Oh life is so adventure filled sometimes! While I was down in Medford for a few days, my husband was house-sitting/dog-watching for our friends, the Guidry's. On the first night, around 11:30pm, Alex let the dog out before bed - like a responsible sitter. The dog starts barking down by the fence. Alex calls to him but the dog does not return. After a minute or two, the dog obeys and comes inside. Alex takes him over to his bed and goes outside to make sure everything is alright. That's when he smelled it. That invasive, burned-rubber, evil, death smell of skunk. Immediately Alex takes the dog into the garage. It's too late, the small is already all over the dog's bed and wafting through the rest of the house. The quick thinker that he is, Alex looks up a recipe for eliminating skunk smell (directions here) and scrubs the dog for an hour. Finally the odor begins to fade and Alex takes out the dog bed to the garage and leaves the windows open all night so the cross-breeze can air out the house.
So my husband had an awesome night without his wife. Oh, and then the dog woke up at 2am and decided to barf on the carpet - lovely. Poor guy.
We've wanted a dog for a long time. Somehow this experience hasn't deterred my husband's love of canine companions. Big softy.
On the other end of the A to Z duo (me) different sorts of adventures were ensuing. The reason I was back in Medford was to return my dad's truck, say some more farewells, and pick up the few stragglers I had left behind of our possessions. I needed a ride back to Portland. Conveniently, my friend Mary was making a day trip up for some appointments and to visit with us on Saturday. I couldn't have planned it better.
Now, Mary is a special person in our lives. It was at her birthday party in July of 2 years ago that Alex and I met for the first time. We always tell her that it's all her fault we're together. Mary is also special in the sense that...well...frankly, she has bad luck. I don't know if that's a real thing but if anybody has it, Mary does.
Saturday morning rolls around and Mary picks me up in her silver VW Bug. We stop for coffee and head onto the freeway to make the 4 1/2 hour drive. We're chatting away, catching up and whatnot. Mary is coming up on a truck in the right lane and starts to merge into the left lane to go around. Well about halfway into her merge, Mary realizes there's a Mazda in the left lane that she's going to hit! She corrects and moves back into the right lane but unfortunately it gives the Mazda enough of a scare to swerve off the freeway to the left and then over-correct back onto the road. That's when she slammed into us. BOOM. The Mazda hits the back right side of Mary's car and bounces off - the Mazda then spins out of control in a full 360ยบ circle and comes to rest on the side of the freeway. Mary pulls off to the right and we take a moment to breath and calm down. The Mazda was able to drive to our side of the freeway and we checked to make sure both cars could drive and that everyone was ok. The driver's exchanged info and after about 25 minutes everyone went on their way.
To reward ourselves for surviving, we stopped at Taco Bell. Don't judge. It was delicious.
So, eventually, we made it Portland safe and sound.
Life is surprising. I hope I remember to take the bumps as something to laugh about. Otherwise, I'll end up having a much more miserable time getting from point A to point Z!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Still in Medford, OR
One more day in hot, hot Medford, OR. It doesn't seem to cool down much here in the evenings. It's 9:30am and I already feel like I need another shower. It's not humid. It's just dry, dry, dry. My skin is dry - which always makes me feel like I have grandma hands. My eyes are dry - which makes me worried that people think I've been smoking. The only things that aren't dry are my armpits. They're doing fine.
So, last night was a bachelorette party for my childhood friend, Chelsea. I went with my best friend, Rachel, to go pick up some "items" for her gift before the dinner. It was so nice to have time with Rachel. Since my moving away and her having a baby, there isn't much opportunity to get together anymore.
At one point in the evening, we ended up having a great conversation about friendship. We talked about how we have both learned that it is hard to invest in the number of people we used to before marriage. It takes a lot of time and effort to have real, deep connection with someone. That doesn't mean that we don't want to show love to everyone we know and meet - it means we are learning that it is ok to set boundaries with our time. I simply don't have time to cultivate the relationships that are meaningful with so many people anymore. It is sad to see that happen with friends from growing up, but it is also healthy and good. Otherwise, we would all just have surface interactions with everyone in our lives!
Looking around the dinner table for Chelsea's bachelorette, I was grateful to see a lot of those girls and have a moment to catch up. Many of them I've know for years and years and now are married or have babies - I don't like that feeling of not being a part of their lives anymore, moving across the country. But I know and trust that there is a time for everything. A time to laugh, a time to cry...a time for certain friendships and a time for others. I think of all the wonderful ladies and couples that Alex and I get to be on this church plant team with and I smile. So many authentic, wonderful, real people that we get to do life with.
Transitions are always hard - but I know I shouldn't fret because "it's gon be...ok" (oh you gotta love bad acting). soap opera acting
So, last night was a bachelorette party for my childhood friend, Chelsea. I went with my best friend, Rachel, to go pick up some "items" for her gift before the dinner. It was so nice to have time with Rachel. Since my moving away and her having a baby, there isn't much opportunity to get together anymore.
