course. And a little Scotch for dessert along with a cigar on the deck.

I think mom and dad are officially settled in the new house now. Re-located as it were. It is nice to all be so close for the first time in nearly 40 years. I left Chautauqua in 1981 and Larry left that same year or the year after. Then Shannon and Terri moved to Perry County and Yvonne was mostly out west. Slowly we all came back this direction and now we are once again within a few miles of one another. We are close–which is amazing and cool. Very close I would say. The deep deep love of siblings who respect each other’s views and opinions but also with that strong common bond of blood.

The picture on this post has no relevance to the content. It is just that it is among my favorite of all my MYO photos and I am feeling a bit reflective tonight. I do not know this young girls name as I am so far removed from the day-to-day at MYO these days. But I just think it’s a great photo. When I go back next year I will get her name and get an updated photo.

MYO is on my mind a lot these days. We are without a sponsor for the first time in years. In the early days, we were pretty much continually at financial risk and finding funding sources was pretty much my primary preoccupation. But as we became more embedded and stable, we were fortunate to find consistent sponsors. Now we are back to the uncertainty of not knowing if and when we will get funding. It’s an anxious time and I wish I had an answer.