Road Trip! Part 1 of 2

"Nicollet Mall on a Saturday Morning"
Photo taken by Bobak Ha'Eri on 05/19/2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicollet_Mall
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

~Prologue~

On Valentine's Day, my friend Musette the Mistress of Mischief hosted her Midnight Muse Presents! dinner and burlesque show at the Wicked Moose Bar & Grill in Rochester, Minnesota, and it was my pleasure to attend in the company of my friend Nicolette Moll.  We both thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and the show, and we engaged in captivating conversation throughout the course of the evening.

After driving the ninety miles back to the Twin Cities and dropping Ms Moll off at her residence, I went to the Amsterdam Bar and Hall in Saint Paul to see if the Duluth Dolls were still at the venue after having appeared in a show there that night.    It was my fortune to meet Ella Jim, who advised me of their show on the 16th - only two nights (and 140 miles) away.

I started to give the matter some serious thought....  In a blog entry dated November 26, 2012, I wrote about my affinity for mermaids, and it just so happened  that my friend Mermaid Ayla has recently made an arrangement with the Radisson hotel to swim in their pool.  If I could meet her - assuming she was agreeable to it - and go to The Four Seasons Masquerade Ball to see the Duluth Dolls, it was on!  And on, dear reader, it was.

My Odometer at 123,456.7 Miles
I also have photos of 100,000 and 121,212.1
I'm cool like that.

Since the plan was to go up there and return all in the same day, my Mom wanted to make sure that there was someone with me who would help keep me awake, particularly on the ride home, and who better than herself?  When I told this to one of my friends, she reacted with some puzzlement - "You're going to take your Mom to a burlesque show?"  Of course not.  In fact, I didn't even specify the exact nature of my evening plans to my Mom, and since Black Bear Casino was relatively nearby, we would eat dinner at the buffet there, and she could stay at the casino and gamble while I went to the Masquerade Ball.

Incidentally, I knew that my odometer would reach 123,456.7 miles during this trip, and I was fortunate enough to be able to pull off into a gas station in Rush City to capture a photo of that and not have to stop on the shoulder.

~The Drive to Duluth~

February in Minnesota can mean bad weather, cold temperatures, and icy roads, but we were fortunate to have a sunny day and good traffic - with no construction!  As indicated above, the trip is about 140 miles one way.

The trip to Duluth is one of my lifelong favorite pastimes, and with it usually comes a few mandatory stops: Tobie's Restaurant and Bakery in Hinckley, with their world-famous caramel rolls (and other baked goods); Sturgeon Lake, to drive past the property that had once been the site of my paternal grandparents' summer cabin; and Moose Lake, to see relatives on my Mom's side of the family.  Unfortunately, only Tobie's made the cut that day, as adding a new stop along the way took precedence over tradition.

The Little Mermaid Cafe at the Pine County Historical Museum
https://www.facebook.com/Thelittlemermaidcafe
https://www.facebook.com/PineCountyHistoricalMuseum
Photo Credit:  Matthew Morse

Since I was going to spend some time with a mermaid during the afternoon, why not turn it into a full-on mermaid geek-out day?  There was no better place to do that than The Little Mermaid Cafe at the Pine County Historical Museum in Askov!  They had a menu with a lot of variety, the portion sizes were good, and the prices were reasonable.  Our server was a young woman to whom I later referred as "the very accurately named Joy," who took care of us very well.  In addition to the good food and service, there was a fair amount of mermaid decor, as well as old-timey photos of the main streets of local towns - the same towns that I had visited whenever my family went to my grandparents' cabin.  I hope to return there this summer and have the opportunity to spend more time in the cafe, museum, and in the small town of just under 400 people.

"Duluth Summer 2004"
http://www.lighthousefortheblind-duluth.org/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

After lunch, it was Duluth or bust!  After an uneventful drive, we arrived, and there were Duluth and Lake Superior displayed in all of their winter glory.  It can sometimes be anti-climactic to arrive at that point of the drive, because there are occasions when fog blankets the harbor and the town, but not this time.  It was absolutely beautiful.

After a quick spin up Superior Street to confirm the location of the Masquerade Ball, we parked the car and walked a  few blocks to the beautiful Radisson hotel to meet a real live mermaid and see her swim!

