Our Big Personal News of 2026

If you’re only here for the ocean part, scroll down to WE’RE MOVING TO MAINE. I get it. I’m wordy. The rest is here for those who know us and welcome detail.

First, a Health Update

If you know me, then you know my health took a marked turn toward Big Struggle on September 7, 2022. That was the day, at lunchtime, whilst facing a plate of delicious air-fried chicken wings, that my body decided to do gastroparesis. And I then very rapidly and involuntarily lost 30% of my body weight, among other things.

Then in December 2024, I got my first COVID infection after some plumbers “wore masks” working in our house. And since early 2025, I’ve been dealing with autonomic dysfunction severe enough that I realistically did not think I would survive to see 2026. I had made plans accordingly.

But here I still am.

I’m still substantially disabled. At present I’ve got migraines, gastroparesis, dysautonomia, knees and ankles that aren’t often on my team, peripheral neuropathy, a need for nearly continuous wearing of heated socks 24/7/365, and what my rheumatologist calls visceral neuropathy. (Insert shoulder shrug to the lot of it, for real. There’s more, but that’s probably the gist of it.)

I have made some marked health and functioning improvements!

I’ve got excellent AFOs that improve my mobility. And I now have four pairs of shoes to choose from, which is amazing (slip-on sandals, sneakers, other sneakers, and dressy shoes).

I’ve found the perfect heated socks for me. By all means, try to avoid shopping on Big A but I searched for a full year to find socks that heated the full bottom plus top of the foot, and these are the only ones on Planet Earth that I could find.

And possibly of most importance for me is that I’ve been receiving monthly IVIg (what is IVIG or intravenous immunoglobulin?) infusions because of the 10-syllable diagnosis of hypogammaglobulinemia.

The IVIg therapy has led to notable improvements in my peripheral pain and my gastroparesis. The WHY about exactly how it improves these things is elusive, but I’ve got a lot of gratitude.

 

So I’m apparently not dying this year, at least not from natural causes. Cool!

And you know what, friends? I love Rachael the Beloved, a.k.a. Rev. Dr. Rachael Keefe as much as life itself. Thinking that we might have some more years together is priceless and has led to us making some big changes as a family.

I’m Closing Some Chapters

Some of you know that I’ve been on leave from active ministry since 2019, while working toward my PhD in Sociology. During that time, I’ve genuinely enjoyed being a population health researcher. I’ve presented aspects of my main demographic findings at the Population Association of America (PAA) three times. I co-authored another paper on the well-being of women in Iraq that was presented at PAA. I presented another study, on well-being of older people in India, and the role of social support, at the Gerontological Society of America. And you know I’ve just learned an incredible amount along the way.

Unfortunately, one health thing hasn’t improved enough: I still mostly cannot type. (boo!)

Believe me when I say I’ve tried e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Voice-to-text isn’t the issue. The problem is that doing research means constantly reviewing my data and analyses, reading literature, making notes, and moving my hands around the mouse and keyboard. I simply can’t sustain that for long enough to get into my scholarship and type.

The frustrating part is that I ran about 25 miles of this marathon, figuring out how to navigate the obstacles of bottom-up thinking as an autistic scholar with the support of a kind committee.

 

I passed my oral and written preliminary exams in January 2022 (if interested, see Why World Leaders Should Prioritize the Well-Being of their People).

I defended my prospectus in May 2024, and expected to complete my dissertation by the end of calendar year 2024, since the dissertation prospectus was the last big hurdle for my autistic brain.

 

Then COVID kicked my behind as previously noted.

And while I’ve been able to regain some functioning, and continue to refine my accommodations to doing life, I still cannot use my hands for long enough to type and thus land this plane.

Alas in January 2026, it was with some mourning that I began a two-year leave of absence from the PhD program. If the IVIg continues to help and I can eventually regain enough function to type again, I’ll go back and finish the PhD. If that can never happen, then I really do remain grateful for the past seven years of experience as a researcher. I never would have guessed that I’d be able to have so much productivity as a thinker at this point in my life. I’m grateful either way.

My reason for wanting to finish if at all possible is so that I can apply this mathy autistic brain of mine to try to do some good in this world. With the credential of an elite PhD from a top program such as this is, I could offer my labor for some worthy causes in global health and well-being spaces. We’ll see.

I’ve also had to retire from teaching after 22 years in the Psychology Department at UMass Lowell, having taught 1-4 classes every single Spring and Fall semester since Fall 2004 (with nary a sabbatical to be had, haha). That retirement decision came down to migraines which, after more than 30 years, aren’t going to suddenly become not as disabling as they are.

During my last two semesters of teaching, I couldn’t even get my asynchronous course prepared on time for day one, and I missed office hours often because of migraines. I also regularly couldn’t get my weekly lectures ready on time, and was missing far too many student meetings than what could be acceptable.

It became clear this Spring term that I couldn’t do right by my students anymore.

So now I’m retired from everything except the occasional consulting work. Ba dum bum!

Rachael the Beloved is Closing Some Chapters

We moved to Minnesota for Rachael’s work, for her to be the pastor of Living Table UCC in Minneapolis. I will always remember the search process back in 2014, and my thinking how perfect this setting and my beloved were as a fit for each other.

That’s mostly Rachael’s story to tell, but suffice it to say she has done so much over these past 11 years. I’m proud, and very glad she was called to be here.

