Morning all:

Vroom, vroom, start your engines. Yes this is Memorial Weekend and the classic Indianapolis 500 will once again be run. I have already started my engine with a full mug of Folgers – a little guiltily. Guilty because I read a great little article in this months Smithsonian magazine dealing with coffee. For years coffee growers have been supplying coffee beans to market below their costs. The article deals with the fact that persuasion by guilt alone will not get Americans to pay more for a cup of java. So now, especially the specialty coffee houses, are trying a market approach by giving coffee farmers the tools to grow environmentally friendly better beans that bring these farmers a sustainable income. Nicaragua is a place where this is being tested big time, and is showing success.

This week I had a wonderful epiphany moment. I suspect that we all operate in much the same fashion. People around us, at least in our mind’s eye do not change. For example, Adrianne to me was still a kid with all the high school-girlies. The last number of years did not change that. Receiving her bachelor’s degree a year ago did not change that, and even her volunteering for the Peace Corps really did not change that. What did? This week I read a new entry she wrote in her blog and in an instant my mind’s eye saw her stepping into womanhood. She had become a woman with ambitions, goals, vision, and all fully able to accomplish all of these without approvals and ongoing daily guidance from mom and dad. When I realized that this transference had taken place it actually brought a warm glow.

I reflected a bit and tried to focus on that moment when I had made a similar jump with the others. For Kirstin it came with a phone call from Vince telling me, from the delivery room no less, that I had become a grandfather. My daughter, a thousand miles away, had just become absolutely independent from us through the creation of a family.

For Jason it was different. For him my epiphany moment occurred when Marcia called me at work to say that she had just talked with him and he announced that they were moving to Asheville. He and Cathy had made this decision and the way I viewed him thereafter would always be different. He had become an adult fully able to plan and decide on his own.

This is Memorial Day weekend. Today the plans are in place. We have our foster puppy Shang who is desperately in need of a 2-mile walk (he whispered this as I got up). Then, along with Cathy and Marin we’ll head off to the local outdoor veggie market. This afternoon it is one of my favorite festivals, “Taste of Cincinnati”. We’ll be elbowing through the crowds as we sample little bits and pieces prepared by the chefs of 40 local restaurants. In the background will be music from 4 soundstages.

Lastly, it will be a visit to the graves of my parents at Springrove cemetery. A visit to have just a quiet moment along with a prayer of thanks for their presence in my life and their sacrifices. Maybe even a bit of a reflection that life is short and moves fast – vroom, vroom. That as the laps flash by we keep reaching for that checkered winner’s flag and a spot in the winner’s circle. I believe that Kirstin, Vince, Jason, Cathy, and now Adrianne, each in their own way, have figured out how to get into that circle. I only now just figured out that they are already there.

Happy Memorial Day weekend

And have a great week.

Cheers,

Dirk