After my energetic welcome from Lily (13) and Arielle (5), I
received a tour of the Greenstone home, which feels much like their home in
Fallbrook—soothing colors, Lori’s art decorating every room, inspiring quotes
and sayings on the walls, and the smell of something homemade simmering the crock pot (this time, applesauce). From their front room windows, I could see
the Three Sisters (a mountain cluster with Bachelor and the Cascades farther
off in the distance).
For dinner, John prepared ahi tuna, mashed cauliflower,
and sweet potatoes, accompanied with a local pinot noir. When the John and
Lori’s sons, Scott (19) and Andrew (16), came home, I was astounded at how much
they had grown from teenagers into young men. A year and a half didn’t seem
like so long until I noticed how much the kids had changed. After dinner, Lori
and I had chocolate and wine on her fabulous lavender awkwardly shaped couch
until we made our way into her art studio, where Arielle positioned herself at
her own special table behind us to create a work of natural artistic ability
while Scott’s singing and piano echoed through the halls beyond the door… it
still felt like nothing had changed much other than locale. As per usual,
Arielle and I had our slumber party, where Teddy, a giant stuffed bear Arielle
napped on during dinner, joined us in our little bed. Just before falling
asleep, Arielle says, “I am so excited we get to sleep together.” Love her.
The next morning, Lily woke us up to come for breakfast.
John had made cranberry, orange, and pumpkin scones, and Lori served me up some
Chia-seed pudding. Lori and I then drove to the Old Mill shopping center, which
is along the Deschutes river. Lori works at REI and had to attend a meeting, so
I posted up at the Organic Coffee café to do some reading (Measure for Measure). After about an hour, it started to rain, and
just as I looked up to see Lori walking in the café to join me, there was a
rainbow filling the sky through the windows. This is likely a regular
occurrence in the Pacific Northwest, since I saw countless rainbows in Portland
and on my drive to Bend. After another coffee, we took a walk through downtown
Bend, stopping into the library, poking in some of the local artisan shops, and
admiring the old buildings with gorgeous exposed brick.
We walked along the
DesChutes river for a bit, admiring the myriad of fall colors lingering on the
trees and making their way to the ground.
Around noon, Lori took me on my first
ever mountain biking excursion on Kent's Trail. After giving me a thorough explanation of rules
to live by when mountain biking, Lori felt ready to unleash me into the trails.
After a quick laugh at my putting the gloves on backwards, we headed out into
the forest. Mountain biking was thrilling. At one point, Lori said, “Just let
yourself go.” If only it were so easy! At first, I dreaded going uphill, until
I realized that the only thing more terrifying than facing the uphill climb is
facing the uncontrollable speed of downhill. Eventually, I got the hang of it.
I got better at assessing the terrain. I got better at keeping my eye ahead of
me, willing myself to go where I wanted to go instead of focusing on the here
and immediate (a certain way to get yourself in a wreck). When large obstacles
came, like trees or rocks or bushes, sometimes I had push off of them to propel
myself forward. When the path became too dangerous, sometimes I had to step off
and choose a different route. When the smaller obstacles covered the path, I
had to bend my knees and hobble along until things smoothed out again. When I
gained momentum and glided along, I had to remind myself to be cautious for
what could lie ahead. As with any sport that affords you an hour of silence,
pristine nature, and mental/physical challenges, I started to see the sport,
like many things in life, as a set of principles to take beyond the trail. At
one point, Lori said to me, “Are you scared?” I answered, “Just enough to make
it exciting.” Even though I had a moment of sheer terror when I nearly toppled
over myself and had to stop the bike from barreling over my back and head, Lori
noted, “At least you’re laughing.” This adventure was somewhat out of my
comfort zone. But I want to be someone who adventures in life... this is one of
my favorite things about being with Lori. Life becomes the adventure. The value
of taking that step beyond what feels safe was not only a complete thrill, but
also a chance to learn something new about life and myself. Maybe the trick is
to view every day as an adventure, seek out the thrill in every-day life. But, I made it to the Phoenix... which apparently makes me an official "Dirt Diva."
After biking, we picked up Arielle from the bus stop, had a
snack, played Go Fish, and then went to Lily’s volleyball game.
For dinner,
Lori and I had a night out in Bend. We went to McMenamin’s for dinner and then
to a Wine and Chocolate bar for dessert.
Upon coming home, we did inversions on Lori’s yoga swing,
practiced staying off the ground on the balance board, and revisited some
writings from grad school. For bedtime, Arielle, Teddy, and I read some Hop on
Pop by Dr. Seuss before turning in for the night.
The following morning, John made broccoli and Swiss cheese
quiche, which we ate all together before I had to leave for Seattle. The Three
Sisters were covered with snow from the night before. It was a beautiful
morning.
After my sad goodbyes, I headed out for my 6-hour journey to Seattle.
Bend was sunny and clear. Going through Mt. Hood was a bit scary because it was
snowing. Fortunately, it wasn’t quite cold enough to have the snow stick to the
ground, so I made it out safely. When I came to Portland, it was raining harder
than I have ever seen before. In fact, I had to turn up my audio recording of The Untouchable (which I would NOT
recommend… it is the first novel I haven’t liked from my Contemporary British
Fiction syllabus) because I could barely hear it through the loud smacking of
raindrops on my car. The road from Portland to Seattle was interspersed with
rain, but when I arrived to the city, it was sunny skies with clouds off in the
distance. I made it to the conference, and now I am preparing to see Shelley
and Brad.
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