My colleagues in the math department will forgive me for saying that 2022 was an …odd… year. All told, a year of major change, positive development, and abundant good times has somehow left me feeling …uneven at the turn of the calendar. Vulnerability has proven to be the antidote for disconnectedness so please forgive the upcoming pages full of emotions and memories; or just feel free not to read them. Either way, I’ve kind of gotten away from writing for me and that feels like an important task right now. You’re welcome to join–in fact I’d like that very much–but regardless, looking back feels like the proper way to move forward.
The physical, spiritual, and emotional are always intertwined and that holds true in every aspect of life from the personal to the familial to the social to the professional. This past year I faced a career question mark for the first time in almost two decades. Not only was it jarring but it left me with more questions than answers. Let me start at the beginning.
Bionic Man (x2)
On January 6 of ‘22 I underwent total shoulder replacement surgery and received my second metal body part (left hip, 2016). A massive months-long recovery precipitated a medical leave from the teaching job I held for both of my children’s lifetimes though if we’re being honest, I was pretty unhappy at work and very much looking forward to a leave of absence. As far as the surgery and recovery went, I hobbled to my first concert–a double!–just three days removed from the operating table and then rehabbed aggressively at an embarrassing number of Goose shows. A year to the day later, my shoulder still can’t catch a break as I currently have a torn rotator cuff that never healed properly (all those Goose shows???) although I do have a new hobby (addiction???) and play tennis competitively as often as possible, at least once a week though often much more.
Choose Happiness
Standing still is easy and change is scary so even though it was no longer yielding satisfactory results, I was still wooed by the status quo and the path of least resistance at work. Time and space, however, gave me the clarity to know that it was time to walk away. Eventually I took a chance and made a change, leaving my teaching job and hanging my shingle as a realtor. Necessary for my mental health but still really scary. Potentially rewarding yet extremely risky. Taking stock a full year later, you may wonder how it’s going. Well, some days are great, others not so much.
Inflation, a shitty economy, and tough market timing didn’t help but building a business takes time and I’m committed to real estate for the long haul even if the picture looks a little different now than it did eight months ago. I love the work though at this stage of my career development, there’s simply not enough of it. That will change–I know it will–and I’m not impatient. I am, however, a realist (and I really enjoy paychecks), so faced with the somewhat unpleasant reality of not receiving any, I was forced to look for another teaching job.
The job I left last year was in a suburban high school so to complete as much of a career one-eighty as possible, I took a job in an urban middle school. Well, it’s certainly … different. How’s it going??? I enjoy (some of) the kids, (most of) my colleagues, and (all of) the administration and they, in turn, seem to appreciate me. But it’s also pretty wild and in 2023 students bear no responsibility, teachers are inadequate villains drinking from the public trough for embarrassingly low wages, and this profession just … sucks. If I had to find a silver lining, there are a few kids worth going to work for, my steady paychecks don’t bounce, and I’m getting closer to a retirement that doesn’t seem as far off as it used to, all while building my real estate business without financial stress.
Summary: change is good, real estate continues to hold great promise and teaching is still a shitty career. I guess I should’ve thought of that twenty years ago. I would’ve loved to walk away from it forever but you don’t always get what you want. Long story short: I’m far better off today than I was a year ago but some days are more difficult than others. I need to remind myself of that both actively and regularly and that’s what I’m trying to do now with these words.
Summer Camp For What Ails Ya
With a new career in real estate, I wasn’t sure I’d be going back to Camp Westmont last summer (I did) and it’s still not 100% certain whether I’ll be able to return in 2023 though that looks very likely to happen. In spite of the minor frustrations and the sacrifices I make to be there, it’s a real value add for both me and my family and we’re all extremely grateful to have Westmont in our lives. I mean, who gives a fuck about Goose summer tour or Phish playing 16 shows at MSG when I can spend seven weeks with fifty some odd 11 year-olds for 7 weeks. Expect my tennis game to make great strides while I enjoy the one place where I feel at home professionally. It’s a win for the 11 year-olds, it’s a win for my Miles and Landon, and it’s a win for me.
