Happy 4th of July!!! Happy 250th birthday America, and Happy 6th Birthday as well to Roast2Order!!! We launched our website on 7/04/20 to very little fanfare! LOL
I just looked back through my emails to Rick. That could be the name of a great album. Anyway, what I discovered is that I have been very remiss, NOT published a newsletter in over 6 months. I am so, so, so sorry for that! I appreciate everyone who has waited for this…and I also want to apologize up front, this one is LONG!
SO much has happened…my life has been complicated. But I promise I will get back to this dedicated writing campaign…
I hope you are well and endured whatever old-man winter dished out (yes, it has been THAT long since I published an eBrewsletter).
We had a pretty cold and snowy one in LITH (Lake in the Hills) – it wasn’t that we got tons and tons of the white stuff, we got some, and it just stuck around a long time. As a boy we had some real winter weather, and of course, we LOVED it, we played outside, skated, sleded, etc…football in the snow? Nothing better! All the time. Frostbite? Who cares if you can’t feel your fingers or toes? You’ll feel them tomorrow! LOL In all seriousness, I once was frostbitten on every single one of my fingertips to the point they turned white and blistered. Sue (my wife) and I had just started to date. I spent my entire Christmas break with bandages on my fingers, recovering. I have issues today with hot and, more so, cold. I cannot work outside in the bitter cold without gloves, and if my fingers get wet, I head inside to warm up. I don’t recommend anyone doing this! It affects your nerve endings, making them hypersensitive to extreme temperatures in either direction.
This past winter, it was so brutal here in January that they had to cancel the pond hockey tournament because it was too cold! I was so disappointed…I said
“What? Too cold for hockey? What kind of sissy-pants made this decision…?” I live for cold temps, LOVE to snowmobile. In prior years, they’ve canceled due to a lack of ice! That I can see, otherwise it wouldn’t be hockey, it would be polar water polo. I’d go watch that too.
Spring was nice here – and now, it is officially summer – we have survived a brutal but short heat wave, and now a series of thunderstorms. 2 tornados hit our old homestead in Barlett, IL, one of them a block from where we lived at Rt 59 & Stearns…we lived there for 26 years! Poor Bartlett, it was bound to happen, a lot of open land out west, big forest preserves. I have no clue what causes a tornado to target an area…I do remember some bad storms there in our time, sheer winds, flooding rains. You have to make sure you battened down the hatches and manage your water run-off. I buried all the downspouts and sump pump and ran them out back to the storm drain. Probably today, completely illegal, I don’t know. But we never had an issue with floodwater.
OK, enough weather reporting.
You are probably thinking, ” What the heck happened to Mike? Where did he go? Many have reached out, wondering when we would publish another eBrewsletter – and I kept promising I would – then I’d run out of energy and say, “Maybe tomorrow”.
Much has happened, changes in my life in 2025 and into 2026. The company is growing – I need help!
Many people have reached out with condolences, which I greatly appreciate. Thank you all for your heartfelt sentiments. You are my extended family!
At the end of 2025, both of my parents passed away within a month of each other. They lived to the ages of 93 and 92. I was beginning to think they were going to outlive me! They were old and had physical issues, but they were fun to talk to. They ABSOLUTELY loved Roast2Order Coffee and drank it every day. EVERY time I talked to them, they’d ask how the business was doing and always carry on about how good their roasts were. They lived a great independent life, the last 32 years in Ocala, Florida. They both grew up in Chicago, and after my sister Chris was born, they moved out to the suburb of Barrington, where I grew up and lived until just before I graduated from high school. They moved to the lovely little town of Winfield and lived for 10 more years, then off to sunny Florida once they both retired.
In early 2025, my Dad was due for a new pacemaker battery. A routine test before the procedure showed he had multiple lung tumors…the assumption was cancer based on a blood test, and it had spread. We don’t know how significantly; it really doesn’t matter. At age 93, and based on his condition, COPD, emphysema, on oxygen 24/7, there was nothing miraculous they could do for him. They put him on Hospice care and sent him home, which is where he wanted to be. Amazingly, he outlived their prognosis by 2.5x. It gave me time to talk to him, over and over…that was a real blessing. When people die suddenly, you feel a sense of stark loss; they are gone so quickly. In this situation, I could say “Goodbye” to him many, many times. I didn’t want him to suffer, and he never complained. My hope was he’d just get tired, close his eyes, and sleep for good.
