I'm not sure what it is, but I think I missed the memo that the rules for public display of affection have been seriously altered, if not eliminated. It has been my understanding (hope) that facial caresses and scalp massages may be better suited for any place other than the table directly in front of mine. It's just a bit awkward, that's all. And completely irrelevant to the rest of this blog.
I realize it's been far too long since I last made a posting. I was reading my friend Jessi's blog today, and I concur with her sentiment that writing so often comes out of a complete lack of anything else to do. I enjoy it immensely, but can feel guilty if I have a half-dozen other things I should be doing instead. Plus, I'm so stinking wordy when I write, these things can take an hour or two to complete. I may not often talk your ear off in person, but put me in front of a keyboard and I'll write your eyes off. Figuratively, of course.
Five days ago, Mandi and I got back from our week-long trip to Michigan. We went to support her brother Taylor as he got married. The wedding went smoothly, and though I was not needed to help set anything up, I managed to stay busy, finishing two projects, and trying to arrange worship schedules and sets for the week I would be back. I got to experience several more rounds of Stonehouse-family grillings, wherein I am often asked questions of huge generalities, such as "What is your family like?" or "What do you do?" I think two major things are accomplished through these Q&A sessions: Mandi's extended family gets Gladiator-esque opportunity to give me the executive thumbs up or down, and I get to practice my social skills. I've been told that I'm passing these tests with flying colors, which is certainly a bonus. It was great to spend more time with Mandi's immediate family, I enjoy them thoroughly. We took a couple trips to Lake Michigan, and while I was in awe of the giant land-locked sea, I missed the power and majesty of my beloved Oregon coast. I know the water's freezing, but going in the water is not why I love the coast.
We returned from Michigan, and went straight back to regular life, hitting the ground running. We got in Wednesday night around 11:00, and I had a church staff meeting the next morning at 6am. Then worked on church stuff, went on a short hike with photog friend Fritz, finished putting the worship set together, met with two other people, had worship practice and went to Kennedy School for food, pipes, and a little more work. Friday evening Mandi and I headed to the coast near Tillamook to meet up with my parents for a little coastal camping. Daylan joined us the next morning, and we all went on a five-mile hike to an incredible viewpoint jutting out into the ocean. If there's something I really love, it's old-growth forests, seeing trees that are hundreds of years old thriving in a harsh environment. My dad and I both love nurse logs, the fallen trees that become the foundation for other trees and various other plant life. Occasionally a seed will plant itself in the stump of a fallen tree, grow to full-size around the stump, and the stump will rot out from beneath the new tree leaving a full-grown tree with a root structure that begins three or four feet above the ground. It's a beautiful picture of death providing nourishment for new life, like a certain savior whose death gave us life. (I want to get a tattoo of a nurse log and a sapling on my arm or leg as a constant (and perhaps more missionally-friendly than a cross in a closed country) reminder of this ultimate gift. The hike was stunning with cliff-side vistas of the ocean and beautiful old trees filtering the sunlight, harboring the perfect temperature for our entire hike. At the end of the trail, we were delayed for quite a while because some idiot decided it would be a good idea to climb over the side of the cliff to get closer to the water for some fishing. He got stuck, so when we got there, they were about to rappel down the cliff's edge to rescue the guy. My dad and I sort of helped pull the rope to get the guy and his rescuer up to the top, but mostly we just coiled the rope as the guys in front of us did the real work. (A pulley system with 5 to 1 ratio made our jobs pretty much worthless.) It was a bit more adventure than we were expecting, but fun to be around these volunteer firefighters saving a helpless idiot. They were a pretty cool bunch. Actually, made me wish I had the funding to make a short documentary about their lives in a small coastal village and the shenanigans they get to solve.
Today is the first day in a while I haven't had much pressing work, and wanted to spend a while writing on my nearly abandoned blog. I need to write more often, if only to get a bit more focus and stop only writing about how my week was. I'm shooting for more focus next time. Until then...
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