"I wanted to say 'I'll miss you' or 'Don't go' or 'Thank you'...

-The Lovely Bones

I went on a last minute adventure yesterday and for the first part of this morning. Dave and Chris, (two of my old roomies) are moving to China today. I have known this for a couple of months, and have been telling them that I am going to come see them before they move, since the last time we had seen eachother was May of 2003. (For those of you who don't know, we had no idea how to get a hold of eachother until we found eachother online a couple of months ago, which is the reason for the huge gap of time in which we had no communication).

Long story short, reality hit me when I was at work on Tuesday and I realized that if I didn't get someone to cover my Wednesday (yesterday) shift, then I wouldn't see my boys for abagillion years! After many frantic phone calls, I found someone to take my shift, and I left yesterday morning for Portland. Lora picked me up at Union Station and we went and got us some grub. Then she took me to Chris and Dave's apartment. They were waiting outside for me, and there are no words in the human language that can even begin to describe how amazing it was to see them. I have such a strong bond with those boys, and even after over three years of not seeing eachother, it was still there as strong as ever.

We spent the day packing and throwing things away and cleaning. I wanted to get a good picture of Dave and Chris that ISN'T from three years ago, but they both work too hard and don't stand still, so this is the only one that I could get. Sigh.
Chris had to drive to Albany last night with a truckload of stuff, so him and I said our goodbye when everyone else was outside. It was really sad. The whole experience was so bittersweet, because it was so great to see them and to see that despite whatever drama we all may have had when we lived together and despite the years that have gone by, the three of us are still so close and understand eachother well. But at the same time.. they're moving to CHINA! So I was feeling happy because everything was perfect, but... China is FAR!!!

Sad. Don't want to write about that anymore.

Anyways, everyone left, and then Dave and I were on our own, but he had friends dropping by on a constant basis to say their goodbyes. His last group of friends left around midnight. Then Dave gave me a backrub, which made me so happy, because that's one of the things I miss most about Dave. That may sound shallow, but man oh man, he gives GREAT backrubs! Then I gave him a backrub, and then we sat up and talked about all sorts of stuff.

Eventually we realized that our bodies were begging us to go to sleep. we also realized that we had sent all the blankets with Chris. Woops. So we got on the mattress and snuggled together for body heat and we kept talking even though our eyelids were heavy and we were exhausted. At one point, Dave said "My body wants to go to sleep, but I want us to keep talking, because we never get to do this." I agreed. It was definitely one of those moments where the reality of the situation catches up with you.

Eventually we fell asleep and I slept so good, better than I have in a long long time. We both slept until the alarm went off this morning, and then we walked across the street and got coffee. Then I called a cab and Dave and I hugged and said bye. It didn't feel sad, because it all was so surreal...

Then I got back to Seattle and went to work and now I'm home.

I'm sad that they're going to China, but I'm so happy that I at least got to see them before they left. Those boys mean the world to me. Even though it was for less than 24 hours, it was great to see them.

On that note... I'm tired. Good night.

"Alone, with no more than a fading memory, I must somehow recapture all the things I had once known as a part of myself."

-The Mists of Avalon

These last four days were exactly what I needed. The timing couldn't have been any better.

I got off of work on Wednesday evening, and Rebecca-noodle-nose picked me up and we came back to my place so I could get all of my camping stuff together. Then we went and had dinner and went to a craft store so I could get some art supplies.

After that, we went to the Pookie-Palace and watched Singles, which was a fun movie to watch, and then my brother came home and we watched Showgirls, because it was on VHI. That was highly entertaining. Or something.

Thursday morning, we set out for Silver Falls, making a few stops along the way. We arrived at the campsite and were greeted by Moonwriter (aka my mommy-face) and decided that we would pitch our tents in her site. We had some food, chatted with lots of new people that felt like old friends, and had a very nice evening camp fire.

The next morning, I woke up and drank my morning coffee and ate some oatmeal. There was a hike scheduled and I most definitely wanted to go, so I walked down to the meeting place and we (around 12 of us) headed down to the Canyon Trail trailhead.
We had a bit of a delay getting started, because once we got to the parking lot there was a wee bit of confusion as to where the trailhead was.

We eventually found the trailhead, (yay for us) and we were on our way. I had done the hike when I was younger, back when my mom used to be a Boy Scout and Camp Fire leader, but it was harder than I remembered. Regardless, it was a beautiful hike. I think we saw a total of six waterfalls, and were hiking for about three hours. I stayed towards the back of the group as we were hiking. One reason for that is because it is kind of an instinct, just to make sure that nobody falls behind. Another reason is that my brother was staying at the back (for the same reason), and it was nice to spend time with him. The main reason, however, was because I had alot that I needed to think about, and it was a great oppurtunity for me to sort through my thoughts. I felt very at-peace with everything. It was great.