Please read my entry entitled Road Trip! Part 2 of 2 to learn how the rest of the day went!

Words Have Power

"Yev Kassem," played by Larry Thomas
http://www.philly.com/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

This entry has weighed heavily upon my soul for a  very long time, as addressing it means discussing one of  the greatest horrors this world has ever seen, but remaining silent makes me complicit with those who so continue to perpetrate insensitivity upon the world with neither forethought nor reflection.

I used to love the show Seinfeld and still watch it in reruns whenever time permits, and when I finally created my Facebook profile, the official fan page was among my first round of "likes."

The sixth episode of the seventh season, entitled The Soup Nazi, originally aired on November 2, 1995.  I don't know when that started to bother me, and it pains me to consider the possibility that it took a full fifteen years, when I started seeing the term "grammar Nazi" on Facebook.

The Seinfeld episode was by no means the first use of the term "Nazi" to cast aspersions upon those who  enforce strict guidelines.  In fact, while doing a little bit of research for this entry, I found that political satirist P.J. O'Rourke wrote an article called Safety Nazis for the March 15, 1982 edition of Inquiry.

Actual Facebook Screencap, Redacted
Used without Permission

It's not just that term though.

The high school that I attended closed in 2010, and with it also went The Medallion, the quarterly magazine published by our alumni association.  Although it contained articles with writing that must have made our English teacher Mister Docherty cringe, and the sports schedules were already outdated when the magazine came in the mail, there were occasionally some interesting things to read.  Just today, the alumni association announced that The Medallion will now be available in online format.  In response, someone used the term "Gestapo," and then later went on to write that he was "Totally kidding!"  *I* was not amused.  He went on to make numerous additional comments that were relevant neither to the new format roll-out nor to the scope of this blog entry.

While, of course, I take issue with the commenter who "jokingly" referred to our alumni magazine as "Gestapo propaganda," I take infinitely more issue with the alumni association - both for dignifying the comment in the first place and for de facto distancing themselves from the Church and Archdiocese that provided the backbone of the school for fifty years.  Part of me wants to ask if a formal affiliation would mean "Gestapo Propaganda," but any attempt to apply sense to the conversation will just make me look foolish.

Hyperbole
http://www.mywordwizard.com/poems-with-hyperbole.html
No Copyright Infringement Intended

It really frustrates me.

People compare our national leaders to Adolf Hitler.  I don't even have the words to express how maddening this is to me.  It's one thing to have disagreements with someone's policies, but to make such an irrational jump boggles me.  If you don't like a politician, I encourage you to reverse this idea and compare him or her to someone you love - and see how ridiculous that is to you.

It goes beyond mere hyperbole though and into the realm of the delusional, but whatever the case, it is always tragically and inhumanly insensitive to the history of the ten to thirteen million (or more) people who were systematically executed over a six-year period as part of a "final solution."

We need to find new words to express our frustrations with rules and with our rulers, because some of the ones that we are using reveal our ignorance and insensitivity.  In the meantime, whenever I see the words "Nazi," "Gestapo," or "Hitler" applied to a modern-day situation, I will lose whatever respect I may have had for the person who used those words, and his or her argument will be rendered summarily invalid in my eyes.

To be consistent....  What are your thoughts on this?  Please feel free to share your comments below.

A Strange Memory

"Grandpa Ralph's Birthday Cake"
Note that my Grandpa's name was William
http://www.flickr.com/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

I have always had the luxury (for me, at least) of having very close-knit extended families on both my Mom's and Dad's sides of the family.  This June, for example, will mark the 66th Annual Morse Family Reunion, and my Mom's family - the Tschida's - will also be getting together in July.  As I grow older, these times, along with weddings, become more and more cherished, as the only other time we all ever get together en masse is for the solemn occasions of funerals.

Let's turn back the clock twenty-seven years, to April, 1986.   I was fifteen years old, and my sister was ten.  It was my Grandpa Morse's 68th birthday party, and much of his family was present - children and their spouses, grandchildren, several siblings and their spouses.  We we all gathered in my grandparents' living room for the occasion, when in walked "Boris and Natasha," who can best be described as a dominatrix and an executioner.  They were there to perform a "fantasy gram."  I am dubiously pleased to report after having watched a home video of the event this afternoon that my memories are disturbingly accurate.

