Being Away.

Feels like I've been gone longer than I've been here, since I joined WA.

First, the long-planned vacations to finish up my wife's 42-year career in education. Two trips, timed for her spring break (nudged a few days longer; after all, she's retiring!), and after closing out her final semester as principal. One, to Vietnam, a bucket-list item that popped up both cheap and perfectly timed. The other, Oaxaca beaches, as a final exploration of potential retirement spots.

Then, the New Year's email from our Indian exchange student announcing a first grandchild, with an invitation to the naming ceremony. How could anyone resist that? That turned in to nearly a month away.

Currently we're finishing a week in my wife's home town. Not retirement related, this time, nor exchange students; a memorial for her parents, both of whom we've lost in the past year. They raised their three kids in small-town, rural Michigan and reuniting their ashes at the Presbyterian church they all attended seemed the perfect cap to lives well lived. Family from all over the country, plus a few former students recounted memories and influences at the hillside columbarium, after which 14 of us celebrated their lives at a family lunch. Moving, fitting joyous yet sad.

So why not continue my work while away? The first attempt, using my phone in India, was a failure: I cannot type coherently on a cell phone keyboard! I did borrow a laptop, but becoming accustomed to its keyboard and touch pad took at least six times longer than just creating and typing the blog post. From frustration, I stopped with around 750 words, and just called it "Part One"! Not kosher, not the way I wanted it to work. I also wasn't comfortable using my attorney son's laptop, with all its briefs and pleadings on it. Excuses? Perhaps, but I didn't use it after that first attempt.

And my tablet? Forget it! Old, slow, poor connectivity to the internet. Issues with saving to the cloud, filling up usable memory AND storage. No, not a viable option.

So, you ask, you are still Away, how are you able to get back into your WA work by writing this blog? Well, I answer, just before leaving for Michigan I purchased my own laptop, top-of-the-line Asus 15.6", and it has taken me this whole last week to get it loaded with the tools I'm used to on my desktop, to get used to the keyboard, and to the *$)#& touch pad (does anyone love them?), and to feel comfortable sitting at my brother-in-law's breakfast counter, creating my first blog in a while. Feels good, too!

Now I know I can get back to my training tasks, using a strong reliable WiFi connection to add links to my posts and go onward to the next lessons!

Away? Yes, I still am....

AWAY, not any longer!

I'm back!