Variegated Loop

On the road again. The usual unusual. Loaded up the 2002 Sienna and ran a 400 mile loop in three days with merch guy Tony during which I stood on a dance floor and did ten minutes of humor improv (CliffsNotes version of the dead cow story) between rounds of Top 40 bingo with a raucous crowd of, um, RELAXED paramedics, EMTs, and first responders; delivered the closing keynote at the Wisconsin EMS Association conference; collaborated with an independent bookseller and a funky theater to do an hour of whatever that thing is I do that’s not quite an author reading and not quite standup comedy but seems to leave us all happier; and, on the final stop before home, shared stories in a fire hall before enjoying the company, fellowship, and potluck of a crew that’s done some heavy work of late. In between I retreated to the hotel room and hit deadlines. I’ve lost track of the number of posts I’ve written about this happily variegated life I’ve wandered into, and how grateful I am that I can share time with so many folks from so many different walks of life. How wonderful to step to the microphone in a giant conference hall, then take the stage in a quirky theater, then step into a small-town fire hall that transports me immediately back to my “Population 485” days…and then return to the little room above the garage and write some more so I can go some more. My only regret–and it’s not really a regret, just context–is that I have to keep moving, there’s only so much clock and calendar, and we can’t meet every request. But there’s not a handshake, or a signature, or a moment of communication that I take for granted. Thank you. And thank you to my wife and daughters, who get the unedited, un-EQ’d, non-marquee me. And thanks to Tony, for lugging all those books and other merch. That’s him way back there behind the van, emerging from the cavernous depths of the Resch Center in Green Bay. Yes, we genuflected as we passed Lambeau, the giant “G” glowing in the sky…