Cross Roads

Do you ever wonder if things really do happen for a reason?  I have asked myself that very question a few times in the last year.  It's been a bumpy ride, but I feel really good about the road ahead.  With the support of my family (Mila gets wife of the year!) and friends, I have been able to navigate some deep pot holes and come through with only a few dents.

I am on a new career path at Eckerd College (the school that changed my life) and I get to make a real impact by visiting with parents and alumni in New England, my home away from home.  I'm so excited about the future, it's crazy.  It's an honor and a privilege to be able to assist my alma mater in achieving it's long range goals to keep Eckerd as one of the top small liberal arts colleges in country.  As my mentor Mark Smith always said, "Givers always win and takers always lose."  (I won't tell you all the other things he said in mixed company!)

So, as I look back at the at the path I traveled, I see right turns and wrong turns, but I got here just the same and for the better.  As I look forward, I see new relationships, reacquainted friendships and a renewed confidence.  Has everything in my life happened for a reason?  I have come to realize, that the answer is Yes.

Summer in Cambridge

I still know the back way home from the Mass Pike after all these years. Down Storrow Dr., cross the Hahvahd bridge and turn left onto Memorial Dr. Take Mt. Auburn 'til the Tennis Club and take a right, then a left onto Brattle. Bear right and then a quick left on the street that has the BBN school. Up to Huron and take a left, go past Armando's Pizza and take a right. Go past the fire station that you used to be able to by 25 cent tonics from and past Raymond Park, past Fitzy's old house, down the hill on Walden St. and take the third right onto Sycamore.

So many things have changed in Cambridge, yet it still seems the same. The city itself has physically changed, but it feels just like it did 30 years ago. I watch my son, Owen, play catch with my nephew, Liam on the dead end street, during a cool New England summer night. I sit on the front porch and chat about the Sawx with Big Yiayia and drink in the moment. I want it to last forever. I want to be 11 years old again. Play on the street 'til dark and have Ma yell for us to come in. I'm glad my kids can experience, for at least a few days, what I did.

Mila, Zoe and Owen are tired of me pointing out every personal landmark in Cambridge as we walk around the City, but I do it anyway. My old elementary school, the house where Bill Walton lived during his Celtic days, the pit, plus Davis Sq., Porter and of course, The Square, all have stories. Some I can retell and some I can't. And that's what makes Cambridge special to me. Especially in the summer.