Dear Friends

If you don't already know, at 3am Friday morning my dad, Jerry, passed away. The cancer, which started in the prostate, had spread to the liver, his kidneys were shutting down, and he had an unknown infection somewhere in his body. At that point his body began to shut down rapidly. Last night, due to all of this he was moved to a hospice right by the Mayo Hospital. He spent the night surrounded by family and a few friends, and we just spent timing recalling memories and good times that we have encountered. He was aware of what was going on, but unable to verbally respond, and only able to occasionally nod his head, but always able to kiss my mom. My mom, my sister and I were all in the room with him and were up until around 2am. The nurse woke us when she found that he was nearing the end. The three of us were with him for his last few moments, and were able to spend them together as a family.
We are tentatively planning on having a viewing on Tues. night at a Hansen mortuary(7th St. and Northern), and then the Arizona funeral on Wed around 2pm @ Trinity Bible Church(3420 W. Peoria Ave). We will then be headed to Austin, Minnesota for another service, and then laying him to rest in one of the family plots.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate through this rough time in life. I'm sure there will be a great many entries about my father as he was a great man that I will forever love deeply.

Sincerely,
Andrew Goodwin

Life is a Highway...or better yet...a single-track trail traversing through the Grand Canyon

On Sunday I got back from 4 day trek through the Grand Canyon. This was my third trip to the bottom in three years, but it was again a new trail. This year we did the Nankoweap Trail. I'm not going to go into detail about the trail, but if you want to know more Click Here.

As I was hiking I was trying to decide how I should convey my trip here on my blog. I thought about giving a play by play; including how unexpectedly cold it was, how we befriended some rafters, or the bonds that we forged. But that all would possibly bore you and me. So I decided to write about what I think about when I hike.

Currently the social norm for hiking or running or any solitary physical activity, is to listen to music while perform said exercise. Ever since I ran X-country in H.S. I've never been that person. My mind needs to be free from distraction in order to focus on the task at hand. It is much easier for me to drown out: people talking, cars driving, or sirens buzzing. On the other hand it also lets me hear: birds chirping, wind blowing, and water rushing. Plus it frees my mind up to think.

Now when I think I don't just recall something and dwell on it, or work through it. No, my mind wanders off to scenario land.
1) I begin by recalling a memory.
2) I look at all aspects of said situation
3) I modify the hell out of the possible outcomes in numerous different ways.
Many of you may think I'm nuts, but that is how my mind works. I use this "skill" to occasionally be funny, figure out movies, and write lyrics for my songs.

The great thing about this years trip to the Canyon, was that for the first time I was able to escape the crappy things that our going on my life. Not that I don't want to deal with them, but it's hard to constantly be surrounded and thinking about reality. This was the first time in a year that was almost totally free of thinking about certain things for a short period of time. Now that "I'm back to reality"(eminem), I am able to more comfortably face life.

My roomie, goes to an abbey to think and reflect. Some people write in a journal to think and reflect. I go the Grand Canyon, and swim in the Colorado, and freeze my ass off in my useless sleeping bag, in order to stop thinking and reflecting.