State of love and trust…

Currently I sit in the Ft. Lauderdale airport, stretching my legs between connecting flights.  Yes, indeedy… Kurt and I are making our way back towards our bikes, which have been waiting patiently in a hotel just outside the Belize Airport.  Our New Jersey time has totaled just around 7 weeks, making it a longer than normal home stay.  Speaking honestly, there are no two ways to cut the pain we all had to experience together as we gathered to lay my brother Shane to rest, the reason for the emergency trip home.  I will tell you that the healing has begun, but there is a long road ahead all of us.  That’s all I’ve got on that topic at the moment.

The rest of the time was certainly filled with beautiful and fun distractions.  Below is a smattering of photos taken while home.  When the dust settled, it felt good to get out my camera and capture images and feelings from a place that is so familiar, yet seemed totally new in its own way this time.  This was also Kurt’s first true experience with New Jersey and getting to meet my whole BIG family.  Just his presence was my sanity for the most part.

When we first arrived, the earth was buried in snow and frozen over.  We stayed long enough to see the effects of a harsh winter melt away.  We were able to share in the first little glimpses of spring, seeing the grass again and hearing chirpy birds in the mornings.

I look forward to sharing the other photos and stories I have with you in a bit.

 

The crust, showing off winter's hard work. Shoveling out a driveway is no longer an action accomplished with just a plastic snow shovel. We had to employ some serious gardening trowels to break through the icy layers...

One excellent morning routine. Kurt watching Animal Planet with Amber...

Kurt goes to work on the borrowed Pfaff. A fine german sewing machine, the master sewer of our group worked out some repairs and made some useful bags and pouches for our bikes...

We attended the first Lehigh lacrosse game of the season. The men have dedicated their season to my late brother Shane, who was a captain of the team during his time at Lehigh. Before the start, we shared in a moment of silence with the players, the fans, my family and many of Shane's friends and teammates who came out to show their support...

No trip home would be complete without a visiting Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the home of my friend Melissa and her family. Besides being a fantastic friend, Mel is also an extremely talented yoga instructor, artist and graphic designer. Here is one of her latest works. You can find more work of hers at her website, Mesa Enterprises...

Mel's attention to detail and love for all things oceanic never goes unnoticed...

Yes, that is a crumb cake that casts its own shadow. There was certainly no shortage of food being dropped off at the house at all times. Kurt and I did our best to keep up with it all...

Gahhhh! At one point we took a trip down to Philly and DC and were kindly lent my cousin's car. My hope is that more people will get the same itchy feeling I do from numbers like these. There's no time like the present when it comes to trying to make moves independent of the oil industry ...

 

We took some time with my mom's middle school class, talking about the trip and answering questions. It was great fun. The kids are extremely astute and shared their own great stories of traveling, bikes, animals, etc. These bright kids even joked around with Kurt as he took a sip from the water fountain outside the class, saying "don't worry, you can drink this. no problem"...

 

 

A little self portrait while hanging out and having some coffee and tea after a quick morning ride...

And Carina, who braved the commute between Brooklyn and Jersey more in the last 3 weeks than she had in the last 3 years. As can be imagined, the time spent with family and friends was the most special of it all...