It started in Oregon

2-October-2011 – 17 October 2011

(I began writing for the blog before I set it up, so the post dates do not yet correspond to the actual dates of writing.  I’m trying to catch up. 🙂

This is the beginning of the adventure.  This is the comedy of errors that began my exodus.  It started with a fantastic going away party with the best people I’ve ever been blessed to know in attendance.  There was great food, plenty of wine, a bonfire and a few tears.  There was also an incredible man, who I of course had the pleasure of meeting a full two weeks before I was to start out on this adventure.  Of course.  The great guy comes along when plane tickets have been purchased and a lifelong dream is about to commence.  When else would he show up?  Perfect.  No really, in a lot of ways, it is perfect.  Anyhow the night after my party we are in bed, and in the dark I tilt my head up to kiss him just as he is tilting down.  Open eyeball collides with thick whiskered chin. Eyeball -0, Whiskers – 1.  There is a nice scratch, a lot of pain, and my eye watering like crazy.  My nose thought it was a party and started running also.  After some time it finally calmed down and I slept…until I woke a bit later with a stomach ache that landed me over the commode for a brief bit of time.  So I think, alright, better to get this all out of the way before I leave the country.  The next morning in the shower I habitually rub my eyes, big mistake, and the pain that had subsided was back with a vengeance.  It calms down again, there is a lovely breakfast and then the great guy takes me to the airport.  Ok, really, best guy ever! He doesn’t drop me off at the curb but parks instead, carries my bag to check in and walks me as far as security will let him.  We say goodbye, I cry of course, and the finally calmed down eye erupts in fire from the pain of salt in the wound!  I arrive in Portland, Oregon where I am being picked up and transported to Bend to stay with family friends that are as close as parents to me.  We have a lovely drive through beautiful Oregon…or so I was told, I couldn’t really see anything.  At dinner that night while we are chatting I pick up my water glass and manage to drop it, shattering into tiny little splinters all over myself and the table.  I go to sleep that night thinking, okay, that should be it for the follies.  Yup, that’s it, until the next morning when I wake up and stand naked rummaging through my backpack for some clothes.  I don’t think details are necessary here, we’ll just say it’s a girl thing and the room has a white carpet, but it all ended up being okay.  Fortunately, aside from dropping a bowl of soup which shattered on their oriental carpet (luckily a nice white potato soup), there were no other incidences that may have banned me from Bend.  It’s really nice that these people like me so much.  The rest of the visit was filled with great conversation, exploration and wine.  We toured around beautiful lakes and spent a day in the High Desert Museum.  If you go to Bend, do not miss this place.  It is not at all like a normal museum.  They have rehabilitating animals including wild cats, raptors and an otter, volunteers in costume and character through the wild west exhibits and an ranch and sawmill circa 1904.  I’m not usually big on museums, and this was awesome enough that if I ever live in Bend I will likely volunteer there.  Check it out at http://www.highdesertmuseum.org.  

 After too short a time in Bend it was off to Phoenix for a visit with the family, which included driving to LA for a week, driving back for a weekend and then flying to LA once again for the big flight out of the country.  I had a great visit with my mom, sister and nephew.  I’m really not one for cities, but it was made bearable being with my family.  They are another area that I am really blessed in my life, my mom and sister are intelligent, strong women and my nephew, of course, is the cutest and the smartest in the world.