Sunday Morning Freewrite

 

Elizabeth, Me, and Anne at the Cape Perpetua Beach. Love these two with all my heart.

Gummy and good. That is a Swedish Fish. Michael is up, and we are talking about the good of the Swedish Fish. I love that I am Swedish. Some day, I want to go back to the land of my ancestors. I also want to go to Scotland since my ancestors on the other side are from the Glasgow area.

Elizabeth is staying with us. Anne left yesterday after spending two nights here. She went to a wedding last night in Eugene and will be going to the coast today with her boyfriend, Sean, and his best friend and new bride. Elizabeth is out with Cully hiking a new trail out of Fitton Green. 

Last night was so fun. After Elizabeth and Shelly went to Anna's Memorial Service, they went out to Market of Choice with friends, but Elizabeth called, and they walked back to spend the rest of the evening with us. It was so fun. It was such a treat to see Shelly again after almost 10 years! Elizabeth asked me to do an Enneagram typing interview with her, and it just led to deeper and real conversation, and I loved it. She left at 10:15, and we were really happy to reconnect with her again after all these years.

Elizabeth offered to have us come with her and Cully to Fitton Green, but we decided to have some rest after the busy week we have had. It is so fun to have the "bookends" of people who have gone through our training. Elizabeth and Shelly were in the first one we had, and on Tuesday night, we had Trent, Laurel (home from North Africa), John, Katherine, and Micah (and Brittany) who were in our last one. It was such a beautiful time from 2009-2018, but it seems like there are no new training groups on the horizon, but what a fulfilling and fun 10 years it was. I would not trade those years for anything, but we have so many wonderful friends all over the world as a result of it. I love what George and I do and the privilege of coming alongside these quality people who love God and challenge us to love him even more. 

So rest. It is a good thing. I would like to go to the coast though. It is going to be hot, and Elizabeth bought a parking ticket for the next three days on the Oregon Coast. So, George and I might steal away some evening after he is done with work. As it is, I cannot drive until we get a printer because I renewed my driver's license this morning online, and they sent me a temporary license that I am required to print up, but our printer is no longer working. It is very old, and it has been a really great printer, but we need a printer. HAHAHAHA.

What else should I talk about? Oh yeah, we went to the Rails-to-Trails Row River Trail again. It is outside of Cottage Grove, and it takes you on a very gradual up climb to Dorena Lake! We did it in 2017 for our anniversary, and it was so fun. It was hot, but it was really nice and cool in the shade, which is most of the ride. We decided to only go to the end of the lake this time. Last time, we went another five miles beyond the lake, but it was much hotter and got into some really seedy-looking areas. So, we turned around at 8 miles for a total of 16. 

The great news is that it got me out of Oklahoma on my Route 66 Virtual Challenge. I feel like I have been in Oklahoma forever! I have to say that Route 66 has been so boring. The scenery is nothing to look at. Nothing like going up the Island of Great Britain or the Camino de Santiago! I am going to do the St. Francis Way next. Everyone says that it is beautiful and takes you through beautiful Italian cities and landscapes. I am excited about that one. 

I hope to be done with Route 66 a bit faster now that I am riding my bike again. I put off riding it because of my broken arm. I really waited too long, but I got really busy. It seems like I am not as busy now that we have a good start to all our "Abiding Practices Podcasts." 

15 minutes up! BYE!