Dazed By the Sun in Everyday Ramblings

If you are an astute reader here, and you all are, you will notice something remarkable about this picture I took this morning out in the Columbia River Gorge on a trail above the Bonneville Dam.

Yep. It is not raining! It did not rain yesterday either but today after a heavy morning fog the sun came out and it got, well, comfortable enough to be out in a sweatshirt. It feels like a blessing. A sun kissed blessing.

My friend S., who I agreed to walk the half marathon with came and got me early this morning and suggested we go to Multnomah Falls. I was telling her about Tooth Rock, where Most Honorable and I go once a year for our big hike, which is down the highway about 20 miles from the falls. She’s hiked pretty much every trail out there in the last 30 years but didn’t know this one. Ha!

So we went there instead. These are wonderfully maintained trails that don’t have too much rock and so aren’t that slippery and in four hours (with some substantial elevation gain) we saw three other pairs of hikers. What a luxury on such a beautiful day. There wasn’t even much wind.

I had a blast and talked more than I have to anyone in weeks. She has only been retired for four months but is getting a lot of fun stuff in. I am beginning to wish more people I know would retire! If I can’t at least they can and we can find time to be together.

On Tuesday night I had one of my most enjoyable Caregiver classes ever. It was just one mom, her almost adult son is the one with cancer and she had flown in from out of town to be with him. She’s had absolutely no exposure to yoga before and was wearing a knee brace to stabilize a wonky knee as she has a stand up all day job.

It turns out she is an Iraq War vet. She was very comfortable with me and I just loved that she talked to me about all sorts of stuff, her war experience, her pug dog, and her shooting arm. Eek. I only had 45 minutes with her but she was transformed, very relaxed. These moments when the benefits of what I teach get communicated in such an effective way make all the effort worthwhile.

And the hospital gig gives me the opportunity to meet folks I would never meet under any other circumstances. I was so happy to have made the connection.

Yesterday, my first vacation day, was a challenge because I made a commitment to being and not doing. And that is where the grief gets in. Life without my oldest sister is a different landscape than any I have known.

On top of that Miss T. and Miss E. have found a 1 bedroom apartment that is very near her dance school and within walking distance of her day school but it is only $600 less than they are paying now. For a one bedroom apartment. They will be moving in just a few weeks. I am going to go up with Most Honorable for a one day extravaganza weekend after next to disassemble the IKEA bunk beds (that are too small for her long legged self now anyway) and pack boxes for storage down here in Oregon until rational decisions can be made about what to keep.

Then Kes will go up for three days for the following week for the actual move. Thank goodness she is retired. Deciding on boundaries on where to help and where to let them work it out will be a huge challenge for us all.

And there is no way they are going to get this living on their own thing right straight out of the chute. We need to let them find their way.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Tomorrow Kes has a lunch date in the vicinity here so we will spend the afternoon together going to a bead and then a yarn store for projects she is working on and plan out our strategy.

In the meantime I am thinking I will sleep well tonight with visions of beautiful sun kissed vistas in mind.

Last updated February 12, 2015