Christmas Break…Wheew!

It’s hard to believe another semesters flown by. I’ve posted final grades for all my various art and photo courses except one. I’ll get those submitted first thing tomorrow morning. The past 6 months have been incredibly hectic between my regular teaching duties, freelance “online” teaching and my distance learning duties at Carteret. It is going to be great to have a 2 week break. I’m not sure how much of a break it’s going to be considering I am driving to Long Island, NY Wednesday and then picking my daughter Andei up at Kennedy Airport the 21st of December. I am really looking forward to seeing her. I haven’t seen my daughter since last August. We’re planning to spend some time with family on Long Island (her Grandparents & cousins) and also go into Manhattan to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the new Modern (MOMA) – there is suppose to be some great photo exhibits at both museums + we plan to do some photographing in the city.

I feel good about the progress I’ve made on the “Book”. I hired a graphic designer to come up with some book design concepts for my cover and inside pages. Basically I want a creative template (design scheme) that I can drop my photos and journal entries into. Once I have that it will just be a matter of working in chronological order from 1977 – 2007.

Me Photographing Adam – Photo by Adam Keough 1989

I plan on having 5 photos per year and 5 journal excerpts in addition to placing a contact sheet of those selected photos under each chapter (year). Essentially all the raw material (photos, journals) are already done – its just a matter of editing the photos and selecting the journal excerpts and finishing up the scanning. It is not a project to be rushed – this is a monumental work in progress and I am going to chip away at it incrementally until I get it finished – like I said in an earlier post…it is a labor of love and a gift to everyone in this world who has impacted my life journey in some way.

Contact Sheet of Photos 1987-89

Tomorrow I am wrapping things up at work. Dropping some Christmas cards and gifts off to my special friends and colleagues then hopefully get a good nights sleep and head out for my New York adventure. As I said…I can’t wait to see my lovely daughter Andei. It’s not easy being a single Dad and not seeing my girl for months at a time. It used to be harder on me emotionally, but now I am getting used to it and I try to make the most out of the special time I do have with her. We also talk on the phone every week so that keeps us connected.

Adam called me yesterday with great news. He busted out some terrific grades at UNCW for Fall semester. All our hard work is paying off. He is actually graduating this coming spring. Now that will be a celebration! I am so very proud of both my children and am a very lucky and blessed father.

Wishing all who read the KEOBLOG a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!