Family!

It was a special weekend to have my two brothers and their families together with mine. It was the first time since my dad’s funeral in 2012 that we are all together. We had dinner at Alice’s Supper Club in Iron River and then played cornhole and whiffle ball in our backyard. As you can see above, my brother Jimmer and I are adopted and my brother Andy was the biological son of our adopted parents. We do not look alike or act alike, but grew up together in a loving household and have the lifelong bond of family. It was great to reconnect with them and my nephews Beau and Tony this summer. Owen, Oliver, Beau, Ocean, and Tony are quickly becoming adults and starting the next generation of our family tree. I loved spending time with them! We had to capture the moment with this photo in our yard on July 23, 2023.

We had a nice final day in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Ocean, Nadia, and I traveled to Marquette for a final doctor’s visit and my eyeglasses came in, so all was good. It was a hectic packing process as the errands were unexpected. We returned from Marquette around 6:00 PM and left Caspian at 2:15 AM last night to catch a 6:01 AM flight out of Green Bay to Chicago. My brother Jimmer is such a good guy, he drove his van with our bags to help us get to the airport.

I loved driving my oldest son Owen, to and from work this summer. He is working as a groundskeeper at the George Young Golf Resort. The discipline of working Monday through Friday from 5:00 AM to 1:00 PM has been good for him. Nadia and I are proud of him that he is sticking it out. He is learning what it means to have a job, get up early, get enough sleep and the value of a paycheck. He is also learning about golf, managing a resort and taking care of the greens, bunkers and fairways. I wish those mornings of me packing a lunch and then driving a sleepy Owen the 6 miles to the resort could have lasted a bit longer. Riding in the quiet of pre dawn Northwoods with your son… Nothing better! I stopped on the final day to snap the photo below of sunrise on Chicagoan Lake, which is adjacent to the golf course. I think it captures the beauty of the inland lakes of my beloved Upper Peninsula. 

The moments us five together are fleeting as Owen starts his third year at Northern Michigan University next month. Oliver is entering his senior year at the Tashkent International School and we’ll be saying goodbye to him next summer. My daughter Ocean is now a gorgeous woman and will be in tenth grade. I wish I could slow down time so Nadia and I could enjoy being parents together a little bit longer…