Milestones

I think it is appropriate that the 600th edition of the Swann Family News fell at this time. This is not only a milestone for this publication, but it marks a couple of other milestones or transitions as well.

Thinking about this publication first, when I began writing this back in September 2003 Jenna was starting kindergarten. This fall Nate will start his senior year in high school. It was big news when the kids got the battery powered car one Christmas and would drive it across the field to Pauline's house to visit her. Now they all have their driver's licenses. For the last 22 years our house has been the hub of activity with 3 growing kids under our roof. Unless the pandemic drags on, this coming school year will likely be the last we have kids at home.

Mom's passing has marked a change as well. Not only are all four of our parents gone, between the two of us only my Aunt Linda remains of the generation ahead of us in our family. I certainly don't mean to discount our family that we still have, but what is really odd right now, in this moment, is the feeling of exposure. Here's what I mean.

When you're young you have the generations above you. They love you. They care for you. They pray for you. When you grow up and begin to have children of your own you are sandwiched between generations. It is your job to love, care for, and pray for your children, but at the same time there's great comfort in the fact that most of the people ahead of you are still there, still part of your life, still loving you, still praying for you. But as time marches on, those before you reach the end of their journeys and are gathered to their people. While I take great comfort in the fact that God is the God of the living and has defeated death, the simple fact is that Mom, Aunt Mar, Pauline, and many others are not living here anymore. I feel exposed.

I knew this was coming. I had anticipated the feeling. But feeling it now that it's here is altogether different. Hopefully my kids will have years to rest secure in the fact that Vicki and I are there for them, loving them, praying for them.

Another milestone is that Vicki and I have now celebrated 26 years of marriage. I can certainly think of many things I could have done better over the years, but it has been very good. Now that the kids are about out of the house maybe I can focus more on those things about myself that I need to improve, never an easy task.

Vicki and I celebrated with a weekend trip to Memphis. We had originally planned to meet Jim and Dianna in New York City last weekend, but shortly after making our travel plans the pandemic made us change our mind about visiting the Big Apple. Our new Tennessee itinerary included seeing the Casey Jones Museum in Jackson, Graceland, the duck march at the Peabody Hotel, Beale Street, the Rock 'n Soul Museum, a tour of Sun Studio, and shopping at the unbelievably large Bass Pro Shop in the Pyramid. We took a bus tour of the city and our driver, Michelle, was fun and informative. Then there was the food as Memphis is known for barbecue and catfish. This was especially nice for Vicki who has done a lot more cooking the last few months.

We hated to see the tourism industry suffer so much while there, but from our perspective it was nice to be at Graceland when they were at 10% capacity. Our tour guide at Sun Studio told us they normally run tours of 40 people every 20 minutes; now they hope to have 40 people a day. At any rate, we had a nice change of pace for and scenery our anniversary.

On our way home we stopped and visited college friends, Jonathan and Sheila, who were in town for a funeral. Jonathan's father, who was a year older than my mom, passed away fairly suddenly. We were joined by another college friend, Ginger. This is not the case for Vicki, but I had not seen any of these folks in at least 15 years, and I think longer, so it was a nice visit.

So now we're back home. On the one hand we are back to our routine of work and school. But on the other hand, as I begin to close out Mom's business and move forward, I am adjusting to the new normal. Vicki and I are the elder generation in our immediate family now and that's just odd. Whatever lies ahead, I will, for now, keep track of it here.

Joe