We took a great tour of Cleveland’s downtown ballpark yesterday, now known as Progressive Field, even though people still call it “The Jake” which was the original name (Jacobs Field). Here’s yours truly sitting in the Cleveland dugout.
Cleveland is also a city filled with memories for my traveling buddy Kevin who lived here during his Jesuit Volunteer year and remained here and got married to his lovely wife, Jen, in this city.
We got together with our friend, Paula and her fiance Chuck last night. Paula was a support person for Jesuit Volunteers during Kev’s JV tenure and ironically, Paula was one of the first people that became a “virtual colleague” for me at Busted Halo®. We had met when I lurked on a bunch of listservs and I liked a lot of her opinions and the way that she would listen to others and invite their opinions even if they differed from hers. So I made her the first moderator with me on the Busted Halo® discussion board. We had never met in person until about two years ago and so we gave her a call.
Cleveland has been a city that had always given me some joy. Brittany Janis, Busted Halo’s® development coordinator also hails from here. And she has been such a strong colleague for me personally. She kept me sane when I was feeling the tug to leave full time and I love the work she’s still doing on the podcast.
Lastly, John Carroll University was the first major speaking engagement that I did, after writing an article on the worst homilies I ever heard for Busted Halo. Cleveland gave me confidence to be a writer and speaker but more importantly, it gave me a heart to be sensitive to the needs of people who serve students and young adults.
So we leave a great city, filled with memories of my friend’s wedding day and a whole lot more. The best news is that Cleveland is only 3 hours from Buffalo.