Retirement hectic stress
In retirement you relax but August proved to be jam packed with stuff that had to be done in August. I was co chair of the 50th anniversary Illinois Trout Unlimited celebration, my mom had a birthday and my son, Jack was about to married.
I am bad at event planning due to ennui. I don’t care if there are round tables or what do we do if it rains. Also when I’m responsible, I am unusually stressed about the unknown of events, like will people show up and will the entertainment be good. This is especially true of an event never done before like a 50th Anniversary. Luckily, I had a co chair, Kevin, who had confidence and experience. We soldiered through and had 200 people show up. The Trout Unlimited CEO spoke, the band sounded good, food trucks were used, children’s games worked, our partners handed out prizes and the weather was sunny. Success!
Setting Up, Trout Unlimited 50th Celebration, Oak Brook Park District, Oak Brook Illinois
Parachute Adams Band, Trout Unlimited 50th Celebration
Mom and Dad have birthdays 3 days apart and this August was my mom’s first birthday without Dad. So I went to Philadelphia to see Mom for 92 . I added an extension to Stone Harbor, NJ to see some good friends, Dan, Steve and Dave, the beach and some Atlantic City golf over 24 hours.
My son, Jack, and his fiancé, Shelby decided to get married in Scotland, Labor Day Weekend. So the last week in August we headed across the pond to Stirling and Edinburgh for some pre wedding fun with friends and family. I like Scotland because while it has cool old stones, it also has affordable golf, great hiking and lots of elbow room. Its people are really nice as well. We rented cars and did walking around touristy stuff.
Lori, Sue, Cris overlooking Loch Lomond, the high road, Balmaha, Scotland 
Jim, Ron, Mark, Luss, Scotland 
Pete, Cris, Jim, highlands album cover, Scotland 
Lori, Cris, Denise, Janet, Ron, Jim, Darrin, Kevin, Wallace Monument, Scotland 
Lori, Sophie, Chris, Zak, family backs, Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland 
Lori, Jim, Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland
Once back in Edinburgh, right before heading for the wedding and celebrations, we had dinner with Shelby’s family. They are great, friendly, kind humans who are comfortable and fun to have a wedding with. We were staying in Scotland to start off September.
Big events with accountability, lots of travel and little time in between made it a hectic month. The plethora of great people and great experiences without disasters made it very enjoyable. On to September and another wedding.
R1T Tour 