I have a history of bad summers. Being tied to the academic calendar for the past twenty-five years, my summers have typically been filled with transition, anxiety, odd jobs, busy-ness and random spurts of fun thrown in. Not terrible, but not spectacular either.
I can remember one summer in college when ALL of my housemates ran off to be bible camp counselors and I stayed in our house and worked odd jobs at my church. Not so fun. Or the next summer when I worked my Dad's summer theater camps, played for a dinner theater production in the evenings and in-between these marathon-piano-bench-days I biked behind my little bro as he ran crazy amount of miles, in very little time in very high heat. The summer was jammed packed (and fun!) and I was so tired I barely remember any of it!
The summer of 2011 makes up for all those other summers.
From the moment we left Minnesota it has been one, wonderful adventure after another! I know I need to say “good-bye” to the summer, but I do not want to just yet! I thought maybe reviewing the summer, saying THANK YOU GOD for the many gifts over the last three months and facing the fall might help me with the good-bye. So, here goes... a brief overview...just try to keep up!
May 29th-June 1st
Drive across the country with the best travel buddy ever! Sure it rained the entire way over, but we ended every night in a (ahem) decent-ish hotel with a hot tub!
June 1st – June 2nd
Spend 24 hours getting unpacked/repacked and tour our new city (The Dalles, OR). This was the whirlwind of whirlwinds. However the welcome we received included homemade chocolate chip cookies, help unpacking and a very quick response when I called someone to let them know the dryer was throwing sparks!
June 3rd – June 18th
Work and play at Holden Village. Beautiful music, incredible people, inspiring views. I cannot really say enough about our time here. The Pastor did have to work hard, but in nearly every off moment I was surrounded by children, playing games, hiking or having meaningful conversation. I also managed to finish two novels which I have not done since...???. The Chaplain (a.k.a our favorite seminarian) entered our lives here at the village, making an already very special place even more so. Then, one other friend from sem came for a visit and we found ourselves taking unexpected hikes and doing lots of exploring!
June 19th - 24rd
Set up shop in our new digs (The Dalles, OR) ! You know that post-move time when you realize you really need various house-hold items and have to stock the kitchen. So, many trips to the store and too much money spent, but some much needed “boring” time was had. Oh, we threw in a trip to Moltnomah Falls for fun!
June 25th - 27th
Travel of Corvallis, OR to visit a special someone. This is a quaint little town, very close to the ocean. So the Chaplain, Pastor and Princess spent a really beautiful day wandering around Newport, OR and breathing in the fresh sea air.
June 27th - 30th
Three days for orientation, then to pack (again!) and get ready to travel across the country (again!) with the Princess. Meetings, meetings, meetings
July 1st - 7th
Fly to Maryland for family reunion...coast to coast! It was all worth it to see my Grandma for the first time in ten years. She is a classy, wonderful gift.
July 8th - 30th
Begin to settle into our summer “routine” of work, daycare and visits from our favorite chaplain. As much as I LOVE to travel and have a good adventure. I was thankful for these weeks of sitting still, having time to just explore our city and dive into internship. Preaching every weekend is intense, not to mention the other on-goings of the church. They went easy on me to begin with, but the work load is amping up... I can feel it!
July 31st – Aug 2nd
Travel to Seattle with friends! This was a quick dash up to Seattle, but was really fun as we took in St. Mark's well-known compline service, Pike's market (of course) and a Mariner's baseball game (to celebrate the Chaplain's bday)!
Aug 3rd- now
Back to “routine” fully acknowledging that said “routine” is about to be seriously shaken up. The Princess will start full-day Kindergarten in a mere 21 days. This means playtime is over, the Pastor has to really get to work. If for no other reason then to distract myself from the reality that my baby is in Kindergarten!
Ok, I will try to be ready... bring on the fall!
 |
| *water-front in the Dalles* |
Great post! I think the memories of the Safari/Forever Plaid/running summer are blurry for both of us.
ReplyDeletePhone date soon?
So true. I do distinctly remember out best argument ever over -- what time EXACTLY we were setting the alarm clock and something about your toothbrush...I blame that on total exhaustion :)
ReplyDelete