Supafly.com

Leg #1: Phoenix >> Chicago >> Pittsburgh >> Steubenville
Leg #2: Steubenville >> Pittsburgh >> Charlotte >> Phoenix >> San Diego
Leg #3: San Diego >> almost Huntsville then Knoxville >> Atlanta >> Tiger
Leg #4: Tiger >> Atlanta >> Fort Meyers >> Ave Maria
Leg #5: Ave Maria >> Fort Meyers >> Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta >> Phoenix

People watching at Chicago O’Hare Airport

Getting up at 4am is not fun. The body is confused by three competing sensations: exhaustion, adrenaline, and anxiety. But somehow it’s a beautiful moment when you realize somebody loves you enough to wake up with you and drive you to the airport. I kissed Candyce goodbye at the curb. Two hours later, I was asleep on the plane to Chicago.

What do you do with four hours to kill in Chicago? People watch. Unlike like your local mall, you can gaze upon the hordes at the airport without feeling like a creep. While observing the foot-traffic patterns for a couple hours, I’ve developed two rules worth making into laws:

1. Walk fast or get out of the way. You may have some time to kill waiting for your flight, but most people do not. Nine out of ten people in an airport are zooming through the airport so they can catch a close flight. And that flight means a lot: there are loved ones and big business deals waiting at their final destinations. So save your leisurely stroll for your neighborhood sidewalks! If you are a chaperon of a group on a summer trip and you have to stop and regather, do it away from the lanes of hurried travelers. This common sense understanding of the reality of airport will save you from getting yelled at or punched in the face.
2. Do not walk and eat at the same time. This is not as civic-minded as the first rule; I just don’t like watching people who do this. Let’s break this down. If you are in a hurry and you are walking, you have an air of importance because you are alert and on a mission. I’m okay with this. Eating is an occasion for romance and friendship, and an opportunity to delight in a chef’s handiwork. I’m okay with this too. But when you try to walk and eat at the same time, you look unsophisticated and confused by surroundings. This can all be avoided if you get it to go and eat it on the airplane. (Exception to this rule: walking and eating Mentos.)

Buy Upright Roller Luggage with Caution

I think we all have to do our part to add dignity and finesse to the thoroughfares of the modern world. What would we do without young people with scarves zipping around our city streets on Vespa scooters? You all make me smile! My wife likes seeing guys carry bouquets of flowers up staircases because she knows love is in the air. Think about it, every neighborhood coffee shop needs at least one old guy wearing a barrette, and everyone feels safe and happy when cute young moms push baby strollers through neighborhood sidewalks.

This brings me to a modern atrocity known as “upright roller luggage.” But first, let’s review where we’ve been:

1. Grab life buy the handle. You can watch old black and white movies and admire men with hats and suit jackets carrying their luggage by the handle, the same way you’d carry a toolbox or a briefcase. You looked ambitious and ready for new opportunities. The film Catch Me if You Can would not have been the same without several scenes accessorized by handled suitcases.

Leo never looked so good.

As an added bonus, a handled suitcase can be used as a weapon.

2. Luggage on a leash. Using forensic evidence I’ve found at thrift stores from my childhood, somewhere in the 1960s, people’s arms got tired and they invented the first wheeled suitcase. These were hard-shell vinyl suitcases in dazzling colors like harvest gold, avocado green, orange, and occasionally turquoise.

If you are 25 or younger, you’ve probably never seen one of these. Here’s kinda how it worked…imagine lowering your hand-held suitcase onto four wheels and then fastening a short leash to the top front corner. Now drag it behind you like a stiff, reluctant dog. This invention was hardly an accomplishment: it was top heavy and prone to flipping and knocking over children when you made tight turns. Not even lusty retro lovers will buy one of these monstrosities at a yard sale. These are all decaying in American landfills next to first-run lava lamps.

3. Modern pull-behind luggage. This is the most functional type of travel bag you can find. It’s agile and rarely tips over. As an added bonus, you can stuff the bottom of a Starbucks coffee cup in the spot where the collapsed handle fits. And if you are trying to look cool, you will be happy to know that pull behind luggage adds to your swagger in the same way as carrying an umbrella ads to your peppiness. As an added bonus, the durable wheels inherited from Rollerblades glide across the floor with a rhythmic pulse. Humanity wins!

4. Upright rollers. It’s basically a looks just like the modern pull-behind luggage, except it rolls beside you on four wheels. The telescoping handle is used to steer the thing as you go. (Stay tuned for a diagram.)

The problem here is that you just can’t look cool with one of these things. You are as cartoonish as a sprinter running with his hands in his pockets. Or like you are dragging a really heavy purse on the ground next to you. I haven’t seen one tip over yet, but it looks built-to-spill like a waitress who balances a coffee pot on her head. I’m getting mad just writing about it, so I’ll stop here.

