Sunday, July 24, 2011

seeing old friends



Love this photo and wish that I had managed to capture a few more with my friend, Jean. She is a gem. So thankful that she agreed to meet me while I was in the Pacific Northwest. She lives in Seattle and I doubted that I would be able to drive up there, comfortably, with Pete. Pete is Michaela's dog and I agreed to dog sit for her while she vacationed in Hawaii. How could I say no to Michaela since Pete has been a great running partner, for me, this past year? And, Oregon, is supposedly to die for in the summer. Earlier this year, I visited and was horrified by the lack of sun and moist weather. My sisters kept telling me--you should come out in July...it is soooooooooooo beautiful.

Agree. However, several of the days were overcast, rainy and required a jacket or two. Not completely sold on the idea of Oregon. Seriously, every drive day was sunny and gorgeous. We would reach our destination to wake up to rain, rain and more rain.

I knew that I would go to Oregon and I convinced my friend, Jan, to go with me. Jan needed to meet Jean--I thought and so I called Jean and arranged to stay at her cabin in Mossyrock, WA.

I have a lot to catch up on and document. I wanted to share this first since I am extremely thankful for Jean and our friendship. I met her when I was 19. We each, foolishly, had chosen to learn spanish at 8:30, five days a week. I remember, several times, dragging myself out of bed to run to that particular class. One day she suggested meeting for a beer and that was that. We have been friends since. Lots of wine inspired weekends, hikes and mispronounciation of spanish. We spent two months in Guadalajara, Mexico, continuining our education. I think at the end of two months, I finally was dreaming in spanish and understanding the language. I flew back to Kansas and that grasp of the language departed. Thankfully, our friendship continued. Once every few years we manage to meet up and reconnect. Another successful trip completed. More on this later.

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