Candice Michelle as Catwoman
http://www.flickr.com/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

After singing the birthday dirge, Boris (loosely) wrapped a rope around my Grandpa and introduced Natasha, who went on to ask a series of questions.  My Grandpa was instructed to respond "Yes, Natasha" to each of her inquiries.  After a bit of this nonsense, Natasha then sang a song while removing her dress, leaving her in a black bikini, mask, and nylons.  Before having watched the video, I did a Google Image search and found a great number of photos unsuitable for sharing here, but this image of Candice Michelle as Catwoman comes somewhat close.

Watching the video with 42-year-old eyes, it now seems as though it was not really that big of a deal; however, as I wrote above, I was fifteen at the time and my sister was ten.  Additionally, four of our cousins (who can be heard in the background saying such things as "Who is that lady?") were all under the age of five.  I brought this up to my sister and Mom quite randomly just the other day, and my sister indicated that she did not really understand what was happening at the time, identifying the actors only as "scary Renaissance Festival people."  She further indicated that it now makes her somewhat angry when she occasionally remembers that day.

Wanted:  Boris & Natasha
Image obtained from http://www.tumblr.com/....
Original Source Unknown
No Copyright Infringement Intended

It was an over-sexualized brand of entertainment to thrust upon a family gathering where it was well-known in advance that many children would be present, and as such, it was highly inappropriate.  It is with those eyes that I remember that day.  Oddly enough, the people who arranged for the fantasy gram were themselves not even present to witness it taking place.

There is yet another side to this.

We all clearly loved my Grandpa very much, but the fact of the matter was that he could be a real son of a bitch.  We enjoyed dinners at very nice restaurants, went on family vacations with my grandparents, swam at their lake throughout the summer months, and so very much more.  He was a great guy, and I miss him - but he was also impatient, and some of the things he said smacked of racism, sexism, or I-can't-believe-he-just-said-that-ism... and he never heard a swear word that he didn't like.  Family lore is that I said "F*** you" to a babysitter, which was blamed on my Grandpa's influence.  The young lady reportedly never babysat for me again.

Does Memory Reside Outside the Brain?
http://www.theepochtimes.com/....
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No Endorsement of Source Website Intended

Perhaps I watched too much fiction on television, but it was with this side of my Grandpa's personality in mind that the thought crossed my mind - for more than a realistic period of time - that the dominatrix/ executioner act was prelude to killing him.  With ALL of us present, no one would dare to call the police, right?

Thank goodness, there was no grand conspiracy to rid the world of an overall wonderful man, and he wound up living another three years and five months, dying on September 11, 1989.  That date had significance to me long before 2001, and it now has many meanings, some sad, some tragic, and some good ones as well, as it also marked the wedding date for one of my favorite couples.

Do you have memories of a family event that was compromised by a strange or confusing "addition"? Did you ever have a completely outlandish thought about how an otherwise pleasant set of circumstances could go completely awry?  Please share your comments below.

They Say Time is the Fire in Which We Burn

The Persistence of Memory (1931)
Salvador Dali (May 11, 1904 - January 23, 1989)
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Image obtained from http://www.wikipaintings.org/....

Punctuality and preparedness are very important to me.  They illustrate respect for both everyone involved and for the occasion, whatever it may be.

A premium example of this comes from my youth, when I attended Catholic Mass every week, and it was common to see people arrive after the readings had started and leave immediately after Communion.  It often left me with the thought "Why bother?"  In my entry dated March 3, I wrote about how there are situations wherein "it's the thought that counts;" however, that addressed geographic separation.  When someone attends Mass and is actually there, live and in-person, the late arrivals and early departures are distracting, and they draw attention to the individual and away from the celebration.

Elizabeth Tower, Palace of Westminster
Commonly known as "Big Ben"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/....
Copyright Tim Graham/ Getty Images
No Copyright Infringement Intended

Now, before I lose non-Catholics or non-religious individuals, let me encourage anyone who fits within those categories to exchange the word "Mass" with "movie," "play," or similar concept.

Of course, we all run into unforeseen circumstances - traffic, inclement weather, accidents, emergencies, et cetera.  That happens to everyone every once in a while, and that is not finally the nature of my concern today.  There are people for whom lateness is pattern behavior, and in my opinion, it is a selfish and insensitive practice.