Unfortunately, our Mom had already been suffering from memory loss. As much as we pleaded for her to go into a Memory Care facility, she wasn’t going anywhere my Dad wasn’t at, and he wasn’t going anywhere but home. He refused most of the care and amenities Hospice had to offer. He’d say, “I’m fine, I can take care of myself!” At one point, I remember him saying, “You know, they told me I’d be dead by now, but I’m still here – maybe they were wrong!” I’d say, “Dad, I wish that were true!” He came from a different generation. The Army drafted him in 1952. He served with few complaints. It was what was expected. In his latter years, he talked more about the experiences. I think that is pretty typical.
During his Hospice Care visits, attention was focused on my Mom and her memory issues; eventually, she also ended up on Hospice care. We just figured, once Dad was gone, we could put Mom where she really needed to be. Dad went downhill fast. He lasted less than a week in a Hospice home. He passed about 5 min before midnight on the eve of Thanksgiving. We had a family dinner party to go to. It was tough, at times I was happy to hang with everyone, but then I needed to just go sit by myself away from everyone and think about him and decompress. You just don’t notice how much things build up…and of course, the harder part was going back to Florida for his funeral. Being in church in that front row with my Mom, who was so solemn, was surreal. They had been such active members of their parish at Queen of Peace for over 30 years, under the same pastor, Father Patrick O’Doherty. They asked me to write some words for Father O to say during Mass. He is in his 80s and not the vibrant soul I remember from 1992; however, you could still see the light in his eyes. He is so kind and has that awesome Irish brogue. It is so reassuring to listen to his gospel.
Father O took this parish from a tiny little place to a stunning church, one of the largest Catholic sanctuaries in the US, seating over 1,500. The place is breathtaking. For a weekday AM Mass, there were a lot of people, and they all paid their respects to the man. I was touched. Dad wanted to be put to rest at Bushnell Cemetery, about 45 min away. That place is HUGE…when I think of a military funeral service, I think of the gun salute. There was none. I had to ask. You know me. It turns out, across the road is a large Veterans’ Hospital. Bushnell averages about 6 funeral services an hour on any given day. They said if they did a gun salute at each one, there’d be so much gun volley, it would disturb the patients across the way…I get that! After the service, we had lunch at my Mom and Dad’s favorite place in Ocala, Harry’s Seafood. The She Crab Soup is my Mom’s all-time favorite! It was nice to see her enjoy her meal, and we all toasted to him with a sweet Manhattan, which was my Dad’s favorite.
I stayed a few days after the funeral. We went and checked out an incredible home we had gotten a place for Mom…it was so nice, I wanted to live there! After the funeral, my Mom was tired. To be expected! We had a nice visit with her, and let her nap. The night before I was leaving in the AM, my sister was worried about how Mom was behaving. I said she was just tired, give her a few more days to recoup. I left the house very early in the AM. It’s over 100 miles to either Tampa or Orlando. I checked in on her before I left; she was sound asleep. Just before I was about to get on the plane, my sister called to say Mom was unable to talk or walk, and she was going to get an emergency Hospice home intake for her. She passed on Dec 21st. Back to Florida, another funeral at Queen of Peace – that day was so beautiful – the sun was streaming through the stained glass…listening to the words of Fr O once again was just so reassuring…I can’t remember all he said, all I remember is that it felt like a warm hug.
Since then, we have struggled to get things organized…a part of their estate ended up in Probate. Please, whatever you do, find a great attorney and set up a trust…call John Heggie at Heggie Law in Northfield – go to www.heggielaw.com. I offered his services to my Dad, who said, “I have it all taken care of…well, he didn’t. Chris was supposed to be the executor, and I know she would have handled everything beautifully and effortlessly. I had no time to deal with being the “executor”, and in hindsight, neither of my surviving sisters really had the capability to manage the process. If you find yourself in the same situation, save yourself a lot of aggravation, family grief, and frustration by assigning an independent 3rd party to act as the executor and handle what needs to be done in the family home. We are getting close to the end; however, we struggle. I will save you those details, as it is a lot of family drama that frankly got intense and ugly. It is still not completely resolved, and the family dynamic will probably never be the same again. And, that’s ok. It is what it is.
