1998 was a benchmark year. This year saw the manifestation of numerous goals, some of which were years in the making. Although my personal and professional lives were not nearly as balanced as I wanted, I think the rewards were far in excess of cost. Personally and professionally, 1998 was memorable. I feel both humble and grateful for the opportunities, but at the same time – what great opportunities! How could I not latch onto them with enthusiasm?! These experiences were made all the better when shared with family and friends throughout the year. And speaking of sharing, here is a chronological listing of the "Top 10 Highlights" from 1998, all of which involve or would not have been possible without you – my family and my friends.
1.) Promotion to Manager (3/1). In March, I became a member of the executive team at Andersen Consulting, precisely 12,561.5 working hours after joining the firm. (You laugh, but that number is correct!) My work this year took me from Sprint PCS in Kansas City to BellSouth in Birmingham, Alabama, and I attended Portfolio Retreats to Williamsburg, VA and Charleston, SC, as well as the New Executive Seminar in Atlanta. In addition, I made three trips to my alma mater, Virginia Tech, to help our recruiting efforts. All this travel carried me over 110,000 miles, so I was also given a promotion at US Airways.
2.) A Reunion (4/18-19). While a student at Virginia Tech, I belonged to a co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega (AΦΩ). This spring, a banquet was held to celebrate their 50th year of service to Virginia Tech. After finishing a wedding gig with my brass quintet, I hopped on a plane in my tux and raced to the banquet in time to see friends, many of whom I had not seen since graduation in 1991. Reconnecting with friends made this trip memorable and lasting.
3.) Three trips to Greenville, South Carolina (5/1-3, 5/30-6/1, 11/1). Greenville became an unexpected hot-spot this year. I traveled to Greenville to help design several Arts & Crafts Rugs with a wonderful artist, Nancy Thomas, who runs Blue Hills Studio. At the same time, I knew I could also visit a good friend from college, Diane Peters, who also lives in Greenville. Each trip, my timing turned out to be great! On my first trip, we imbibed (literally and figuratively) the annual RiverPlace Festival -- complete with an outdoor concert by jazz guitarist Earl Klugh. On my second trip, there was a cookout/housewarming party at Diane's, and I also saw a performance by the musical group Stomp. On my third trip, I ended up sitting all alone in first class with singing legend Lou Rawls, enjoying a very nice conversation about -- what else?! -- music. Greenville was surprisingly fun, and now I have some great rugs, to boot.
4.) Trip to San Francisco (7/15-19). Ostensibly, I made this trip so I could attend an Andersen Consulting training class. However, the other 75% of my time was vacation. During my first night there, I found myself atop the Mark Hopkins Hotel with longtime friends Susan & Doug Rutherford, watching a spectacular sunset and listening to a live swing band. As it turns out, I even knew the trumpet player in the band since we performed at the Palo Alto, CA wedding of a mutual friend in May of 1997. Another highlight of this trip was having a wonderful dinner with Margo & Andy Meiman at their house overlooking San Francisco (or so they said – I couldn't see anything but fog).
5.) Trip to Charlotte, NC (8/9-10) and to Research Triangle Park, NC (9/19-20). I made several trips to North Carolina to basically scout the area as a potential place to live. Since I want to build a house in the next year or two, I first need to decide where to live. I fell in love with NC when I was a Cooperative Education Student there from 1985 to 1988, so I wanted to gauge my reaction to NC, all these years later. I still love NC, but with family, friends, career, and music so well-established in Virginia, I realize that I would lose a lot by leaving Virginia...perhaps more than I would gain elsewhere. As a result of these trips, I'm about 95% sure I'll build in Virginia.
6.) Diagnosis of Good Health (10/2). In my annual physical, a small lump was found that needed further examination. After three weeks of uninformed worrying, I learned that this lump was completely benign. Living with uncertainty for three weeks was a religious experience, and it reminded me to renew commitments to my highest priorities and live with even greater urgency.
7.) QBR Recital (10/18). I am very proud to say that the brass quintet I started at Virginia Tech (the Quintessential Brass Repertoire, or QBR) is now in its 10th year! And honestly, we have never sounded better or had more fun. It's a tribute to the current makeup of the quintet. We are five guys who enjoy hanging out, having fun, and making music. Everyone contributes! In October, we challenged ourselves by giving a full recital. The feature piece was Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, which required the addition of narrator, piano, and percussion. The rest of the concert was all pops and was well-received. All told, we racked up 14 gigs this year and just had a great time in the process.
