Endings and New Beginnings - Adventure Year Week 28

posted on: December 25, 2019



The video above is a few moments of listening to the noon playing of the carillon inside the Kirk in the Hills Church in Bloomfield Hills, MI.  It's the church Alex and I were married in and in a moment of running around the Detroit metro area, I wanted a moment to step inside and just surrender and be still with the sound of the bells.  The week before Christmas can be such a hustle of activity that we often forget to just take a moment and be at peace in stillness.




This holiday week was one of endings and new beginnings for several of my family members.  For my mom, we celebrated her retirement from being the director of the Cromaine Library after 12 years of innovating the library services, programs, and updating the space for the community.  She has been largely recognized in the community, and will be venturing out on her own adventure year soon in order to remember who she is when she's not playing the role of the community library director.  You'll definitely see her appearing multiple times on my blog and in my instagram feed in the year ahead because she's invited me to join her on a lot of her travels!!  Apparently I make for a good travel companion, and thankfully, we enjoy spending time together. ;-)




As for new beginnings, my brother-in-law recently became engaged, a board certified cardiologist, and a fellow at the Cleveland Clinic!  We headed into Cleveland to see the fantastic view from his new apartment, explore downtown Cleveland's night life, and enjoy an afternoon of music at Severance Hall.




Something that was a first for us this year was participating in the Akron Tuba Christmas at the University of Akron! This was quite an event with over 500 low brass instrumentalists on stage!!  Since Alex plays french horn and his brother plays trombone, they took a shot at getting as many notes as they could on euphoniums that they borrowed for the event.  If you have not heard of this or attended, it was highly entertaining and I'd definitely recommend making it part of your holiday traditions- even if you aren't a low-brass player or enthusiast.  It was just a fun family community music event with plenty of opportunities for the audience to sing-along.  Scroll through the videos and images to hear and see more!




In one last Auntie-Anne and Uncle-Alex move in Michigan, we treated our nephews to a fun afternoon and evening exploring all of the holiday events and activities in downtown Detroit, which was a first for them during the holidays.



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And as I consider my own endings and beginnings this year, I take to heart the words of Emma Goldman and Ari Weinzweig, who both sought to challenge the norms by thinking freely and shaking up the processes that other people assumed were the only way.


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“Anne, Think free, make a difference! Ari 2019” Thanks Ari Weinzweig- I’m doing my best! Here’s how this is true for me in this moment... some days I want the simplicity of focusing in one direction, but I am such a multi-passionate person that every time I have tried to have a singular focus, it has often squashed my creative free-thinking instincts and unique ways of serving the world. I am deeply passionate about my work in creative business industries as well as in the healing/intuitive realm. I serve clients in both spaces and find it easy to move between these different ways of being. One is very strategic and one is very intuitive, but both require my unique life experiences, sensitive awareness, and keen powers of observation. No matter how many ways I simplify, it seems my life continues to be a living experiment in how to find success and balance as a multi-passionate person. How to divide my time and energy between various passions without being overwhelmed or under-resourced. How to live on the edge of possibilities while being firmly grounded in my value and truth. How to navigate a life untethered by traditional work structures and systems. I continue to be a living work-in-progress of exploring all the possibilities that life can offer while constantly fighting the urge to shrink into doing only what is simple or easy. If we lack passion or interest in our work, I believe it is because we have stopped learning, growing, and changing. We lose passion when things become too routine or predictable. That’s not to say there isn’t a time in life when we need that kind of ease and simplicity- especially when our life outside of work feels chaotic and changing- but if we want to be happy with our work, we need to find our way to the edge of our comfort zone and continue to stretch into the unknown and unexplored. I’m grateful for all the supportive people and structures that contribute to me feeling grounded while being able to stretch myself into new realms. Even as it may seem I do this all alone, please know that it is far easier because of the people who believe in me even when I am unsure of myself. ❤️🙏
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Holidays in Southeast Michigan - Adventure Year Week 27

posted on: December 18, 2019

Anyone else have to balance at least 4 different family visits during the holidays?  I had a third grade teacher who was great about framing the challenges of divorced families... "You get twice as many Christmases and Birthdays!"  She was great at making divorce feel like a multiplication of blessings and family members rather than a shattering of family structure, and from then on, my childhood was about looking forward to twice as many Birthday cakes and Christmas cookies, even if it was actually much more difficult than that in reality.

