Alive and, well.....?

After the last comment left on HH, I wanted to put folks' minds at ease.  I'm still here and alive.  I even considered posting a picture of me holding a sign that says "HH HR 2-2-13" as proof.  But I guess that doesn't really prove anything these days.  I have been soooo stinkin' busy and, to be honest, got so disturbed by comments left on another social media outlet (ahem, FB) that I wanted to be certain I wouldn't add to the volatility tearing at our country's fabric.

I might have also been a bit depressed by Notre Dame's showing in the BCS bowl....and, well, ugh.

So this is what has been going on over the last month:

I wrapped up a big project for Michigan City's Redevelopment Commission.  I had put it off over the holidays thinking I would have plenty of time in January and that's when all Alabama broke loose.  Travels to Monon, Rensselaer, and Beecher, Illinois took center-stage and a couple of projects ramped up again locally.

A number of my non-profit commitments also seemed to fill the calendar more than I anticipated.  The good news is that raising funds to begin installation of Michigan Road byway signs is moving full-speed and we are well on our way to purchasing the first lot of 100 for the north half of the state in March.

We were invited to celebrate the 30th birthday of one of our former youth group kids.  The feeling of deep pride in that guy's life eased the feeling of "man, I'm getting old".  A number of friendships were strengthened over the last month, my wife and kids continue to make me proud, and I've been reminded by so many how dang lucky I am.

Our final interior home renovation project also started this past week.  By next week we will have opened the original staircase to the second floor and climbed the well-worn steps that haven't been used for generations.  I'm thinking about a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

And I've gotten my history-geek-on.  I'm researching a Swedish enclave along the Marshall County and Starke County line, through which the Lincoln Highway was routed.  I never thought much about its uniqueness until I worked with the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on a similar situation near Chesterton.  I'm also diving deep into family history which has uncovered so many cool stories I want to share.  The most recent came with an adventure to Indiana's western frontier of the 1830s.....and as I stood on a ridge in Illinois looking back across the state line trying to imagine what my ancestors saw, I wondered about the generations that would come after me.  And I teared up.  But that may have also come from the unyielding wind across the prairie which felt like -20.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm living life large off-line.  "How 'bout you?" to quote a country song by Eric Church.  I'll be generating stories soon-stay tuned.