East or West, Home Is Best

Following our weekend away, we settled down to some local fun for the remainder of the kids’ spring break. One morning we sat crisscross-applesauce in a local elementary school gym to watch a puppet show production of Aesop’s fables. The kids had a good laugh at the silly characters and even recognized a few of the stories. (“The Boy Who Cried Wolf” gets some good play at our house.)

Sunny skies beckoned us to the park a couple of afternoons, where chilly winds reminded us that spring is still a work in progress. It was so gratifying to see Gavin and Arwen run free and exuberant across the playground, chase friends over the equipment, and dig in the sand. And I had a great time hanging out with my friends too.

Ever since our first Easter together, Chad and I have wanted to build some meaningful traditions around what is for us the most significant of holidays. One year we went as far as to get



about halfway through putting together a now long-lost New Testament reading program highlighting the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. But that was it.

After all the wishful thinking this became our lucky year when a friend shared a program they use with their kids which we adapted for our family. We started by posting pictures depicting Holy Week scenes in our dining room, then read corresponding New Testament passages each day. With three days left when we left for Virginia, we packed it all up and shared it with the cousins (they were even so kind as to let us post the pictures in their living room).

It was so meaningful to kneel together each night for family prayer and then take turns reading the scriptural passages and talk about what took place those many years ago. That, for me, was the highlight of our Easter observance this year.

Of course, the secular observances figured into our celebrations as well. Saturday afternoon brought the traditional Easter egg hunt. We had a great time watching younger and older ones alike comb their respective sides of the yard where Easter bunnies Ben and Chad had hidden colorful little treasures in all kinds of unsuspecting spots. Later came the indoor hunt where we nearly stumped Ben with the location of his candy bag. (I told him I’d be seriously concerned about the future of his FBI career if he couldn’t track it down.)

Sunday morning we attended church with Ben and Carline’s congregation, where we all felt at home and enjoyed the celebratory messages. After a scrumptious traditional ham and potato dinner we let the kids decorate Easter basket cupcakes with the remnants of their Easter candy. What a great Easter!

Next up: Just Being Together

We arrived at Ben and Carline’s in time for dinner and a trip to the park, where I gratefully watched Gavin and Arwen blissfully running, climbing, swinging, and sliding with cousins Alex, Vincent, Florence, and Theo (with little Veldon looking on).

The next morning Chad and Ben were in their element, leading us on a tour of the historic Civil War battlefields of Chancellorsville. The visitor’s center provided a moving overview of the fighting and its impact on the lives of so many involved. There were also plentiful artifacts sure to captivate the younger (and more mature) male members of our party. The documentary video sobered me with its depiction of strategies, struggles, and suffering.

Living across the country from both our families, it’s not often we get to spend other than a major holiday with cousins, but we lucked out this year. Chad’s cousin Ben brought his family to Virginia for his five-month tour at the FBI academy, and we seized the chance to see them over Easter weekend.

We broke up the seven-hour drive down, staying outside Philadelphia Thursday night. Friday morning I stole away for breakfast with a friend while Chad and the kids indulged in pancakes and the hotel’s indoor heated pool.

We arrived in Washington, DC in the early afternoon, intending only to drive around the mall long enough to point out the major sights to Gavin and Arwen. But a block from the White House we stumbled across an open parking space. Minutes later we were trying to catch a glimpse of Sasha and Melia’s swing set on the White House lawn (no luck) and hustling past the Washington Monument. We took in the World War II monument, added since our last DC trip three years ago.

Then we turned our sights to the Lincoln Memorial. As Gavin skipped along next to the reflecting pool he gazed up at those white pillars and exclaimed, “That’s where Martin Luther King gave his speech!” (A proud moment – not unlike the one when Arwen would cry out “That’s Abraham Lincoln!” opon encountering a visitor’s center display the next day.) I was touched with the weight of cares pictured on President Lincoln’s face as I took in his massive sculpture inside the monument, then shed a tear reading the Gettysburg Address etched into the wall. How proud and humbled I am to live under the influence of those who gave so much to make this country what it is today.

Our trip out of DC included a visit to the Vietnam memorial and the Einstein monument. Then we were in for the first of several encounters with DC-area traffic before arriving at Ben and Carline’s place.

Next up: Civil War Battlefields of Virginia

Last month I took a solo trip to New Orleans to attend the Conference Board’s annual Work Life Conference, co-sponsored by the Families and Work Institute. While I didn’t have a chance to take in the magnitude of the rebuilding effort, it was heartening to see things looking much back to normal in the small area I visited in the French Quarter.

I stayed at the St. Louis Hotel, a couple blocks from the Omni Royal Orleans where the conference was held. Each morning on my way in I peered into Café Beignet, thinking back to trips to Café Du Monde where Chad and I introduced an 11-month-old Gavin (and ourselves) to this amazing delicacy nearly six years ago. (That trip had me lecturing Microsoft Global Summit attendees on the importance of the Customer and Partner Experience.)

The first night I hung out with some FWI colleagues at Lafitte Blacksmith Shop on Bourbon Street where we soaked up the moving strains of jazz while catching up after a long hiatus. My second (and final) night in the city I was so wrapped up in conversation I didn’t even catch the name of the snappy old-boys-club restaurant where I savored an amazing mushroom dish with mentor Anne Weisberg, co-author of Mass Career Customization.

The conference was so packed with valuable learning and networking I managed only an hour of sightseeing. A stop for jambalaya at Café Beignet, a glimpse of a street ensemble, and absorbing the distinctive look and feel of French Quarter architecture had to do this time around. But I’ll be back!