It's good to have a plan...

Moving through yesterday was not a bad thing. My bike ride turned out to be a combination bike ride and a walk until Pete could readjust my bike handlebars for me. I fought a bout of IBS or something while I picked up a few things I needed at Walgreens causing me to make a quick return to the house before going into work.

I did spend a lot of time driving yesterday. Long delays into the office, the ride to Lake Michigan per Mapquest should only take 24 minutes from my office. Instead it took an hour and twenty minutes and almost the same on the return ride. But that was a good thing because I got my copy of Laurie singing worship songs and playing the piano. I listened to the twenty minute CD again and again and found it soothing to hear her voice again.

At the lake it was beautiful and breezy and crowded with folks enjoying a summer day on the lakefront. What I loved was that the whole time I was down by that fateful corner behind Adler Planetarium, not one single person was around. I had enough alone time to write in chalk on the wall, leave some flowers and release a pink balloon with a gerber daisy attached to it. What made me smile was what happened right after I released the balloon. As I watched its flight I caught out of the corner of my eye a big wave coming in. It got me...

The first picture shows the wet cement near the edge of the water, not too far in, right? The next picture shows my birthday wish and flowers and balloon, all dry, right? The next shows how far the wave pushed up to the wall. I choose to think it was a little sign Laurie appreciated the commemoration of her day by getting my feet wet.

The day ended with Katie, the twins, Kristin, Trinity and me having dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, one we had gone to with Laurie what seems a long, long time ago. I still remember the time she had just come home from her time in Mexico and I made her speak Spanish to our waiter. He was amazed at her fluency and accent and the next thing we knew all the busboys were busy buzzing around us, well, her, really. And so a margarita toast to Laurie. We miss you.