As an adult who married into another family that experienced divorce and remarriage, holidays became 4+ families to navigate during the brief end-of-the-year holiday window.  Last year and this year it seems to be increasing to 5 locations in order to spend time with future in-law family as well.  While my adult self feels the pain of trying to meet everyone's expectations around the holidays, I always try to bring myself back to the idea that my life is blessed by having more family to visit.

This year, I was able to navigate these expectations among my side of the family by arriving in Michigan ahead of my original schedule, which gave me more time to spend exclusively with my family while they still have to navigate work schedules and their family obligations.  To make the most of the additional time, I also scoured local events on Facebook that I might be able to enjoy with family members outside of their normal working routines.  I find that extra special memories are created by engaging in events that are outside of our normal routines.

Here's a glimpse at some of the special holiday events I've been able to squeeze in with family while I've been here... my hope in sharing is that maybe it will inspire you to scour your local community events for special moments to share with friends or family as well!  I didn't know about most of these until arriving and searching facebook for local special events!



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When did we start doing Drive-Thru Live Nativity Scenes?! Is this just a car-loving Michigander thing, or is this happening other places too?! When we drove by the church earlier in the day and saw that it was only happening for one night, I just had to check it out. I mean, I couldn’t let such a rare opportunity pass me by! They didn’t just have one live nativity scene- this was set up in multiple scenes, with live music, live farm animals, and volunteers all freezing their butts off to make it happen. They even made a web app that could be played on smart phones in the car with high quality audio voice overs compete with sound effects! Wh-whaaat? As if it couldn’t get better, they raised the bar by handing out hot cocoa and cookies without asking for any donations?! What kind of Christians are these people?! (That’s a christianity joke.) Even if you aren’t religious or Christian, you’ve gotta give serious props to the dedication that went into this event. They had to set up traffic control and I’m sure everyone will have an opinion about whether they will do it again and how they will make it better- but just pulling off a production like that is already so much!! Have you ever heard of a drive through Nativity?! (PS. For anyone concerned about logistics and car safety- I was filming from the passenger side and we weren’t moving more than a walking pace the entire time.)
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Experiencing Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo with my 14mo old niece is a totally different ballgame- especially now that she’s able to toddle her way through crowds! She couldn’t stand to miss any of the action, so when her stroller seat was kicked back into a laying down position, she would do sit-ups while pulling the entire seat up with her by the seat straps so she could keep seeing all the lights and the people. She’s soaking in so many things visually right now and making sense of it all- she just doesn’t want to miss anything! The weather was nice enough that even though it was cold, it was still easy to spend a couple hours outside while fully bundled. Being able to sit down inside for an hour and warm up with some @buddyspizzadet didn’t hurt either. Do any zoos or gardens near you put up lights in the winter that you can walk around in?
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Last night’s Alan Turner Christmas Concert at Hartland Music Hall fulfilled one of @marlowcc’s large hopes and aspirations: that this space would become a place that continues to support professional music throughout the year so that there are more reasons to gather community together in a neutral public space beyond the outdoor concerts on the lawn in the summers. Did you know that Saint Cecilia is often considered the saint of music? I don’t think my mom was named after the saint, but she sure has taken up the mission to keep the music alive in the community to heart in her role as the Director of Cromaine Library! A lot of people don’t expect a library to be running a music program, but there are actually a lot of great libraries in the world that make it part of their mission and service to the community! Do you know if the library near you supports music in any way? When was the last time you stepped inside a public community space in your area? Do you look for community events you like? My personal hope, and I’m sure Ceci’s as well, is that this support for music continues well into the future of the Hartland Community. I personally believe that music brings the light of peace, love, and hope even when the days are short and the darkness is thick, and I hope you find a little of that peace this holiday season. ❤️🙏
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