So, I have some personal news.
After 8+ years, my work at Tekton has come to an end. I plan to spend one week unemployed before I start my new position at David, Wierenga, and Lauka, P.C. In brief, I’m extremely grateful for all of my experiences at Tekton, and I’m looking forward to new opportunities and challenges in private practice.
Frankly, this career change is one of the least jolting personal experiences that I have had over the last eight years. As the songwriter said, “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” This scene feels natural and hopeful all things considered.
While I would not have said this about myself 10 years ago, I apparently am flexible and optimistic. I find joy in the toil of life (Ecc. 2 & 3) and in keeping on keeping on. Life is short, and what is better than being helpful and productive?
In the midst of the transition, I have been fairly obsessed with my Civil War studies. There is something to living in the details of our greatest national trial and making one’s own life struggles feel small. I made a quick trip to Gettysburg in September. It was beautiful.
Additionally, I plan to visit a few Trans-Mississippi battlefields in the near future. My advice for all Civil War site visits is to do as much pregame reading as you can. It will make the field much more than a field when you get there.
To that end, I’m reading Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove: A Battlefield Guide, with a Section on Wire Road and Wilson’s Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It. The various Union armies out west had some colorful characters. One such character was Nathaniel Lyon who had just the right amount of crazy to bolster the Union cause in Missouri before his death at Wilson’s Creek. The martyred radical lived and died by the sword.
I’m considering the fate of this personal website. I may end of writing about legal topics here and mixing in some Civil War and local history stuff. We’ll see. There will be more to come on all of this.
Tyler Dale Gaastra 
Good luck to you in private practice. Let me know if I can help. I have a lot of IT-related forms.
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Thank you for your kind and generous comment. I appreciate your work.
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Tyler,
It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you and I’m excited for your new career development.
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The pleasure is mine, Dave. You have taught me a lot.
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