2007: the New Normal

This photo was taken exactly one year ago today. That's me with my Finnish cousins Carl-Kristian Rundman (he's an actor) and Micke Rundman (he's a TV producer) as we rang in the year 2006 on the shores of the Baltic Sea in downtown Helsinki, Finland. Dawn and Paavo and I went over to Finland and Sweden last New Years to visit our wonderful relatives and connect with our ever-more-meaningful family heritage. Little did we know what that upcoming year 2006 would hold for us!

My life has been in turmoil for the past year and a half. The craziness began in the Summer of 2005, when I suddenly realized my life was careening a bit too much, so I suddenly declared myself on sabbatical. No more gigs, no more web updates (although it's when I began blogging), and five months "off the grid" as I liked to say. I needed that break, and I used my newfound freedom to read books (I NEVER do that!) and record the liturgical portion of the Protestant Rock Ethic album. Near the end of Fall 2005 Dawn and I discovered a great deal on airfare to Scandinavia (thanks Joe!) and jumped at the chance to travel overseas for the new year...and that brings us up to the non-stop turmoil.

Prepping for a Europe trip takes a ton of work (especially with a 2 year old son!) so that demanded our attention for a couple months. After our delightful vacation overseas, we came home with a couple major new ideas: finding a new HOUSE and having a new BABY. So the early months of 2006 were spent getting those plans in motion, and BOOM, before we knew it we were pregnant and putting our house for sale. We found the new house we wanted in a new neighborhood, and began the packing of the previous home. As Summer rolled around I was totally immersed in packing and hauling of boxes and furniture. By June we were living in the new place, but I could barely unpack due to a series of musical tours to Texas, South Dakota, Michigan, etc. Suddenly it was September and I was shutting down the showbiz operation in anticipation of the birth of the new little one. And we weren't unpacked yet!

On October 15th little Svea Irene was born and our family launched into a couple months of maternity leave, and once Dawn went back to work after Thanksgiving I was home with both kiddos all day, prepping for a big Christmas Vacation to Upper Michigan!

So, that brings us up to the present: this morning we left Escanaba, MI and drove back here to our new house in Minnesota. It's 2007, and for the first time in YEARS my calendar has NOTHING on it. No moving, no house-selling, no packing, no loading, no baby-making, no baby-birthing. Just NORMAL life with this new family of four. I've got a few quiet gigs during this upcoming Winter, but not much touring, no huge recordings (just finalizing the "Best of the 20th Century" album), and no major life changes. Just feedings, diapers, potty training, snow shoveling (did that today for the first time at this house!), blogging, laundry, all with the iTunes on shuffle in the background. This is the NEW NORMAL. I hope I like it!

I'm not a fan of New Year's Resolutions, but I will say that in 2007 I hope for:
+ date nights with Dawn with no kids around
+ time to continue to unpack this new house, set up the studio, etc.
+ building new friendships
+ writing a series of brand new rock and roll tunes
+ confidently exploring the beginning of the second third of my life

Read on at this blog location to see how the future unfolds. Love and peace to you and yours in 2007!