Tomorrow, immediately following my soccer game, I leave for Iceland where I will spend ten days camping and touring the island.  I will not be posting again until I return on June 10.

Jeanine, Nico, Maya and I attended the midday memorial service for Grant Backerman, who died at the age of 22. Grant was on Nico’s wrestling team, worked briefly for Kyle at Yard  Dogs, and was a neighbor of ours.  The service was poignant and beautiful.  It left everyone in attendance deeply moved. Mourning the loss of someone in the prime of their life is very different than celebrating the life of someone who has lived fully and to an old age.  No parent should outlive their child and no child should have to lose a sibling. Our deepest and most profound sympathy rests with the Backerman family.