8.) Dedication of McComas Hall at Virginia Tech (10/23). In October, Virginia Tech dedicated a new building in honor of their 13th President, the late Dr. James McComas. Dr. McComas is responsible for much of the early success of QBR. Dr. McComas helped ensure that we represented the university at building dedications, graduation ceremonies, recruiting functions, faculty receptions, class reunions, and so forth. Given this relationship, I proposed that QBR perform at the dedication of McComas Hall, and University Relations and the Division of Performing Arts generously helped bring this to fruition. QBR loaded up a van and made a five-hour road trip for the dedication. It was a distinct honor to be a part of this ceremony -- a fitting tribute to a remarkable man. Occasions such as this remind me why I continue to make music. There are few substitutes for expressing musically the emotions that are otherwise difficult to articulate. It's why music was ever invented.
9.) Trip to Arizona (11/5-8). An evolving yearly tradition I have with my Mother is to make a weekend trip together. After postponing this trip in February, we finally made it to Arizona in November. Flying into Phoenix, we drove to Hereford, AZ (on the Mexican border) and saw Yvonne & Harvey Haynes, family friends from our days in Panama who we had not seen in (count 'em) 25 years. We experienced the rugged beauty of Arizona, as well as the various ways that elk can be prepared for dinner and breakfast! Next, we traveled to Scottsdale on a continuing exploration of the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (the Biltmore Hotel and Taliesin West). The final leg of our trip to Sedona revealed more of the diverse beauty unique to this region.
10.) Christmas Vacation (12/17-31). By mid-December, I had gone the entire year without more than two consecutive days of vacation during any given business week. Mistake! I made up for lost time by taking roughly two weeks off at the end of the year. This time was filled with brass quintet gigs, visits with friends, a reunion with many on the Welch side of the family, and time to myself to recharge -- time which allowed me to make tremendous progress in my quest to simplify not only what I own, but what I do.
For those of you I saw in 1998, I hope that 1999 brings opportunities to visit again. For those I didn't see in 1998, perhaps we'll have a chance this year. Until then, be well and take care. And best wishes for 1999!
"Your humor never fails to abuse me." - anonymous excerpt from the Lion King
"Thank you for a life worth singing about." - David Wilcox (musician), comments to family and friends in the liner notes of one of his recordings
"Never cut what can be untied." - anonymous
"It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way." – Rollo May
"What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Are you trading lots of dreams for a bigger paycheck?" – question posed by author Mitch Albom in Tuesdays with Morrie
"Everybody knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently...But there's a better approach. To know you're going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time. That's better." – Morrie Schwartz
"People are so hungry for love that they accept substitutes. People embrace material things and expect a sort of hug back." – the paraphrased thoughts of Morrie Schwartz
"...the biggest defect we human beings have is our shortsightedness. We don't see what we could be. We should be looking at our potential, stretching ourselves into what we could be." – Morrie Schwartz
"You need to make peace with yourself and everyone around you. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Don't wait." - Morrie Schwartz
"Strive to have access to things, not ownership of them. Possess something and it possesses you." – Linus Mundy, author of Keep Life Simple Therapy
"The longing for simplicity is a spiritual longing." – Linus Mundy
"No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings." – William Blake
"Ours is a culture...that honors mere fame more than it does hard achievement." – Jonathan Yardley, author
"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing." – anonymous quote published by photographer Susan Slotter
"Live by design, not by default." – anonymous, as excerpted from the 1998 Covey Planner
"It is far better to understand than to be understood." – Bill Russell, former NBA player
"We are all on the Titanic – we just don't know when our iceberg will appear." – Father Edward O'Donnell, author of The Last Days of the Titanic
"In Bora Bora, people bury their dead on their front or side yards – there is no central cemetery." – an observation from my Grandfather Miller's account of a trip through Bora Bora
"You wanted to save the world (when you were a kid) – would you settle for helping a few global companies?" – from an Andersen Consulting recruiting advertisement (my employer)
"When my journaling is at its very best, my mind is free to move in directions created by my journal entries." – David Welch
"It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised, the mosquito swatted." – Marie O'Conner
"...everything you need...within reach...and everything you want...within your grasp." – Liz Seymour, author