The hike eventually led us back to the campground. There were some optional classes going on, but I decided to just lounge around the campsite and read and draw and relax. It was nice. Then Scotty, Rebecca and I went to drive down to the showers, then we went back to the campsite and prepared our food for the potluck. Then all of us met at the day lodge and ate lots of food. I had fun, because I sat at a table with people who I hadn't been able to talk to yet I ended up having alot of fun with them. After that came the campfire where we all shared songs and poems and lots of ghost stories. Then I walked down to the restrooms with my mom and we got ready for bed, and then we each went to sleep in our tents. There was a light rain that night, and it was so great to fall asleep to the sound of the rain hitting my tent.
The next morning was the group picture, so we all had to either wear a shirt that was the color of Our Element, or a Grey School shirt. I'm a Wind, and I don't own a solid yellow shirt, so I wore a Grey School shirt. And here is what I look like "smiling" before I've finished my coffee.
And here is the group photo!
That morning, Scotty and I both took Herbology 101, which was taught by Moonwriter/Mommy. That was really fun. I attempted to make a "relaxing tea", but I don't really like tea all that much, so I was kind of just doing it for fun. Rebecca was feeling really sick, and Scotty made her a healing potion, which I thought was very cute.

After the class was over, I drove into town with Mommy to get some supplies. It was a very odd little town, VERY Stepford-ish, and we were very happy to return to our campsite.

[side note: there was a bit of a "situation" while we were there. An "Assembly of God" group was camping in the same area we were, on both sides of us, and they made it clear in MANY different ways that they thought what we believe is Wrong, and that we were people that they should be scared of. We tried to be as nice as we could, because what goes around comes around, and we didn't want to ruin all of the good energy that we had in our group. But it was definitely an "issue" at times, and a somewhat painful reminder of how Wrong some people think Paganism is. It kind of makes me sad... anyways, I just wanted to put in that side note since it was kind of a significant part of the weekend... but I'm just not in the mood to write about it right now.]

After the Herbology class, Scotty, Rebecca and I hiked down to one of the waterfalls, and Scotty and I went swimming. It felt soooo good, and was probably my favorite part of the entire weekend.
When we were done swimming, the three of us went down to the showers. The Men's restroom was closed for maintenance, so we sneaked Scotty into the Women's restroom. Great fun.
After we were all clean, we went back to the campsite and I watched Bill teach a class on Staff-making. Then Scotty, Rebecca and I made smores, then we took the Cooking Class that Mom helped teach. I ate lots and lots and lots of food. Yay.
This morning we all woke up and met down at the fire ring for one last meeting. We all spent a significant amount of time talking with one another, thanking everybody for sharing this experience. It was so nice to have these few days with people who I can talk to without worrying about how they are going to interpret what I have to say, and then energy was so positive. All the Rituals were so healing, and the whole experience really helped me to clear my head. I had a great time and I didn't want it to end.

"I know you'll be calling me soon, and if I don't answer I'm calling the moon..."

-Dar Williams

I really don't have much to blog about at the moment, but here is this nice new blog all fresh and ready for words, and I'm about to go camping for four days and I can't let it sit all empty and alone for that long! That would be tragic.

[Just so you all know, I have been staring at my screen for about 60 seconds, trying to think of something to write...]

Wow. What an amazing first blog this is turning out to be. Note to self: Don't blog before having morning coffee.

Um... hi.

I know, I'll write about moving! Yeah, I'm in the process of moving, and I'm ready for the process to be over. I'm very happy that I will be in a new environment soon, and I'm very happy that Kat and I are going to be roomies. But I'm so busy, and I've packed lots of boxes but I feel like there are still a million more boxes to be packed, and I really need to find a piano mover. Sigh.

I work today until 5 PM, then Rebecca-snarfle-nose is picking me up and we're going to prepare for tomorrow, which is when we are leaving to go camping! Wow, I'm getting to go camping twice in one week! I don't think that has ever happened to me. I'm excited to see my bro-wo. We don't see eachother much, even though we live really close. Our work hours don't mesh well. I've been needing him alot in these last few weeks. Not even for advice or anything, just needing to see him. Sometimes you just need your big brother to remind you that the world is still a pretty place, you know?

Anyways... over the next week or two I'm going to work on making this blog a little more spiffy. Must go drink more coffee now. Much love.