Launched
…Pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear…
Without a trace we'll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
and then when we get to the ocean
We’re gonna take a boat to the end of the world…
All the way to the end of the world
Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We're gonna teach them to fly…
Dave Matthews - You&Me - 2009
It is a joy to witness our three learning to Fly…. far past us. So this post is dedicated to their recent scatterings and travels.
It is a thrill seeing The World As They’re Seeing It.
ONE
Since October 2022, Derek’s work has taken him to Berlin, London, Istanbul and Singapore. Below, are images he took in Istanbul, February 2023. The next section are images from Singapore, from June, 2023. (His business travel from Feb 2023 - March 2024 also included Vienna, Seoul, Vietnam, Munich, Switzerland, Mexico City and Peru)
These stunning images below were taken at The Basilica Cistern in Istanbul. Derek says it was one of the most beautiful things he has ever seen. I read that it is a subterranean structure built in 532 using over three hundred columns some salvaged from ruined temples. It was closed and forgotten until 1545 when a research scholar rediscovered it but it only became a dumping ground for junk and even corpses… and it wasn’t cleaned and renovated until 1985! It opened to the public in 1987. (per Lonely Planet)
Singapore, June, 2023
TWO
In May we joyfully celebrated in the pouring rain with all Evan’s friends in Boulder. He earned his Bachelors Degree in Finance and International Business. Then, with tenacity, courage and conviction that we applaud, his vagabond shoes were longing to stray…so he bought himself a one-way ticket to New York City. Living with and near friends, he’ll make a brand new start of it. If he can make it there, he’ll make it anywhere. Take care of him, New York 🍎
His Vagabond Shoes
THREE
In May we also celebrated Anna Rose’s graduation from High School and the fact that she has become inspired onto a path that is an unusual and special endeavor: American Sign Language. She just returned from an immersion program at Gallaudet University in Washington DC, which is the largest University for the Deaf, in the country. Learning in silence from a deaf instructor, it was a formidable taste of her course of study and upcoming life in college. In one month she will move to University of Northern Colorado, marking the beginning of her higher education and the beginning of our empty nest after 25+ years. Below is one of my all time favorite treasures - a video of her high school Sign Language class final. They all had to learn the lyrics of this song, and I love seeing this beautiful class and their new skills.
The National Cathedral