One extraordinary week

A time of transition, including a farewell to 25 years of self-employment.

Sometimes my column subject is obvious—it smacks me upside the head and there’s not even a close second-place contender. Then there are weeks like this past one:

Thursday, April 25-Sunday, April 28

Enjoy a reunion with 21 college fraternity brothers in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a gathering that I wrote about last year. Highlights include herding 20 of us for a group photo; nine minutes later, when we track down the missing guy, one of the original 20 has wandered off.

The dual, dueling group photos. In both, I’m back and center.

For both efforts, 95.2% should count as an “A,” right?

Monday, April 29

Drive nearly 1,000 miles to get home in time to pick up Tuesday’s returning family member at O’Hare International Airport. About one-quarter the way in Hartford, Tennessee, I make a wise exception to my coffee-swearing-off ways.

The caffeinated beverage, which I secure along with a breakfast sandwich and the local newspaper, fuels me the rest of the way home. After 16 hours on the road, the beckoning Chicago skyline is a most welcome sight.

Tuesday, April 30

After nearly four months, capped by two hours of so-close-and-yet-still-not-fully-home clearing customs, my 20-year-old son is back after his semester abroad in Barcelona. He comes bearing gifts for his mom: magnets and ornaments from his numerous travel adventures.

The one locale where he forgot to get a keepsake: Barcelona.

Wednesday, May 1

My first day as an employee in over 25 years, the culmination of a three-month process to become the marketing and communications director for Northern Illinois University’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.

My LinkedIn post on Wednesday caught more than a few folks by surprise.

Leaving the ranks of the fully self-employed is a development that, at first, I didn’t see coming. Looking back, though, life’s wayfinding signage—my passion for education and its capacity to transform lives—has been popping up all along the way.

Lunch box and laptop in hand, off to my first day as an employee since the 20th century.

It’s been an extraordinary stretch, leading—as you might have noticed—to an abundant lack of story-telling focus.

Maybe next week I’ll zero in on one topic, such as those cicadas expected to emerge soon. For now, I’ll leave those critters to my daughter, who wrote a feature about this educational and entertaining video (below) on the cicada life cycle.

Maggie Rose’s story is online here and appears on the front page of today’s Daily Herald (below), where she has been working as an intern the past six weeks.