I'm Still Here

Our world has been turned on its side a bit for the past six weeks or so, which is obvious by the lack of posts since the end of February. Just a brief recap of activities past:

• March 1-10: Loaded up the minivan and trekked 2,300 miles from here to Florida and back. Primary purpose of the trip was my nephew Kevin's confirmation (I was his sponsor), but we also made side trips to Lori and Lou's house in Port St. Lucie and the Killicks in Melbourne. It was a great trip. I was honored to stand by Kevin as he reaffirmed his Catholic faith. He also gave me a handmade rosary that I will cherish forever. It was also great to see so many family. Uncle Bob even made it down from N.Y. We talked "family tree" stuff, which is another project I need to resurrect now that the whirlwind of travel is over.
  
  
• March 24-27: Took an unplanned trip to Atlanta for Cindy's grandmother's funeral. She had taken ill recently and passed away on the 24th. Cindy was definitely going to be there no matter what, and I really wanted to pay my last respects as well since she was one of the persons responsible for the blessing I have in Cindy. I see much of Grandma's influence in the great wife and mother that Cindy is.
  
  
• March 29-30: Planned recruitment trip to Virginia Tech. When I scheduled this a month prior, I was hoping Cindy and the kids would be able to go with me so we could visit Michael, Jennifer, Dylan, and Allison. As it worked out, Michael and Jennifer were out of town which worked out OK since we had just traveled to Atlanta a couple of days before and the kids were pretty worn out from that trip.
  
  
• April 9-19: Business trip around the world. I travelled with my boss and a co-worker to England and Australia. It was probably the tightest schedule possible, considering we literally flew around the world. Still, I was gone for 10 days...11 flight segments...4 cities...7 nights lodging (2 "nights" spent on planes!) It was a great trip overall, but tough being away from Cindy and the boys for so long.
  

Whew!

In the middle of all that, we attended the Easter Vigil at St. Veronica's with Fr. Pollard celebrating. (David and Daniella watched the boys for us.) Then Cindy put together an awesome Easter dinner, which we enjoyed with David and Daniella (they probably should have just spent the night!)

So we have no travel plans anytime soon, for which I'm grateful. I believe that Cindy, Brian, and Sean would agree with that. (Colin too...although he didn't quite grasp the concept of Daddy's trip. Brian and Sean did though -- see Cindy's post on my arrival.