Dear friends, subscribers, and faithful readers,
Since many of you know me personally (and read my blog mainly out of nosiness), I thought you might enjoy reading a bit of personal news.
When my younger daughter successfully defended her dissertation last June (I watched via Zoom but couldn’t really tell you what it was about), she found a job that allows her to work from anywhere in the world, which had already been the case for her husband.
After briefly considering Hawaii—yes, really—they decided to move from Seattle to Minneapolis, where they bought a house in the same neighborhood as our older daughter. By September, our daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren were all living within two blocks of each other in south Minneapolis.
Not to be left out—and to help with childcare during the pandemic—Susan and I bought a small fixer upper in the same neighborhood, a few steps from Lake Hiawatha. Since mid-November we’ve been living in Minneapolis and restoring a house built in 1920, one that is desperately in need of attention.
The change for us has been dramatic. For nearly three years we had been living in the woods, north of Holland, a few steps from Lake Michigan; now we’re living in the city. For nearly three years we were living with a well and septic system; now we once again have city water and sewer. For nearly three years we were surrounded on every side by die-hard Trump supporters; now our neighborhood is dotted with “Justice for George Floyd” signs—and Ilan Omar is our congresswoman.
But the biggest—and most welcome—change is that, at long last, our family is together again. On Christmas Eve we calculated that it was our first one together in 20 years.
We’re not selling our house in Michigan. In fact, I’m in Michigan right now, getting ready to preach a sermon on Sunday for our church in Holland. We’ll call the place in Minnesota our pied-à-terre, a term I never thought I would use in connection with my life.
I hope this finds you well.
Faithfully,
Doug
Photo: taken just now from my home office window in Michigan
I love reading about you and all the family. Would also like to travel to Europe and drop in but that is probably not going to happen 😕
Have a great time in your new "location".?💌👋
Congratulations to the whole family! There is nothing better than having your daughters close by! from Leannah Robinson.