Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

Ten years ago today, I left my job at Clarian Health and all my friends behind in Indianapolis to return to Louisville, which I had somehow kept thinking I needed to do since leaving this beautiful city 6 1/2 years earlier. Little did I know what was in store for me over the next few months: my mother suddenly passed away, my family moved further away back to Illinois, my new job was absolutely intolerable mostly due to a corrupt CIO, and Clarian management was too slow in offering me my old job back (partially because it took seven people to replace me and they couldn't figure out how to undo that).

But at least for my new Louisville digs I had a wonderful apartment in an historic, artsy, beautiful neighborhood, which was absolutely integral to the healing process and putting terrible times behind me. After a couple of years I met my future wife, and a couple of years after that, my wonderful son was born.

So even though for a long time I regretted leaving my Clarian friends behind and hoped I'd be going back, in the end all that happened had to happen in order to lead to the birth of Ben. No regrets! (At least, none from before 2004.) But I do continue to miss everybody terribly -- people I liked as well as people I didn't -- and am so glad some of us still communicate via the interwebs. Wasn't it nice of them to take me to Buca di Beppo for my going away dinner?