Franciscan University of Steubenville Welcomes Matt Smith

I haven’t been on the campus of Franciscan since the summer of 2003. I was happy to see that the dorms have been re-built to look more residential and less institutional (peaked roofs vs. brick boxes.) I enjoyed speaking at the conference and visiting with the students. The coffee shop at the center of campus made for a fun common grounds while the thunderstorms swirled through Ohio.

At the end of the day, I decompressed at the hotel watching jazz ensembles from the 1960s on PBS and Hip Hop v. America: Where Did the Love Go? on BET.

Yesterday was a difficult day for me. I got word that my friends Charlie and Ali lost their infant daughter Cate because of complications after heart surgery. This was very hard news for me and Candyce to take. We both cried together in the kitchen.

Compassion is a mysterious gift that ties people together. Last week, Charlie wrote in his blog that when he woke up in the hospital room and looked out over the city and watched cars scurrying through the streets as people move on with their lives, unaware of the pain and uncertainty that consumed his life.

It seemed like I would be a bad friend to Charlie by writing about something as trivial as cars, music, or stuff about remodeling a house. Whenever I got the urge to write, I instead clicked over their blog to get updates. What started out as a sign of solidarity became something I never would’ve predicted. My heart became heavier each day, and I continued to check for updates on their blog I needed them to comfort me through all of this. Its seems ridiculous and backwards, I know.

This morning was the first update since Baby Cate passed way. You should read the whole thing yourself, but here are some thoughts that Charlie shared that meant a lot to me:

About priorities…

You know, we always have enjoyed our children, we make it a priority of our family, but with Cate’s passing, there is even a more renewed sense of the day to day. To literally slow down, to listen when they talk, to play paper dolls, and to shoot spider man webs all over the room. And so that is what we did, we enjoyed the beautiful gift that God has given to us, what we call our family.

About hope…

We have learned that hope is not based on a certain outcome. That hope is what gets us through everything. Just because the prayers of many were not answer in the particular way, that we thought they should be, doesn’t mean that WE, all of us, should give up HOPE.

About solidarity…

We love you all so much and thank you for journeying with us, and running this marathon. The race is over, and Cate was victorious. We all win that way. We do ask that you remain, Hope Filled, with us as we stand together, plus many, minus one.

I got word from my friend Darla Hickman that young Cate Cantrell died yesterday in the hospital. Thank you all for the prayers and support that you’ve offered to her family.

My friends Charlie and Ali are experiencing a lot of pain right now. Their infant daughter is having her heart worked on. Charlie and I are the same age and have known each other for several years. He’s one of the most likable and funny people that I know. And since I’m going to have a daughter in not too long, I’ve followed their experience with more intensity and compassion.

This is what he wrote at five this morning:

As a parent, you just want to see you child smile, you want to hold your child, you want to smell their sweet breath on your face, and you can’t, and you don’t know when you will be able to again and the possibility is more prevalent than ever that you might not, don’t mistake that as a loss of hope, understand it as when you are face to face with losing a child, it is a horrifying experience, one that I hope you never have to experience, and if you have you understand.

I am asking all of my friends and family who visit this site to pray for Charlie, Ali, and their baby Cate. These are fantastic people who’ve given much to the world. They are suffering and they need our prayers. Even if you are a stranger who just randomly came upon this site, and you have know idea who Charlie is, I’m asking you to pray too. There are people who’ve prayed for you in the past and you never knew about it. We owe it to one another. We’re all in this together. We have to help each other however we can.

If you can, leave a word of encouragement on their blog: http://catecantrell.blogspot.com

Today is my first Father’s Day. Although our baby girl isn’t born yet, I absolutely know I am a dad. It’s a complicated emotion to explain in something as crude as a blog, but those of you who are fathers know exactly what I am talking about. I love it.

I am writing this from lovely San Diego, California. In years past, this weekend has marked the beginning of two months of fun at the beach. But this year Candyce and I decided to stay in Phoenix to get our lives ready for the baby. It’s our first child, and we want to be sure to get this right.

I am infinitely grateful for my father’s help in remodeling my home. He drove across the country in September of last year with my brother to kick off the whole project. Then he came back again around Christmas and helped me make more progress. Then during his visit last week, Dad helped me get very close to finishing the project. There is still some minor touches to complete with lighting, the bead board ceiling, and some drywall repair, but the major work is complete. Dad’s the man. He’s such a good father.

Dad flew back to Georgia on Thursday the same time as Candyce and I came out here to San Diego. I am actually really excited to go back to Phoenix so I can admire the finished product. I actually live in a nice house now. I doubt a newborn baby will appreciate it in September, but at least there will be no dust or scary-as-hell power tool noises haunting her first months on earth. Instead, she’ll listen to Coldplay, Matt Maher, Postal Service, and maybe the PG version of Lil Wayne’s new album.

I am writing this while I watch the final day of the U.S. Open in Torry Pines. We went to Open yesterday. I imagine I’ll write more about it later this week.