A Ramble for Ben Charles

Ben!

I’m sitting at Sarah and Brandon’s house now in Milwaukee.  It’s two stories with tender original wood work on a busy corner on the edge of town.  The sun is out; some cicadas are calling.  Trucks pass beyond the weathered picket fence and short trees.  I’ve been so glad for the reasonable bliss of some midwestern summer – neither the congestion of New York, nor the chill of Europe.  It’s all a re-energizing breadbasket.

Sarah and Anna are making tremendous things these days with Tactile Craftworks, and stepping into bigger games wtih bigger players.  Brandon is in the throws of his promoted job – designing, building and overseeing coworkers.  Mom is still ceaselessly inspired about experiential education.  Dad has a new job with his father’s old employer.  Billy… you know where Billy is.  I’m hoping to get to see him in Cleveland at the end of the week.

Yesterday, I showed Sarah pictures of Iceland, maybe tonight Vienna.  The sharing of tales is a great thing when it comes at the pace of sharing all things, when there is no hurry and only space for catching up.  I’ve decided stories with the occasional boost of on-hand pictures is the best way to relay a trip.  Can you tell me your tales when I see you in Brussels?  I think you planted a seed called Morocco that sprouted as a whim, and now I have my sights set on that place for me and my friend Hope some day before too long.

Is New York better when you also see the rest of the world?

Is it funny that when I blog, I try to only think big thoughts? Audience is a funny thing, no?  It’s an interesting alchemy that I think affects most activities we do.  It’s part of the reason New York is hyper-charged – there’s always an audience.  One of the primary things I’m going to school to study is the minutia of that alchemy.  I guess we also just get better at it by practicing it with attention, over and over and over again.  As with most things.  Is it cumbersome to write about the event of writing for a reader?  Perhaps.

You’re abroad right now.  I fly back abroad in two weeks.  I’m seeing a bunch of good souls before then and already have in the two weeks before today.  I sure do hope we catch each other in a foreign land this month.  That will bring me comfort – to share excitement and homesickness with someone great and attentive such as yourself.

You have just received a ramble.  I hope there’s space in your day for it.

Your brother in adventure,

Tim