We're back!

To all of our friends and and relatives and former colleagues and other well-wishers:

Today is the first day of the rest of our summers...

I put this page on hold back in July. I was happy with my job and VERY happy with Florida, but all was not well in Mark's World.

When we put the house on the market in June, similar homes had sold in 9-27 days. A month passed. Then two.

We became painfully - and personally - aware of the slow down in the real estate market. We had not signed up for a painfully long separation.

Then came months three, four and five.

In October, amidst a horrible couple of weeks that saw many bizarre turns of events culminating in the sudden death of our beloved elder cat 'Tude, came the call: We had a legitimate offer on 1019 Boxwood Drive.

What's more, we couldn't be happier with the great, new owners.

Last week I returned home to help complete the packing of our 15,400 pounds of possessions. Within minutes Monday of the movers pulling away from the curb, we hit the road. The car was pointed due south. We had assigned power of attorney to our wonderful representative and the closing was Thursday. On Friday, we - Mary, Louis J. Cat and I - move into our newly rented home.

It will be partly cloudy and 83 degrees, here. Good luck with that snow...

We will miss all of you who have meant so much to us over the years, but we are extremely ecstatic to be reunited exactly where we have long wanted to be. We have been touched by the many acts of kindness (and documented notions of potential entanglements with gators) and we will never forget our time in Illinois or those who made it so memorable.

Meanwhile, in this intuitive age in which we live, we may be far away in miles, but always as close as a blog, an email or a phone call. Never has this been more clear than in this, the season of the Bears. I have a found a bar inhabited by the best Chicago football fans. I stream WBBM post-game coverage. I download both WBBM podcasts and the NFL recaps on iTunes. I read the best Chicago newspaper columns on the Web, visit www.chicagobears.com and tapes of each game are mailed from Illinois to my Dad who converts them to DVD (with the expressed, written consent of the National Football League, of course).

Meanwhile, we have guest rooms. Perhaps today is the day you decide that you have had enough of Illinois winters. Need a break? Give us a call!

More later,


Mark (and Mary and Louie)