At one point in the evening, we ended up having a great conversation about friendship. We talked about how we have both learned that it is hard to invest in the number of people we used to before marriage. It takes a lot of time and effort to have real, deep connection with someone. That doesn't mean that we don't want to show love to everyone we know and meet - it means we are learning that it is ok to set boundaries with our time. I simply don't have time to cultivate the relationships that are meaningful with so many people anymore. It is sad to see that happen with friends from growing up, but it is also healthy and good. Otherwise, we would all just have surface interactions with everyone in our lives!
Looking around the dinner table for Chelsea's bachelorette, I was grateful to see a lot of those girls and have a moment to catch up. Many of them I've know for years and years and now are married or have babies - I don't like that feeling of not being a part of their lives anymore, moving across the country. But I know and trust that there is a time for everything. A time to laugh, a time to cry...a time for certain friendships and a time for others. I think of all the wonderful ladies and couples that Alex and I get to be on this church plant team with and I smile. So many authentic, wonderful, real people that we get to do life with.
Transitions are always hard - but I know I shouldn't fret because "it's gon be...ok" (oh you gotta love bad acting). soap opera acting
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
July 24, 2013 - from Medford, OR
The past few weeks have been crazy. But everything is about to get NUTS! I have been "downsizing" all our possessions to get ready for the move across the country. And by downsizing I mean "hmmm, why did I ever save this piece of crud?" - then I give it to Goodwill because we all know that someone there will think it's a great find! All in all I'm proud of how much I've managed to get rid of - 5 trash bags and 4 boxes (not just empty trash bags...there was stuff in there I swear). So I'm being a good little manager of our household and saving all the receipts so I can write that stuff off for taxes (my mom would be so proud).
The only lame part about all of this purging is how much time I've had to spend away from my husband! I had left a good portion of our stuff at my parent's house in Southern Oregon. I came down with Alex (that's my husband in case you got confused...cause I have a brother named Alex too...creepy, I know) for 4th of July to have one last goodbye shebang with friends and family. I stayed behind for an extra 10 days to sort through things and bubble wrap like a maniac.
I went home to Portland for a week but had borrowed my Dad's truck to haul all the stuff up - ergo I had to bring it back and am once again in the Rogue Valley for a few days...sans hubby.
Blah blah blah who cares about these details?
So, to get to the NUTS part. Well, we have one more week in the small apartment we've been renting. Then we're homeless for 5 days. Then we go to L.A. for a week for Alex's sister's wedding. Then we fly back, pick up a Uhaul trailer, load it up and start driving across the country - phew!
But - one day at a time, right? One day...not easy. I get so caught up with the details and the possibilities of things going wrong. It seriously keeps me up at night! For example, last night I "went to bed" around 11:30pm. I tossed and turned for a while - thinking about how we still don't have a place to live lined up out there. So I clicked the lamp on and started trolling craigslist (I feel like the next craigslist stalker these days). I was all out of my need to control things - I love to organize and pay attention to details...so NOT having everything in order for such a major move is kinda (ok really) out of my comfort zone.
My lesson for today is to think of how God didn't give us all the details when He put Raleigh on our hearts. With Jesus' disciples, they weren't sent out with hotel reservations or studio lofts waiting for them - they were just sent out! We are being sent out. I need to leave the rest to Him (oh that sounds so cheesy but it really is the truth)!
The only lame part about all of this purging is how much time I've had to spend away from my husband! I had left a good portion of our stuff at my parent's house in Southern Oregon. I came down with Alex (that's my husband in case you got confused...cause I have a brother named Alex too...creepy, I know) for 4th of July to have one last goodbye shebang with friends and family. I stayed behind for an extra 10 days to sort through things and bubble wrap like a maniac.
I went home to Portland for a week but had borrowed my Dad's truck to haul all the stuff up - ergo I had to bring it back and am once again in the Rogue Valley for a few days...sans hubby.
Blah blah blah who cares about these details?
So, to get to the NUTS part. Well, we have one more week in the small apartment we've been renting. Then we're homeless for 5 days. Then we go to L.A. for a week for Alex's sister's wedding. Then we fly back, pick up a Uhaul trailer, load it up and start driving across the country - phew!
But - one day at a time, right? One day...not easy. I get so caught up with the details and the possibilities of things going wrong. It seriously keeps me up at night! For example, last night I "went to bed" around 11:30pm. I tossed and turned for a while - thinking about how we still don't have a place to live lined up out there. So I clicked the lamp on and started trolling craigslist (I feel like the next craigslist stalker these days). I was all out of my need to control things - I love to organize and pay attention to details...so NOT having everything in order for such a major move is kinda (ok really) out of my comfort zone.
My lesson for today is to think of how God didn't give us all the details when He put Raleigh on our hearts. With Jesus' disciples, they weren't sent out with hotel reservations or studio lofts waiting for them - they were just sent out! We are being sent out. I need to leave the rest to Him (oh that sounds so cheesy but it really is the truth)!
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