Sabbatical -- Day 9, TGIF

It was a World Cup Day here. Mel and Dave, Drew and Alex and I watched France v Uruguay. The Jerman family, my sister's family, have been awesome. I rarely get to see the boys. It's been 10 years since I have seen Alex. What a fine young man he has become. Smart. Funny. Kind. Drew is moving to Colorado from Cary, North Carolina to pursue his photography interests.

About noon they headed to the airport. I miss them.

The whole family is flying on non-revenue passes. Getting from TUL to DFW was no issue. But at this moment, 10:54 pm, they are still at DFW waiting for seats to clear on a flight home. Flying non-rev is not for the weak. I feel badly for them.

I went to another Tulsa favorite for lunch: Coney-I-Lander. They've been around for almost 100 years. For people who have moved away this is the holy grail of Tulsa food staples. Everybody loves the coneys.

This afternoon I reached out to some high school classmates to see if they wanted to go out for dinner. So, I met Carrie, Anna, Norman and Michelle and some of their guests at the Bricktown Brewery for dinner. What a fun evening. These were good kids in high school and they're good adults.

My sister Melissa, the one who lives in Oslo, has been sick all day today. She has been vomiting and having intestinal concerns since 5am. I went and got her some medicine today and tried to look out for her. Health insurance across borders is an issue. There was a time this evening when we thought we might go to the hospital, but decided against it. We think she has coverage (because everyone in Norway has government-run healthcare), but we weren't sure. By bedtime she was a bit better and has slept much of the day. Hoping tomorrow is better for her. That's no way to spend a day when you're visiting family you haven't seen in ten years.

This sabbatical experience continues to be about the people I am encountering each day. The manager at the CVS was exceptionally kind. Raven, our server at dinner went out of her way to take pictures for us and make sure we had a good meal. I am becoming more and more aware of the people I am meeting on this journey. I can't wait to see how the next weeks unfold.

Peace and Love,
Jerry