There is a flip side to this coin though....

Glockenspiel in New Ulm, Minnesota
http://lifeat55mph.blogspot.com/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

Earlier today, I spoke with my Mom, who advised me that she was going to have to let me go so that she could go set up the bingo game in the community room at her apartment complex.  It was approaching 12:30 PM at the time, and the game was not scheduled to start until 1:30 - one full hour later.  My first reaction was to be somewhat incredulous - "An hour... to set up a bingo game?" 

Apparently, people like to get there early, so that they can pick out "their spot" and select their own regular cards.  My classmates used to have their own spots in the lunchroom when we were in grade school.  Although I usually went home for lunch, there were times when it was necessary for me to stay at school, and on those days, I really upset the apple cart.  How dare I sit in (someone)'s spot?

Additionally, given that there are a possible 552,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 cards, it boggles me to know that my Mom has to take an hour out of her time, just so that her neighbors can pick out their three favorite cards.  She advised me that everybody is just used to doing things this way.  My counter was two fold:  "The only reason that people continue this behavior is that everyone allows it to continue - what would happen if you showed up at 1:20?  If everybody wants to play bingo at 1:00, why don't you just say 1:00?"

Kassel Small Cuckoo Clock
http://www.grandfather-clocks-for-less.com/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

My attempt to make any sense of this was as successful as squaring a circle.  In the end, it's not a big deal, of course, and it would be patently ridiculous of me to turn it into one, but the whole thing seems very silly to me.

My ex-wife was the type who would always be late because she would have to have her hair curled and her makeup "just so."  One time, we were getting together with my parents at 1:00 PM, and I told her that we were supposed to meet them at noon.  This happened to be the one time that she thought it prudent to arrive early.  We got there at 11:30 AM.  She was not amused.

Digital Alarm Clock
http://background-pictures.feedio.net/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

On another occasion, I was helping set up a volunteer appreciation reception for the faith-based non-profit where I worked.  It was supposed to start at 4:00 PM, and a group of people arrived at 3:00 PM.  Not only did they want coffee, but they were shocked that we didn't have it ready for them - even though they had arrived an hour early.

That seems to be the way of things for me - too late or too early.  I could give a hundred other examples of both, but so could you, I am sure.

How do you handle your schedule?  Do you cut it close or wind up giving yourself too much time?  For social engagements, do you allow yourself time to have some social interaction beforehand, or to offer assistance to the host?  What is your experience when you have guests?  Do you ever challenge people on their lack of punctuality?  Please share your comments below.

Friendship at a Distance

Spiral Galaxy M101
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/wallpaper/pr2006010a/
NASA, ESA, K. Kuntz (JHU), F. Bresolin (University of Hawaii),
 J. Trauger (Jet Propulsion Lab), J. Mould (NOAO),
Y.-H. Chu (University of Illinois, Urbana), and STScI

Some of my favorite people in the whole world are individuals whom I have never actually met in person.  We know each other only through a mutual interest in an online, family-friendly niche community.

One of these gentle souls is a woman named Marie, who lives in  California.  Having a great deal in common with her and her husband, it caused me some personal distress recently to learn that Marie had a death in her family, a falling out with another family member, and an interaction with a business partner that smacked of disloyalty on his part.

From my vantage point, it was easily one of the worst weeks for Marie since I have known her, perhaps the worst of her entire life.

California to Minnesota
Image obtained from Wikipedia
Link not provided, as it crashed my computer twice

While all of this was taking place, Marie updated her Facebook status to indicate that she was having "grey skies."  Having missed a couple of key details along the way, I did not comprehend the gravity of her situation and responded with some lyrics from the song Put on a Happy Face from the 1960 Broadway play and 1963 movie Bye Bye Birdie.  You can't begin to imagine how bad I felt upon learning the full meaning of her words.

It is at moments such as this that I can feel  particularly useless.  There is only so much that the expression "Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you" accomplishes, especially given a 2,000-mile barrier.  Additionally, due to a typographical error, my *big hugs* came across as *bug hugs*.  As the saying goes, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I am at a loss to define the nature of a "bug hug."  I find myself weighing the importance of recognition versus being yet another person whose sole offerings are little more than platitudes.

