Catching Up!

It's been quite some time since my last post . . . lots of exciting things have happened in my life in the past few months, and I decided it's high time I sit down and catch you all up. :)

One of my biggest adventures took place in late May when my mom and I spent a few busy days in North Carolina, Tennessee, and even a short stint in South Carolina. We were there mainly so I could attend a retreat, but my mom hadn't had a "real" vacation (by that I mean other than camping or spending a week at the beach) since I could remember and she was long overdue one. The bonus to our trip was that we got to see some very special people whom we hadn't seen in quite some time. :)

This trip was huge for my mom, because it had been 35+ years since she had last flown--the last time was when she was 18 and flew to Texas to marry my father. Crazy! So she was understandably a bit nervous about getting on an airplane. I had joked with her beforehand that we would get her a bloody mary or two before boarding and the rest would be a piece of cake. We ended up skipping the cocktails since we left Portland at 8:30am, but my mom did a great job anyway--she only dug her nails into my arm or leg a few times over the course of the day. :)


We spent all day Thursday, May 20, in the air or catching connecting flights. The soft-spoken United Airways ticket agent in Portland was nice enough to arrange our seats so we could sit together on all three flights, which I know eased my mom's fears about flying. Aside from having to conduct a mad dash from one side of the airport to the other in Charlotte, N.C., it was a smooth day of travel and we had a nice time relaxing and catching up with each other.

We landed in Asheville, N.C. around 9:30p.m. and my friend Matthew met us there and then drove us to nearby Greeneville, TN where he lives with his wife, Kathleen and their little boy, Jackson. I was Kathleen's doula for Jackson's homebirth two years ago, and she and Matthew are the friends who flew Michael and I around the country with them last summer, to GA, NC, NY and for me, FL. It had been nearly a year since we had seen them, but right away, it felt like we had never been apart. It's like that with good friends, I have found. :)

We were able to chat with them a bit over tea before we headed for bed. They showed us around the 100 year-old farmhouse they are renovating for some friends back in Oregon, and introduced us to their brand-new baby chicks! The little peepers were temporarily housed in a cooler with a heat lamp, food and water and lots of straw while they grow big enough to make the move to the great outdoors. Jackson was asleep for the night, but I heard him the next morning as he greeted the chicks in their cooler with a hearty "Baby Chickens!" It was so neat to see him a year older and so much changed from the baby he was last year . . . I loved hearing him talk and the way he said "okay!" at the end of each sentence: "Ride in the red truck, okay!" It was always a declaration, never a question. Jackson took to my mom right away and kept taking her index finger in his whole hand and pulling as his way of asking her to come see something.

Friday morning I awoke to a beautiful, sunny day--so different from the rain and gray skies we'd been having in Oregon for weeks. We all gathered on the back porch of the farmhouse and I glided back and forth on the porch swing while I sipped my morning herbal tea. There are no visible neighbors from the front, back or sides of the farmhouse and I reveled in the peaceful seclusion. My mom picked a huge bowl of strawberries from a patch near the house while Kathleen and I planted an army of tomato plants. Jackson ran back and forth between us and Matthew who was using the weed whacker--he'd only have it running for a few minutes, then would shut it off as Jackson came running over to see it.







That afternoon, Kathleen, Jackson and my mom piled into their car and headed to Asheville, N.C. where my mom and I spent the next few days while I attended my retreat. We stayed at a lovely old inn called the Grove Park Inn. What I noticed right away upon arriving at the inn is that its website definitely does not do justice to the beauty of the place. I loved the red roof in contrast with the dark stone walls and the lovely old pieces of pottery, china, quilt samples, and antique furniture displayed throughout its halls. I am a sucker for places with history and this inn is certainly one of them. There is even a plaque mounted on the door of the suite where Barack Obama stayed (I believe) the night before his speech at the democratic convention. :)


There's my mom looking very small in comparison to one of the enormous fireplaces situated at either end of the Great Hall at the entrance to the inn. And a stunning view of the mountains taken from the dining area where we had breakfast each morning.

My retreat ended on Monday and my mom and I hopped in our rental car and drove to Anderson, S.C. to meet up with my half-sister, Christi and her daughter, Elsa. It was only the second time we had all seen each other in person (living across the country from each other makes visits infrequent), and it was good to sit down to a nice lunch and talk a bit. When Michael and I were in Georgia last summer, we ate at a Cracker Barrel restaurant (down-home southern cooking) and since there was one in Anderson, we decided to take my mom there so she could experience it. She loved the rocking chairs gracing the "front porch" of the restaurant and wished we could somehow bring one home with us. It was very warm and sunny after we finished eating and we went outside so Elsa could run around. She had a blast exploring the landscaped area in front of the restaurant and especially loved smelling all the flowers.



Elsa was so sad when it was time to go . . . she cried and kept signing "more, more" in ASL. It was precious.

It was almost immediately after Christi and Elsa drove off that the heavens opened and the rain started pouring down. My mom and I took refuge in the restaurant gift shop until the worst seemed to be over. We headed back to Kathleen and Matthew's house in Tennessee where we would spend our last night before leaving Tuesday afternoon to fly home.

It was clear skies as far as you could see the next day (I'm telling you, I got SO spoiled for good weather on that trip that it's making me rethink life as an Oregonian) and we had some time to kick back and relax together before leaving for the airport. Matthew took Kathleen, Jackson and me on a ride in their Scout (which Michael helped him fix last summer when they stayed with us). I was loving every minute of it (yes, even the pollen from something out there that was making me sneeze), and trying to soak up every second in the sunshine.

The baby chickens even got to come out and peck around in the grass for awhile, which Jackson loved.



Then Matthew took my mom, me and Jackson for a ride up the hill near the back of their house. It's like a meadow rising nearly straight up in the air and the three of us held on tight to the Scout to keep from sliding out the back as we ascended. The view from the top was just gorgeous and I did my best to capture it with my little camera, knowing as I did so that I was coming up short.


Much, much much too soon, it was time for us to head for Asheville and the beginning of our trip home. We promised each other to not wait so long for another visit--can't wait to see y'all again!