I’m excited to say that my brother Steve, his wife Deb, and their son Nick, were all able to spend some time with us this evening. They live in Nevada and came into town for an extended weekend. As you might well imagine, before seeing them on Friday night we hadn’t seen them in well over a year. Steve and I used to be quite close. We are 15 months apart in age and I was the best man at his wedding.

We went out for dinner and beer at the Third Place Pub, right here in our neighborhood. Today’s photo, as you can see, is actually of just Romain and me inside the pub. I didn’t have my camera so had to rely on this picture taken from Melinda’s cell phone. One thing that makes tonight’s locale hugely significant for this blog is that it was at this very location, in fact at the very table that we were sitting at, that Melinda and I outlined our wishes for the sabbatical with representatives of the PSCS board.

Taking this further, it was here at the Third Place Pub that most of the sabbatical planning meetings took place, also in most cases at this very table. It was Melinda’s and my first time there since returning to Seattle, and having Romain with us seemed quite apt. I figure this is one of those deeply meaningful posts personally, the kind that the significance doesn’t quite carry in text.

But believe me, it was a big deal tonight for Melinda and me. And fun to be there with members of my family I rarely see.