Comings and Goings

It's been another week of big events and great changes
as Tom flies in from Boston and out for Dakar - the
bookends of 5 days of family, ocean play, beach fires
and great food of all kinds

We started Wednesday night with Mexican from Taqueria
La Victoria in San Jose - meeting Tom as he came off the
plane and gathering all the boys (and Misty) for feasting
on really GREAT Mexican food... something Tom found sorely
lacking on the East Coast the last few months...

We slid into beach walks and afternoons of fish and chips
and then right into Trader Joe's for all the good fixin's for
Brochetta (spelling?)... late night cribbage games and crazy
blacksmith's puzzles... a room full of people silently twirling
and twisting tiny bits of metal to see if they could either:
take them apart
or
put them back together

Saturday the puzzzles continued to call people to them as the
rest of the boys arrived and fell captive, one by one...

But a break to hit the beach and play frisbee and skimboard,
body surf and wrestle on the sand and compete in hand walking and
handsprings got everyone in perfect prime for Tom's grilling
of beautiful rib-eyes... with fresh salad and potatoe salad we
had a great feast before we headed back to the beach for fires
and fun with Daniel - master pyro of the moment.

Somehow Sunday slipped away without anyone noticing, nibbling
left overs and spinning little metal shapes into and out of place
again until we all had the art perfected... only to forget how we
did it and have to start again...

Monday everyone was busy - back to school, and back to work, Tom
and Carsten went in for one last office meeting with the whole gang
before Tom flew out... A small cadre of us met at Chili's near
the airport to feast one last time together- this time Tom had a
burger - another item not found on the short list in Dakar...
and finally, reluctantly, we took him off to his plane.

By now he is well over the Atlantic and in another 5 or 6 hours
he will be returned to Teresa and Africa in the middle of the night
local time, which seems to be the only way they do things there...

I imagine him sleeping on the plane, a full day of travel
and waiting to travel already under his belt.

Sweet dreams, Tom! Sleep long and deep.. and wake up just in time
to watch Dakar rise up beneath thee... and find Teresa at the other
end of the walk from the plane.