The Thinker (1902)
Musée Rodin - Paris, France
Auguste Rodin (11/12/1840 - 11/17/1917)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker
Photo by Daniel Stockman
Creative Commons Attribution -
Share Alike 2.0 Generic License

Marie, her family, and I all know that we would provide more constructive help to each other as needed if it were possible, but given the reality of our geography, this is the very sort of circumstance for which the expression "It's the thought that counts" was coined.

On a separate but related note, it is sometimes the case that a simple "Thinking of you" message can be a valuable tool in cultivating and maintaining friendships, a simple note to express appreciation for having someone in one's life during times when personal and/ or professional obligations make more extensive interaction prohibitive.

My thoughts are with Marie and her family, as well as all of my friends - however I may know them, both in good times and in bad.  I look forward to times when we can visit with each other in person, but until then, our online friendships are no less genuine to me.

How do you handle it when a long-distance friend goes through personal hardships?  Do you respond with words, a sympathy card, or a well-worded private message?  Do you find yourself at a loss as to how best to handle it and find that you ultimately don't handle it at all?  (I have regrettably done that as well.)  Please share your experiences in the comments below.

An Answer At Last

Sick Teddy Bear
http://novelistabarista.blogspot.com/2010/10/sick.html
No Copyright Infringement Intended

I have not been feeling the best for about the last month or so, and today, I finally found out why.

My primary plans for Saturday (03/02/2013) were to get together for lunch with some friends who were in town from Madison, Wisconsin.  In spite of feeling a sharp pain on the right side of my lower torso when I woke up, I got ready and forged ahead with the twenty-mile drive to their hotel.  Along the way, I called my Mom, and she became convinced that I was having an appendicitis, one of the contributing factors to my grandfather's death in 1985.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632)
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Image obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/....
Public Domain

I'm a guy though, and the well-documented code is that men don't give in to pain.  It wasn't an appendicitis anyway, right?  That was just my Mom being over-protective; however, as the destination drew nearer, I had  to let my Mom go, deny centuries of teachings regarding true masculinity, and call 911.  It was my intent to learn the location of the nearest hospital and drive there directly, but due to a combination of the dispatcher's encouragement and my own increasing discomfort - including breaking out into undershirt-drenching perspiration, I took the next exit and pulled into a hotel parking lot.  I called my Mom to let her know that she was right, of course, and my friends, to let them know  that our lunch would have to wait until another day.

Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CBE as Gandalf the Grey
The Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
http://marcelgomessweden.wordpress.com/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended
No Endorsement of Source Website Intended

The next four hours involved meeting a variety of very wonderful and helpful people - EMT's, nurses, a doctor, CT scan technicians,  and a patient liaison.  Throughout that time, the pain ebbed and flowed... and then ebbed again, occasionally causing me to fear that everything was somehow just in my head.  I didn't want it to be something big, of course, but I did want it to be something.  The diagnosis?  I have a kidney stone, and the good news is that it is small enough for me to resolve it without the need for surgery.  Unlike the Balrog of Tolkien fame, it shall pass.

I want to thank one of my Mom's neighbors for getting me back home, as well as my sister, who (with the assistance of my brother-in-law's aunt and uncle) retrieved my car.

Sometimes, the greatest show of strength is to admit that one needs help, and although it took me a while to come to that conclusion today, I am glad to have so, as I now understand the reason behind some of my health issues over the last month.

Have you ever found yourself wanting to fulfill plans so much so that you attempted to compensate for extenuating circumstances, even though you knew that doing so might actually compromise the overall good?  Have you ever tried to "play through the pain" but decide in the end that the most profound admission of strength was to concede a certain weakness?  Please share your comments below.

Tough Decisions

"No Copyright Infringement Intended" T-Shirt
http://amandaliauw-04-2-7.blogspot.com/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

Anyone who reads my blog or who is one of my Facebook friends will know that I will use phrases such as "No Copyright Infringement Intended" or "Modified without Permission" quite regularly, and that I will always include my source for images and/ or quotations.

It might be argued that this is abnormally important to me, but my reasons are manifold.

Many of my friends are artists of one form or another:  painters, illustrators, musicians, authors, dancers, mermaid tail makers, et cetera.  They invest time, talent, money, physical endurance, and perhaps most importantly, their reputations into their work, regardless of whether their pursuit be full- or part-time.  Occasionally, someone will alter one of my friends' works as pass it off as his or her own, and that is far from the idiom "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."  It is instead theft - a violation of the highest degree.

