March 3, Tempe, Arizona

It was a relaxing day today, although the spotty wi-fi at the coffee shop is getting to be a headache. Time to try out another coffee shop and see if things there are a bit more stable. I'm catching up on some of the grading for the online college courses I'm teaching in Logic and Ethics, but it's frustrating to lose work that I've completed because the wi-fi connection decides to arbitrarily kick me off.

We've been here just over three days already, and time is going to accelerate rather markedly, I suspect. Gena and I will be flying up to the Seattle area next Monday through Wednesday for an interview. We'll be back just a few days, and then that Sunday after worship here in Tempe we hit the road for the mobile part of our family adventure. In between, I have to get our taxes put together and sent off, try to get an updated stereo deck in the minivan that will accept input from our iPod, write thank you notes to the wonderful people in Camarillo who sent us off with much love and no small amount of gifts, figure out the optimal way to pack the van for the next two or more months of travel, and a variety of other things I can't even think of at the moment. Lots of decisions to be made, including sketching out a rough budget for the coming months to see how quickly we have to buckle down to austerity mode.

It's nice to catch our breaths before two months of mobility, but it's hard to sit and wait as well. Part of me just wants to begin - to head for parts unknown (and some not-so-unknown). To hear the highway under the tires and watch the truck stops blur by on I-40. I'm sure that will get old rather quickly as well. It could just be that I'm never satisfied!

One of the highlights of the last two days has been an evening (well, late-night, more accurately) walk with Gena for 45 minutes or so. Time to talk - which we love to do. We've had people tell us that they're perplexed by our ability to spend hours talking with one another about the day, the week, the future, theology, whatever. It's one of our strengths, and one of the reasons I hunted Gena down so doggedly. Two introverts need to have at least one outlet to talk every day. It's nice that it can be each other.

It's also nice to be getting some intentional cardio time in each day - though depressing to think that 45 minutes of walking now equates to 'cardio time'. Still, it's a start. If we want to grow old together, we have to remember that while we can't control for all factors, we can and should at least be proactive in the areas that we *can* be proactive.