A Fantastic Weekend

            I am genuinely very blessed to have a wonderful family.  From my trail blazing sister to my laid-back and intelligent youngest brother to my driven and passionate other brother to my very well organized and caring mother to my moral and devoted father, I grew up with a great assortment of people.  So this past weekend I got to spend a lovely weekend with my fantastic family (minus Cal).  Overall, I got to do many great things with them all and wanted to share it with everyone.  However, there was too much to confine to Facebook posts so I thought the blogposts would be far more efficient.

            I had a networking event in Chicago hosted by SPEA that I had attended on Thursday.  As a result, I went back home where it would be easier to get from Syracuse to Chicago.  Once I got home, I had dinner with my parents and my youngest brother Cameron at the Sleepy Owl restaurant.  I hadn’t eaten there since my confirmation (I didn’t like that place as much growing up) so it was quite the experience to return.  Honestly, the food was good, it was nice to catch up, and I had a good time with everyone.

            The following morning, dad drove me out to the train station in South Bend and I took it to Chicago.  I’d done that a couple of times (my first time of which was taking it with my youth group to the Chicago Art Museum in middle school) and it was significantly easier than driving on the streets of the city.  So I got to the city with no issues and was able to get to my hotel in time for the first day’s festivities.  I spent the day with other students and with people in the business world getting a feel for potential fields.  The experience of which I feel was quite beneficial.

            While in Chicago, I got an understanding of the skills needed in the Public Affairs world.  I also got to make some contacts that will be beneficial in the long run.  There were also some potential internship opportunities that I could put to good use for the summer to follow up on later.  This was an important event that gave me a feel for where I might be going with my career.  That did give me some optimism about future opportunities.

            After I got back on Friday, my parents, Cam, and I were headed to Michigan.  We had gotten tickets to see Wicked and I was really excited.  This was my first professional production of a Broadway show that I had never seen at a local theater back home or at a high school.  To say the least, I was excited.  I had listened to the album a bunch so I was prepared for it.

            I’d wanted to see it for a while.  My paternal grandmother had seen it in Chicago and loved it.  She had talked about it when she had visited us/we visited her so I had gotten the gist of the musical’s plot.  This had given me a strong desire to see it.  Of course, she had seen it when I was in middle school so this was the fulfillment of a long term desire and in a way a dream come true.

            To sum up the story: the musical Wicked is a musical prequel to the Wizard of Oz from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West.  The audience sees some of her childhood, her years in school and those spent with Galinda, the good witch of the North (based on the film’s universe).  I’m not going to give anything away, but it had a lot of interesting twists and turns that forever changed how I will see all future interpretations of the Wizard of Oz.  Interestingly enough, the song “Wonderful” from the musical was what I picked as the theme for Ohio Governor John Kasich’s bid for President.

            The musical was fantastic and we all loved it.  We couldn’t stop talking about it afterwards and everything in it.  During the trip home, our ride was filled with discussions of our favorite songs, characters, and everything else.  The music was great, the story was great, everything was great.  It was an experience I won’t easily forget.

            So the following day I mostly studied.  I had a test the Monday after the weekend so I spent the afternoon studying for that.  I also had lunch with my mom at the Root Beer Stand (or Shopoff’s Drive-In) that afternoon.  We discussed her work, things around town, and the musical so that was nice as always.  Also, Shopoff’s is always super cheap which is something I’ve come to appreciate because it makes every other place look expensive by comparison.

            Later that night, I went to Mass.  Dad had some things to deal with at work so I had to lector on his behalf.  It was nice to lector again at my home church as I had missed it.  Cameron was an altar server as well so we got to be involved with the mass’s procession.  I also sat next to my mom and sister Meg so it was quite enjoyable.

            After Mass, I took Cam to see the IT remake.  He’d seen the original and was really curious about the new one so I was happy to take him and watch it my third time.  As always, it was scary (less scary than the first time, scarier than the second time) so I definitely had a good time.  However, Cam’s reactions were always the greatest.  During the film, whenever somethings scary was about to happen he would say “Don’t do it, don’t do it!” and literally jumped out of his seat at one point.

            This weekend actually gave me time to reflect on my relationship with my brother.  There’s a ten-year age difference between Cam and I which can be a hard gap to bridge.  However, more recently we’ve talking a lot more about things that we’ve been interested in like WWII, Batman, IT, Wicked, and more so we’ve been getting closer.  It’s nice to talk to him about those things and fun to spend time with him.  Also, he’s about the only guy I can drag to see films so that’s always fun.

            However, he’s also doing things earlier than I did as well.  He saw a Broadway musical before I did, an R-rated film in theaters before me, and I’ve already given him permission to watch an M-rated game which means he’s one year younger than when I could.  Of course, he can definitely handle that and I’m happy he has those opportunities.  It’s interesting to see though where he’s going and to share those experiences with him.  Cam’s already doing well in school and various chess tournaments so I am excited to see where the road takes him.

            Speaking of M games, it’s interested to see Cam’s ready for that while Meg clearly didn’t used to be.  At one point many years ago, Call of Duty (COD) was really popular with her friends so she figured she should play it as well.  I said she wasn’t ready for it, but she insisted.  So I made her a deal: if she could play Resident Evil: Zero, the tamest M game I could think of, with no problems, then she was ready for COD.  After watching the opening cut scene, she decided it wasn’t worth it (though to be fair, I think she was two years younger than Cam is now).

            The final day, my mom, Meg, Cam, and I went to a place I enjoyed as a child: Fashion Farm.  It was a sort of pumpkin showcase where they would dress up pumpkins as famous people.  There were also hay and corn mazes as well which I always enjoyed.  Also, it was a great opportunity to get pumpkin themed food like Pumpkin donuts and ice cream.  So it was a good time.

            Unfortunately, the quality of the place has deteriorated in the past few years.  The pumpkin statues weren’t as impressive, the corn maze no longer has real corn, and they got rid of the dark maze which was probably the best of the three mazes.  My family and I still had a great time of course and I’d go again, but all that was sad to see.  Also, the saddest thing was they didn’t even have a pumpkin character for the jail cell this year.

            Afterwards, the four of us went to see the play Agatha Christie’s Mouse Trap at the Round Barn Theater.  It was a great play as always and I enjoyed every second of it.  Essentially, it’s a who done it where there is an investigation of a mysterious murder in the vicinity of a hotel.  It was really intense and really funny (and the murder was my sister’s second guess).  Interestingly enough, the actors made the audience take a pledge to not spoil the ending, but I feel I can’t hold it in and just need to spoil it for everyone: there was indeed an ending.

            After that, I drove home.  I bid farewell to everyone and thanked them for a fantastic weekend.  I really enjoyed being with them all and it was great to be with them.  It was a great weekend and I look forward to when we spend time together again.  So until then, I eagerly await what we do next.