Today was a hard day. Today marks three years since my brother Aaron was killed in a jet ski accident. It’s been three years, but I still miss Aaron terribly. I can take comfort that he was a strong Christian, though, so I will see him again in heaven. It’s good to remember the words that my Dad read at his funeral, a personalization of Ephesians 1:3-14:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed Aaron in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose Aaron in Him before the foundation of the world, that Aaron should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined Aaron for adoption as a son through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed Aaron in the Beloved. In Him Aaron has redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon Aaron, in all wisdom and insight making known to Aaron the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In Him Aaron has obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him Aaron also, when Aaron heard the word of truth, the gospel of his salvation, and believed in Him, was sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of Aaron’s inheritance until Aaron acquires possession of it, to the praise of His glory.”
And also, the words of Aaron’s favorite hymn, “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise,” bring comfort.
I remember when I was deciding whether to go to grad school at CU-Boulder or Penn State, Aaron told me that if I chose Colorado, he’d come visit me for sure because he & Eve already wanted to take a vacation to Colorado. And now I find myself living in Colorado, but he won’t be able to come visit me. That’s come to mind many times in the last year.
Please keep our whole family, but especially Aaron’s wife Eve and their kids Ella and Matthias in your prayers. Miss you, Aaron.
Christmas break is over, and I’m back in Colorado. Here are some highlights of my break.
Very long drives. I drove straight through from Gunbarrel to the Twin Cities on Wednesday the 22nd in a little under 14 hours (aided by making only four stops the whole way). It’s a loooong drive to make by yourself. My previous longest solo drive was 13 hours, which I did twice in a three-day span in 2006 to go to Daniel & Katie’s wedding (State College, PA to Green Bay, WI, via Huntsville, AL). For the drive back from the Twin Cities I took a different route that was shorter route by distance, but it took me 14.5 hours due to an extra stop or two (minus the hour-long stop I made at Gustavus to say hi to a couple people). I’m glad I won’t be doing that drive again for awhile, it’s exhausting!
Bentleyville Tour of Lights. I met up with Vic & Lindsay in Duluth a couple nights before Christmas. We went to Bentleyville, which is basically a Christmas village in Bayfront Park with tens (or hundreds) of thousands of Christmas lights. It started out with one guy (Bentley) putting up so many Christmas lights at his house in Cloquet year after year that his neighbors got annoyed and Duluth city officials were intrigued. A few years ago he was invited to set up his village in Bayfront Park, and it’s continued to grow every year. It took us about an hour to walk through Bentleyville, but it was quite a pleasant evening, about 20 degrees with only a light breeze. There were also several bonfires here and there along the walk so you could get a quick warm-up. The concession stands were handing out coffee, hot chocolate, cookies and popcorn for free, too! I love Minnesota! I doubt you’d get that anywhere other than the Upper Midwest. After Bentleyville we went to dinner at Blackwoods in Duluth. Only in Minnesota could the three of us each get a different walleye dinner. So delicious! They stayed the night at my parents house in Two Harbors, and Vic brought some of his tasty home brew.
Christmas weekend in Two Harbors. A foot of snow fell earlier in the week, so the landscape was absolutely gorgeous. Nathan & Laura and their family came up for the weekend, and my uncle Gary & aunt Kathy came for Christmas Day. Fun times!
Gustavus physics reunion. The night after Christmas a bunch of us got together for dinner at a deserted pub in Saint Anthony, and then hung out at Zach & Jolene’s house in Minneapolis. More fun times!
Settling for a Settlers winner. I played Settlers of Catan: Cities & Knights one night at Nathan & Laura’s. But when it’s approaching 1am, a ten-year old is pleading to be allowed to go to bed, I’m needing to drive to the Twin Cities in six hours, and when I have no chance of winning, of course I’m going to hand the game to Laura just so the game ends. Even though it means Laura wins yet again.
Snowmobiling! I got the opportunity to go snowmobiling with a friend down in Goodhue County, Minnesota, in Mississippi River bluffs country. Apart from a short, 15-minute ride 20 years ago, I’d never been on a snowmobile before. So far all intents and purposes, this was my first time snowmobiling. I rode for the first 30-ish miles, then drove for the last 30-ish miles. There was a good mix of terrain, with some narrow, steep, forested trails, and some wide-open fields where I could open it up (I think I topped out at 55 or 60 mph). The snow, scenery, weather, and company were great, and I had tons of fun!
Visiting other friends. In addition to being able to have dinner and hanging out a fair bit with both my best friends, I was also able to meet up with some other friends who I hadn’t seen in years. That’s always fun!
Introducing my parents to Arrested Development. I bought all three seasons on DVD for $45 total, and sat my parents down on New Years Eve to introduce them to the show. And they loved it! We watched six episodes that night. They even asked to borrow the DVDs, so they could watch the rest, and then mail them back to me.
Christmas on New Years. My family had our gift exchange on New Years Day. My parents have long wanted to separate gifts from Christmas Day itself. It worked okay, but I’m personally still a fan of having gifts be exchanged a bit closer to Christmas.
It was a good break, good to see family and friends, and good to have some time off work. But I also felt like it was important to get back to Colorado to get back to work, and to get back to the business of trying to make friends out here. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year as well!
