Normally tonight would be “Date Night,” but with family in town we will dine together at Noble Rot, even though the name itself is not very appetizing. Speaking of tasty, I successfully prepared the pan-roasted brined pork chop recipe last night for dinner and got rave reviews. However, it’s still very stressful and feels unnatural for me to be in the kitchen, so I’m glad to be going out tonight. We’ll also go see the new movie musical, “The Greatest Showman.” Hugh Jackman stars as P.T. Barnum.

In the next few days we’ll be traveling back to Indiana for the holidays. I’m excited this year because I finally get to see the piece of sports history that has remained a mystery to me now for several months. My collector friend strongly suggested that my wife buy it for me for Christmas, claiming that it’s “unbelievable.” That’s a strong word from a guy who owns one of the largest collections of authentic sports memorabilia, baseball cards, and autographed merchandise in the world. It will be interesting to see what he has for me. I will also visit with my cousins that I haven’t seen in over twenty years, and have dinner with my sister and her family. We’ll circle the Hoosier state, starting from O’Hare in Chicago through Rochester, down Highway 31 to Indianapolis, continue north up State Road 19 to South Bend/Mishawaka, and return to the airport five days later. It will be a whirlwind of feasts, family, and friends.

My wife’s daughters will not be making the trip back home with us. They were just there for Thanksgiving, so our dogs will get the pleasure of spending some time with her oldest. This will save us a lot of money on hiring a pet sitter, and make the pups much happier in our absence. I will have to sneak our suitcases into the closet tomorrow so as to not raise any suspicion of abandonment with our wise, old schnauzer named Tinker. If I get caught, she’ll start to worry before we even get out the door. We have another dinner at the Westgate Bourbon Bar planned with the girls, before the youngest heads back to D.C. and we get on the plane to Chicago.

I am so relieved to have finally finished the Walter Isaacson book, Leonardo Da Vinci. It was an interesting but tough read, filled with almost too much detail. It took me several weeks to get through it, but not nearly the time it took Leonardo to finish a painting, which he apparently rarely did. He led a comfortable life thanks to the patrons that supported his work, but never had a family or even a last name. He also failed to collect commissions on several projects as a result of procrastination, severe attention deficit issues and distractions due to unsatisfied curiosity; plus an incessant drive to pursue science, mathematics, engineering, and invention. He actually “lost interest” in painting, even though it was that particular skill that would become his greatest legacy. Since there are now fewer than 20 known works by Leonardo, his “laziness” and lack of production with the brush has actually made his paintings even more valuable today. In fact, just last month, his “Salvator Mundi” portrait sold at auction for a record-shattering 450.3 million dollars. Leonardo died 498 years ago at age 67 and left behind a notebook of sketches, drawings, and explanations of some of life’s greatest mysteries, not to mention the “Mona Lisa.”

Speaking of “unbelievable,” even though I’ve been to the Louvre several times, I would like to see the “Mona Lisa” again, after reading this book. There is always a huge crowd of people around the famous painting, so it’s impossible to get close enough to see any details. Also, there is much controversy about its potential restoration, especially since we’ve never seen the vivid layers of colors that Leonardo carefully applied in the seventeen years that he spent perfecting it. We only know the painting after five centuries of cracking, fading, and darkening deterioration. The fear of restoration is that it would no longer be recognizable. I guess I’m already fortunate to have seen the masterpiece in my lifetime, that will hopefully extend much longer than Leonardo’s 67 years.

I will never own a “Leonardo,” but hope to come home from Indiana with an “unbelievable” sporting masterpiece for my office. Several of my friends are just as curious as to what it is, as I am. They’ve heard me talk about it for months now, since my collector friend refused to take the risk of shipping it to me. He wanted me to pick it up, and the only hint that I have is that it is smaller than a breadbox, so I should have little trouble carrying it back on the plane with me. I’m guessing that it’s related to Indiana Hoosiers basketball or Chicago White Sox baseball history, since he also is a fan of both of those teams. He’s already given me several jerseys and other momentos through the years of our friendship from these favorites of mine.  His valuable collection definitely does not include anything from Leonardo da Vinci, but it does include authentic Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner “artwork.”