A Long Road Home

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”

               Many of you already know that I have accepted a job as an architect/project manager back in Chillicothe, Missouri. The journey to get here was rather frustrating, and I have to admit that when it started, I did not imagine that I would be returning to my hometown. What I have discovered is that this difficult decision has allowed me the opportunity to be working for one of the best companies I have ever worked for, and that even with all the travels and experiences that I have had, there are still many things here that I do not know, and I am excited to learn them.

My move from Virginia to Missouri was a rather interesting experience. I was determined that I would drive through the city of Newark, Ohio, and see the Longaberger's Home Office, a building that is identified as being the World’s Largest Basket. It is still unclear to me why I felt the need to see this building, but I think I was fascinated with a company that saw the need to construct a building that literally looked like their product. Beyond the fact that the building is visually overwhelming, the structure also includes heated handles that prevent ice from forming and two 725- pound, gold-leaf Longaberger tags that adorn the front and back facades. Needless to say, the drive was worth it ☺!

             Well, the real story began once I arrived in Newark, Ohio. It was 11 p.m. and to the surprise of many of you, I had not made arrangements on where I was going to stay, and I did not have a map or smart phone with me. Having spent the two whole weeks prior to this making a whirl-wind tour across the United States, which included driving two round-trip drives back and forth between Missouri and Virginia, a trip to Chicago and a trip to L.A., I was exhausted!!! So after driving around the city of Newark for 1 hour and not finding a single motel/hotel/B&B, I decided to park my parents’ mini-van in a church parking lot and then I crawled into the back, amongst all my furniture, and fell asleep.
             Well, around 3 in the morning I was awakened by two men talking outside the van. Clearly, this sent me into complete panic. Were they trying to rob the vehicle or were they police and was I going to be arrested for sleeping in a church parking lot? It should also be noted that because the vehicle was so hot (it was 103 that day) I had stripped down to basically nothing, and I was crammed under a large desk top, and struggling on how I was going to explain this situation. I decided the best thing to do was just lie there and wait. After listening for several minutes to the conversation, I realized that it was the police, and that they were investigating to see if this was a stolen vehicle. You can only imagine what I was envisioning happening once the police realized that there was a half-dressed woman in the back of the vehicle. Thankfully, with stealthy movements on my part, I maneuvered the parts of my body that might be seen if one were looking through the car window, into a large box that was filled with my shoes, and I decided that the best thing to do was to wait/pray for these two police officers to go on their merry way. After thirty minutes of back and forth from their cars, and an hour of them having random conversations about work, family, and the new truck that one of them had purchased, they finally drove away.
              Clearly, this little episode had rattled me, and I was not able to fall back asleep. After another hour of lying there, I decided that I would just head over to the Longaberger building and get some nice sunrise shots. From there I drove back to downtown Newark to get some photos of a Louis Sullivan building that appeared to be on its last legs. The decay of this building is rather unfortunate because Louis Sullivan is identified by many architectural historians as being the "father of the American skyscraper," and he was also the mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and he is one of the most influential architects of American modernism. One can only hope that someone in Newark, Ohio, will recognize the importance of this structure and try to save it. From Newark I made a few more stops, unscathed, and finally returned to Chillicothe a week and a half ago.
              Since arriving home I have started my job, spent many fun nights catching-up with old and new friends, and have begun my quest to be svelte by 2013. I am enjoying my adventure in Chillicothe, and I am excited to be here and excited for what lies ahead. Hope all is well.Square. 

                

A detail from a Louis Sullivan jewel box bank building, which was also located in Newark, OH.  For those of you that are from the Mid-West, Sullivan has several of these banks in Iowa. 

 I never posted photos from my graduation in May, which I actually decided not to attend.  So here is a photo that was taken several weeks later by "L", so that we would stop getting phone calls from Momma J about "missed opportunities."