Rachael will grow her organizational consulting work, as well as her spiritual direction practice. Check out Spill The Tea Spiritual Direction, if interested.

We Are Moving to Maine!

Finally, the Atlantic Ocean part of this update.

Yeah so we’re moving to midcoast Maine!

This will be my 30th move (which is honestly ridiculous), and hopefully my last.

We will be living about a mile and a half from the Atlantic Ocean, where there’s a gorgeous footbridge that crosses the harbor, and what will be an excellent place for Rachael to walk to the dog and for us both to catch the sunset.

Incredible. Who would have thought…

Both Rachael the Beloved and I find the ocean to be deeply life-giving.

Seagulls in our yard, salt in the air, ocean views at sunset on a Thursday for no reason… heaven, really.

And moving back to New England feels like going home.

I do not know how I got to be so fortunate, but I am profoundly grateful.

 

The Big Cross-Country Move Itself

We’ll probably be making the move sometime around November 2026, driving about 1,600 miles from the Twin Cities to Midcoast Maine.

 

Calling on The Village.

Are you somewhere along our route? If you are, would you like us to stop in for a visit?

Very serious request. We sold our beloved old Chevy Express shuttle bus conversion last month. Our plan right now is to trade in our one remaining vehicle (the Jeep) to get a small van, like maybe a low-roof Ford Transit or RAM Promaster. We’ll convert that into a proper RV after our move, and we’ll just pop a simple raised bed frame and bathroom in there for this drive.

So! We’re very familiar with sleeping for the night behind Cracker Barrels and at truck stops. But we’d welcome a driveway if you are on our route. We could visit for a bit, sleep for the night, and leave in the morning. We could also stop to visit folks and not spend the night, lol. Basically, if you are generally along our route, please text me or send me a message through the contact form. We’d be grateful to have several possible stopping places. Thanks in advance!

BTW Downsizing Is…a Process

Our new house is only about 800 square feet, so we’ve been downsizing in earnest.

I’ve started selling things on Facebook Marketplace, and my autistic nature is decidedly not built for sales. This part is remarkably stressful.

We’re also giving away quite a bit. Living on a busy street has its advantages. If we leave something at the end of our driveway, it’s often gone within a day. If not, a post to the local Buy Nothing group takes care of it.

Some things, though, really do need to be sold. Moving is expensive and selling things produces funds, of course.

If you’re local to the Twin Cities, you might enjoy following my facebook Marketplace profile. And if you let me know you’re connected to Autistic PhD, I can give discounts wherever possible.

Learning to Trust the Village

You know what?

I struggle quite a bit with changes in routine. Between disability, doctors, getting this house ready to sell, downsizing decades of stuff, and figuring out how we can drive across the country now that I mostly can’t drive…it’s a lot.

But I’m trusting the village, coupled with our own labors. We’ll figure this out together.

Friends in Maine

If we’ll soon be neighbors in the Boothbay Harbor Region, please do connect by text, or email me via the contact form here. I’d love to know some friendly and safe folks are nearby. Even if you have only been a reader or a lurker, please do reach out if we’ll soon be neighbors in Maine.

Friends in the Twin Cities

We’ve lived here in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for over a decade.

Of my 30 moves, this is the longest time I’ve ever lived in one place, having lived in West Saint Paul for eight years now.

I’ve made treasured friendships here, and leaving won’t be easy. I hope our friendships endure even though I won’t be local. Speaking of that, one more thing:

While our next house may only be 800 square feet, and for health reasons we really can’t host people inside, we are building a guest room out of a shipping container. (Yeah. It’s a thing. Google it.)

It was just delivered to our quirkly plot of land last week, and our contractor leveled it and set it up on concrete cookies. We’ll make that a guest room ASAP in Spring 2027 (after the cold of winter). So please come visit! You can stay in the guest room, or you can stay at a local hotel then come hang out. Walk to the harbor with us. Go to the beach. Watch the sunset with the boats and the waves. Eat all the Maine lobster if you do that sort of thing.

We’re not leaving you. We’re just going home, and we love you.

Friends Everywhere

I know you cannot do save-the-date for an entire month, but please file in your mind that Rachael and I will be hosting a 60th birthday party for Rachael in June 2027, at our new home. Our plan is to work with a local hotel to get a block discount on rooms. And our plan is for it to be a birthday weekend for those who are travelling far and want to make it worth the trip.

Friday evening at our place will be food and (non-alcoholic) drinks and treats, games and socializing. Saturday we will have a sort of drop-in birthday celebration at our house, with an afternoon/evening “party” gathering itself. Sunday we’re thinking of maybe a late morning harbor cruise for those who are interested.

We’ll have folks RSVP for each day for planning purposes. So! Folks might want to be there from a Friday evening arrival through a Sunday midday departure. Or folks might just want to be there for Saturday afternoon/evening main gathering. Or somewhere in between. 🙂

We’re hoping that friends from near and far will be able to join us to celebrate Rachael and to gather at our new little home in Midcoast Maine. Text us to stay in touch about which weekend in June this will be, so that you can save the date. I will also edit this post once we have decided on the exact dates, which we’ll do as soon as we’ve checked in with local hotels to determine the best weekend for this to work well.

Peace and love to all who read this. I know The Great Dumpster Fire is both exhausting and terrifying. We’re just celebrating being alive in spite of it all.