After driving all night Brian and his friend Evan arrived early Friday morning. On Saturday we would load up Austyn and they would head back to Colorado. Brian and Austyn had known each other for a year and a half but had not spent much more than a weekend together. They needed to be in…

My Mother was turning 80 and at the last minute had planned a weekend in Chicago with her only sister Meryle, myself and my two sisters. My Mom and her sister arrived at Union Station on Amtrack Friday night. It would be the first time my aunt had come to visit us in the city.…

We had planned to spend Easter weekend in Wisconsin. Knowing we would be on our way to California soon we wanted to spend as much time with Raun, Pam and the kids as possible. The car was rented and we loaded up on Friday morning. Raun and Pam were on their way back from the…

They say there are four major stress factors in our lives; marriage, new job, moving and death. Up to this point we had three of the four. Austyn took care of the marriage part. The new job had already started for Jeff and moving was inevitable. As a fellow employee said so reassuringly; “Knock on…

During my one week in San Luis Obispo, we had found a development that we felt very comfortable in. The development would be under construction for the next year which gave us the freedom to buy when we were ready. It seemed very easy. We liked the units and could see ourselves living there for…

Our worst week of the year flowed into the following week. The tile installer was kind enough to work on Sunday, returning on Monday to make sure all was well. That afternoon Jeff and Austyn were the first home. By the time I arrived home most of the condo was put back together. No more…