Momentum Arrival!

We’ve arrived at Momentum! My dad drove the kids and I drove our cargo van the whole way here. I think we’re all pretty worn out from the drive. It’s looking to be a great week, and we’re all excited to be here!

Zues, Josh and I had a little party this evening. Since conference hasn’t officially started, there are technically no rules .

Spring is Getting Icy!

Not many people think the first day of a new season is worthy of celebration. So the earth hits a certain point in its orbit around the sun, and the weather changes a little. Big deal.

Italian ice lovers think it’s a big deal. For 16 years, Rita’s Ice has been serving up free cups of its delicious treat on the first day of Spring. Any flavor you want. All day long.

I remember the first year I tried Rita’s on the first day of Spring. It was the first time I’d ever tried the stuff, and what a better way to sample than get a free cup on a warm sunny day. Now I go every year, and this year I shivered in the wind 15 minutes for a frozen cup of Birthday Cake-flavored ice. Yeah, it’s that good.

What I admire about Rita’s is their willingness to give. Sure, it’s a way to attract new customers (it worked on me), but they have to be losing money on this thing. But the Rita’s giveaway accomplishes more than just boosting future sales. It bonds people together. Groups of people come out of the woodwork just to get a free ice, no matter how warm or cold it is that day. You’re in line for 15 minutes or more, and everyone is having a good time because they’re getting a free treat. People mingle, and aren’t afraid to joke around with others they’ve never seen before.

What is so striking about this event is that to me it seems so natural. Spring is welcomed by chirping birds, grass starting to turn green, leaves budding, animals scurrying around, and now by humans eating flavored ice. It just fits.

Way to go, Rita’s. Greeting the warm weather with 10 million ounces of ice. Brilliant!

No Room for Us in the Inn

I haven’t been consistently making entries everyday because my grandmother passed away. She lived in western Pennsylvania in the small town of Martinsburg. My grandfather passed away 10 years earlier of a sudden and completely unexpected heart attack.

Grandma had open heart surgery two weeks ago on a Monday, and showed signs of a speedy recovery. But as the week progressed her health began to decline until that Friday when she had a stroke. Doctors spent the whole next week trying to save her, but her organs continued to shut down. Finally, they carried out her living will and took her off of life support on Saturday.

As if the viewing and funeral aren’t hard enough, we had a little trouble with our accommodations for the night in between. We were supposed to stay at my uncle’s cabin, but we couldn’t get up the steep drive due to ice. We tried numerous times, and even the tire-chains didn’t help. Finally we resorted to finding a hotel, so we drove an hour to the closest one that Google knew about. They were booked, and so were three others that we tried.

We spent about three hours looking for a place to stay, and my patience was wearing thin, but I’m now cozied up in a Ramada double bed with my MacBook. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for Mary and Joseph to end their hotel search in a barn.