"Five W Chalboard"
http://www.fastcompany.com/....
No Copyright Infringement Intended

At one time, my art, if you will, was to write behavior reports for my residents at a faith-based, non-profit organization.  The documentation was required to answer all of the standard questions:  Who?  What?  Where?  When?  Why?  How?  It was never quite as simple as a friendly game of Clue, of course, because it was real life, and actual individuals were involved.  The vast majority of the people that we served were formerly homeless.  Many had mental illness, chemical dependency, criminal records, or a combination of these.

I want to talk about one such report.  The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, enacted on August 21, 1996 - as well as common decency - prevents me from getting into specifics, but what I *can* say is this:  one of my residents was exerting influence over another, due to an alleged romantic connection between the two of them, and it was my observation that his behaviors potentially compromised the ongoing housing of the other individual.

I documented an interaction with the resident whose behavior I was calling into question and fulfilled all of the requirements in detail.  As there were some additional concerns about the matter, I also recorded my personal observations.  To separate the actual from the observational, I inserted a dividing line:  ~~~~~~~~~~.

A few weeks later, my worst fears came to fruition.  Everything - every single thing - about which I had expressed potential concerns turned out to be a grim reality, one with which came the loss of housing and corresponding safety of the second resident.  When I went to review to report, everything below the dividing line was gone!  There was no question in my mind about it being the same report, because the line itself remained intact  ~~~~~~~~~~.

The planet Alderaan exploding in
Star Wars Episode IV:  A New Hope (1977)
http://www.st-v-sw.net/STSWsuperl-2.html
No Copyright Infringement Intended

For me, this was not an exercise in "I told you you so," but an effort to underscore my ability to observe and understand the people I was serving, as well as to illustrate how some of them created a genuine climate of harm for others.  When my work was gone, it was a "disturbance in the force," a professional parallel to the destruction of the planet Alderaan.  A foundational chronicle, albeit one of strictly theoretical quality when it was written,  had been eliminated.  Because of the way that the database was designed, there was no backup of the original report, and I had not kept a separate electronic or printed copy for myself, as to do so would have been a violation of company policy.  The only that I *could* determine was the modification history of the report.  In partnership with the database administrator, I learned that it was my supervisor who had altered my work.

As you can imagine, this created profound trust issues for me.  As the second resident lost her housing and support services while the first one maintained his, seemingly without any sort of sanction, the sense of injustice compounded.  Additionally, other residents willfully conducted themselves in various ways as to compromise the safety of their neighbors and the staff who served them, behaviors that were not influenced by mental illness or chemical dependency, but by personal gain.  A primary example of this would be to allow individuals into the building who had been banned because of their actions at our site or at one of our other locations.  As these practices were allowed to flourish, still other residents observed the apparent lack of consequences and adopted challenging behaviors of their own.  Calling law enforcement to resolve matters became all-too-common.

The Art of Walking Away
http://therecordingrevolution.com/....
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This was no longer the company at which I had been hired.  The transformation had gone from "change" to a fundamental shift in the culture at my site, and participating in it no longer made me feel as though I was part of any grand solution, but that I was very much part of the problem.  Transferring within the agency was not a realistic option, as some of the sites offered a more specialized brand of care than I was qualified to provide, or they were in a different division altogether, such as working with children, which is admittedly not one of my strengths.  I chose to walk away from the organization.  It was a difficult decision, because that meant leaving people about whom I had come to care a great deal.  It also meant that I would be unemployed, as I had not lined up anything else.

In the interim, I have had the opportunity to spend time with my family, attend networking events, and to volunteer for a political action committee during the 2012 election cycle.  I am pleased to say that I was an ally in a successful cause.  It has also allowed me to cultivate relationships within some niche communities, corresponding on a daily basis with people locally, throughout the country and around the world.  I am, of course, eager to re-enter the paid workforce and to use my talents to make a contribution toward the greater good for others.

Have you ever been in a situation wherein walking away also meant taking some big risks?  Have you ever found yourself having made a decision that was good for your own well-being, but others do not seem to understand your motivation?  Please feel free to share your comments below.