The Ten Finger Dance

 Oh boy.  This is my first story in six weeks using all ten fingers.  My laptop went into hibernation while I was away.  Swiping with one finger for my stories is rather tedious but possible.  The truth is I do need all ten fingers this morning in order to recap the highlights of my travels.  Here goes...

The moment I found out I was going to be part of the Eau Claire support team I began researching places where I could participate in tennis drills and play pickle ball.  I heard this part of Wisconsin is loaded with bike trails so I decided to get my wife a bike as an early Christmas present hoping she could visit on my days off.  The local university offered evening worship which allowed my wife to join me on my first Sunday off.  She had so much fun she decided to stay.  That set up something I will never forget – a birthday gift for my mom.  The plan seemed as complicated as sending an astronaut to the moon but it worked to near perfection.

We met mom in the cities on a Sunday night.  After spending a night in Minneapolis, we drove to Duluth.  I introduced mom to the manager who approved my time off during our peak time opening the Eagan location so I could join all of my siblings in Rocky Point, Mexico for her 80th birthday celebration.  Her boss was standing next to me beaming while I shared just how much this meant to my mom.  We headed north to Duluth for the next 24 hours.  We visited the small chapel at the Newman Center where my mom's favorite YouTube pastor celebrates his Sunday masses.  

We drove back to Eau Claire and dined with several of my teammates who have become like family to me.  The next morning my mom and my wife headed back to our home in Iowa while I completed my final week on my day job assignment.  I returned home on Monday evening thinking my travels were over.  Surprise!  Mom's brother was on his way to Dubuque with his wife and oldest son and they called to see if we could join them.  It took about ten seconds to think about this and say yes.  The next morning we were back on the road to the northeast part of the state.  Out time together was only 24 hours.  That was all we needed to celebrate great memories growing up together in Arizona.  

I woke up this morning in my own bed.  Mom is still with us until the next adventure begins... a one-week vacation to Arizona next week.  Before we leave we will be celebrating her 84th birthday in three days.  

My fingers are doing the ten finger dance on my laptop.  Six weeks is a long time to be restricted to a one-finger swipe method for writing on my cell phone.  That's okay.  I'm going to keep those fingers dancing all the way to the finish line for all of my book projects.  Winter is approaching.  When I return from vacation I'm going to hunker down and complete "Live Long and Prosper."  It's time to head to my day job at my home location and thank my teammates for covering for me.  I would also like to thank my wife for all the sacrifices she made while I was away.  Have a great day.