The Fraternal Order of the Open Road

On farewells and new opportunities.

Next week’s road trip companions. There will be no ties or slacks involved.

My brother and I leave Sunday morning for a road trip that will take us east across the 2,000 miles of blacktop that lead to my new home in Bayview, Pictou County, Nova Scotia.

I will be 37 years, 1 month, and 27 days old, and I’m moving away from Minnesota for the first time. Our route will take us through Wisconsin, across the Rust Belt, and into New York. We’ll spend a morning exploring some family tree history in the Hudson River Valley, then stop in Maine and press on to Nova Scotia the next day.

We talked this summer about visiting Niagara Falls and maybe the Baseball Hall of Fame. But I think we’re both looking forward to some time in the car with nothing but music and conversation. And I’m excited to get to Pictou.

Hayley will be there to greet us.

Duke will have just arrived home after his second knee surgery. I wonder in what other ways life in Bayview will be similar to how it was in July, and in what ways it will be different.

A few more big meetings and events at work between now and Sunday. My house in Saint Peter is starting to look pretty bare. I booked a cleaner to tidy up the messes that I’ll surely forget.

Thank God it’s been a slow and gentle goodbye at work. I told a colleague last week that I didn’t know if I could handle a going away party. I’ll miss this campus and these people a lot. It’s a great place to build a community and a career.

But there’s still a part of me that feels like I’m escaping from beneath the weight of things undone.

I know that’s not fair.

It must be a symptom of the burnout.

A road trip with my brother will be good medicine.

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