"(In a Democratic society) the difference between youth and being an adult is that freedom is given to you as a child – but you have to create that freedom as an adult." – David Welch
"Unfortunately, Stanford students are very risk averse because their parents are so rich." – comment made by an (anonymous) acquaintance during dinner at Citronelle in Washington, D.C."There's no doubt about it – growth is hard work. But you are fooling yourself if you think you can make brilliant, conscious decisions about the rest of your life without even knowing yourself. Finding balance, depth, and passion takes work and patience." – Kathleen A. Brehony, author of Awakening at Midlife
"Among Brehony's arsenal of tools for making the most of the midlife journey is the daily practice of journaling – a way of finding out what war is going on inside, what you believe, and how you feel about it." – review by Su Claussen-Wicker of Awakening at Midlife, by Kathleen A. Brehony
"I think this is true of life in general that if you are not afraid to undertake adventures on your own you can most often get awesome seats." – Michi Szpatura, friend
"Once I don't have shoes on, I'm a much better person." – Michi Szpatura
"I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten the chance I've gotten – and I don't intend to waste it." – musician and rock legend David Crosby (after his successful liver transplant in 1995)
"I've got a hungry soul but a cautious mind." – lyrics of singer and songwriter David Wilcox
"To live is to change; to be perfect is to have changed often." – John Henry Newman, 19th Century Philosopher
"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be." – Socrates
"In a Wright place, you see conscious intentionality in every gesture. It's illuminating and transforming. That was (Frank Lloyd) Wright's intention – that architecture would actually wake people." – Ken Burns, filmmaker
"(When you say no) there's nothing to argue over. You're in charge of your own time... it is not up to people who think they know you better than you to tell you how you should manage your life." – Judith Martin ("Miss Manners")
"The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things." – Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
"The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand." – Karl Menninger
"When a person's heart is in the right place, I cut them a lot of slack." – David Welch
"I just got the green arrow to move ahead...which is probably one of the most positive life-type signs that you can receive while on the road." – excerpt from a cellular phone message sent to me by friend Michi Szpatura
"The real immorality of infidelity is the lying." – Playboy founder Hugh Heffner commenting on President Clinton's affair d'jour
"You know something? When you're a nice person, people do nice things for you." – Don (last name unknown), salesman at New Audio World
"Linear thinking can only carry (you) so far. When you get to a brick wall in your thinking, non-linear thinking is often the only way around that brick wall." – paraphrased from a conversation with fellow airline passenger Jim Tourtellotte
"I believe, first of all, that the person who sees into the future farthest is the person who sees into the past the farthest." – Bill Evans, jazz pianist, in an interview with John Mehegan (Jazz, January, 1965)
"The rare bird has both the insight into the universal and the means to express it." – Don Nelson, music critic, commenting upon jazz pianist Bill Evans
"...knowing how to be together is more important than knowing how to be alone, which is what all of us have to learn in order to become individuals of our own choice. When that time has been spent, however, when the woman is now a woman and the man is now a man, and neither of them smudges like a bad copy of some other somebody, then the time to learn how to be together is more important than anything else." – Stanley Crouch, from the album liner for the midnight BLUES, standard time, volume 5, by Wynton Marsalis
Alabama
Birmingham v Five Points v Hoover v Pelham
Arizona
Benson v Boynton Canyon v Coronado National Park v Hereford v Phoenix v Red Rock State Park v Scottsdale v Sedona v Tombstone v Tucson
California
San Francisco v San Jose v San Mateo
Florida
Coconut Grove v Maitland v Miami v Orlando v South Beach v West Palm Beach v Winter Park
Georgia
Atlanta v Buckhead v Roswell
Illinois
Chicago v Oak Park v St. Charles
Kansas
Overland Park
Maryland
Annapolis v Baltimore v Bethesda v Boonsboro v Catonsville v Ellicott City v Kensington v Laurel v Potomac v Takoma Park v Wheaton
Missouri
Kansas City
North Carolina
Chapel Hill v Charlotte v Davidson v Durham v Mooresville v Raleigh
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia v Pittsburgh
South Carolina
Charleston v Greenville v Mount Pleasant (Christ Church Parish) v Spartanburg
Tennessee
Chattanooga
Virginia
Alexandria v Annandale v Arlington v Bailey's Crossroads v Blacksburg v Centreville v Chantilly v Christiansburg v Crystal City v Dulles v Dunn Loring v Fairfax v Fairview Park v Falls Church v Great Falls v Hampton v McLean v Merrifield v Mount Vernon v Oakton v Old Town Alexandria v Pentagon City v Potomac River v Quantico v Reedville v Richmond v Roanoke v Seven Corners v Shirlington v Springfield v Tyson's Corner v Williamsburg v Vienna
Washington, D.C. & Georgetown