Live Music FTMFW
Fortunately a year of fragile emotion was balanced out by great relationships, abundant music, and more than my fair share of debauchery. Music didn’t exactly keep me alive, but it sure did keep me sane.
In the last full pre-COVID year of 2019, I saw 119 shows. In a pandemic-interrupted 2020, I squeezed a lot of lemons and somehow managed to see 62, a handful of those in my own backyard (who remembers Marckomitoville???). 2021 saw a quasi return to something resembling normalcy and I made my way to 98 shows, falling just shy of a Ben Franklin after Phish struck 4 shows (and 3 after-shows along with them) from my calendar when they postponed their YEMSG New Year’s run to April. Lemonade does come from lemons though and those rescheduled shows account for 4 of the 116 concerts I saw in 2022 as well as one of the most impressive performances of live art I’ve ever seen (Phish’ Earth Day show at MSG on 4/22/22).
The last few years–especially 2019–saw me experiment with a ton of variety. While nearly matching 2019’s record output in 2022, I was far more focused and really zeroed in on a few of the bands that I met for the first time in ‘19 and ‘20. I know what I like and I go after it without abandon. (Hi, I’m Marc, have we met???) Anyway, there were a lot of repeat artists for me in 2022. Let’s break that 116 down a little:
- 23 Goose shows in 9 states plus another 7 Goose-adjacent side projects (Orebolo x1, Great Blue x1, Elephant Proof x2, and Rick w/ Phil & Friends x3)
- 14 Dogs In A Pile (three cheers for Marckomitoville alum: hip hip hooray!!!)
- 10 Phish shows plus 4 Trey Anastasio Band and 1 Trey solo
- 5 Pearl Jam (been waiting for these since they were canceled in 2020!!!) and 2 Eddie Vedder
Can you guess my 4 favorite bands? Too easy. Wanna know who tops my list? You don’t really need to me say it out loud, do you? ((A more detailed musical year in review will follow.))
Best For Last? Most Definitely
The very best part of seeing 116 shows in 2022 was having Diana by my side for 56 of them. (She crushed her previous personal best by somewhere between 52-54 shows lol. ) But this one’s not about the numbers. I’ve been chasing music my whole life with the Grateful Dead, Phish, and Pearl Jam dominating my energy and intention. Then Goose showed up on Halloween 2019 and I’ve seen 41 shows since. Ho hum. But the fact that Diana shares my passion for this band has ignited our relationship in a way I’ve quite honestly never dreamed possible. You see passion is what fuels me. Music was always something I did. Now Goose is something *we* do and it’s literally the best shit ever. In fact the only thing we ever argue about is who has a bigger crush on Rick. ((It’s me and there’s much more to come on that in a piece that I promise to finish writing soon.))
Love you with everything I got, Boo. You’re my best friend and my ride-or-die and I couldn’t play this game without you and that’s not ever lost on me.
Quick Family Update
Miles is a freshman and absolutely crushing high school. He played freshman soccer and basketball and wants to play lacrosse for the first time ever. His teachers are passionate and awesome and he has mostly A+’s and rocked his freshman PSAT’s. Handsome devil. A little sarcastic and a lot snarky. No doubting the gene pool here.
Landon is in fifth grade and he’s a different kind of smart. He’s still in all advanced classes and getting mostly A’s but he doesn’t care. Not in a bad way but like my Uncle Diddy, may he rest in peace, he just sees the world differently. I admire the hell out of him and like I said on his birthday this past week, I’d kinda like to be a little more like him.
Charlie is crushing her eighth dog year and is over the hill in people years. Now that she’s living the back half my mind plays dirty tricks on me and I sometimes think about life without her. I’m not going to be okay but when you love a dog, you have a lot of very good days and one very bad day. I’ll take that deal.
Ending on a happy note, I feel a lot better now than when I started writing. That makes it a good time to say goodbye and make a New Year’s resolution to try to be the man my dog thinks I am.
Some beautiful memories behind along with better days ahead. I love you all.