My parents never had a lot of money, but they were extremely good stewards of what they had. I hope to match their wise strategies should I be so fortunate to live as long. Let’s just say they never had to do without. They drove a nice car and had a nice house in a nice neighborhood, and a portfolio of investments that helped offset the progressive loss of income over the 32 years they were retired due to inflation and an ever-dwindling pension fund my Dad earned from 40+ years working his tail feathers off in the Graphic Arts Union. He used to work 80-100+ hours a week to support his family. In his prime years, he earned more in OT income than in straight-time income. His goal was to work at the hottest Lithography shop in Chicago, which he did, and his incredible intuition, brains, and stick-to-it-ness helped his company pioneer technology for offset printing and lithography/4 color film separation. He volunteered and worked with Gerber Scientific to kick-start the technology that ultimately created the world of “digital to plate” printing, which eventually led to Desktop Publishing. My Dad became the lead Lithographer at his shop, which grew from 17 to 35 full-time “strippers”. Yes, fun times in elementary school when the question rolled around “What does your Dad do for a living?” We’d proudly stand up and say “My Dad’s a Stripper!” The usual response “Uh, what did you just say?”
OK, enough chit-chat.
What is going on at Roast2Order?
I will try to keep this brief. Let’s just say, much is BREWING at Roast2Order – sorry, I couldn’t help myself!
Right now, I can tell you we’ve added a few new roasts to our menu. Brazil Dark Roast and the newest, Colombian Dark Roast. For those of you who are dark coffee lovers, you have to try, and for those who aren’t, give it a try; you might be pleasantly surprised by what the darker roast does for the popular Brazil and Colombian roasts. We will be building some new blends with these roasts, including a darker version of Morning Blend and Mike’s Java Gold! I need help coming up with a creative name for them, rather than just saying “Morning Blend Dark”.
Our little Granddaughter Brynley is getting big – she is 10 1/2 months old! We definitely don’t get to see her enough. She crawls everywhere, pulls herself up, and “surfs” on the furniture… if you give her a walk-behind toy, she can balance and take several steps. She is so funny, her personality and independent nature shine through. She LOVES bathtime and wants to practice standing in the tub, except her mean old Daddy makes her sit! Does she? NO! She gets right back up. She gets frustrated with him and stands over and over. He patiently sits her back down. She cries for a few seconds, then right back at it… There is nothing as satisfying as a grandparent watching your kids patiently outsmart their little ones. They are only testing the edges of the boundaries.
OK, back to business…Our coffee of the month is, of course, our latest – Colombian Dark Roast, and our Flavor of the Month is Caramel, or do you say, Carmel? See our links for coupon codes to use when ordering to save 10% on all items, all month!
Last thing – we have been searching for over 7 months for our first “brick and mortar” location. I have had some real frustration and failures along the way, and like my family drama, too much to discuss. Nothing is easy.
I’m HOPING I am very close to announcing a location for our first retail location for Roast2Order Coffee & Tea – my dream is to make it a cozy internet cafe, of course, serve fantastic coffee and tea drinks, some simple but filling breakfast sandwiches and pastries, have a roaster on premise that allows us to ROAST beans while you wait. In under 10 minutes, you can have a warm bag of beans to take home! It is an interesting process to watch, and we can completely customize the roast to your liking. That is TRULY the Roast2Order experience we always wanted. I look forward to the day you’ll be able to drop in, say “Hi” to us, meet your friends, neighbors, family, and/or hold business meetings. Maybe even enjoy a dedicated sound-deadened space where people can come and record a podcast! Hmmm….
I hope you all had a GREAT 4th of July and got into celebrating 250 years of freedom for all. One of the world’s oldest constitutional republics. That is pretty crazy to think about if you look back at the “rag-tag” ways this country started. If you are a fan and studied the Revolutionary War, and by no means am I an expert, but I do enjoy learning and hearing stories. I must thank my 8th-grade history teachers, Mr. Gray and Mr. Peterson, for instilling that in me. Both were WWII vets, Mr. Peterson in particular flew bombing missions, and while he never really talked about it, took some kind of shrapnel or bullets in his keester – he walked with a definitive limp, and I’m sure it caused him pain for the rest of his life. The lectures from these 2 men were riveting…I could sit there all day long listening to their depictions of whatever battle in whatever era of history we were studying. These guys were definitely into it and good at what they did. I’ll never forget the BIG sign they kept in their rooms that said: “Those who don’t understand history are DOOMED to repeat it!” So true. I always took that message to heart and still do to this day.
I am hoping that very soon I will have more news about a location where you can come see us… Please send your good vibes our way!
Enjoy your 4th and keep that spirit alive.
Warmest regards,
Mike