It has been 4 months since my last post. When last I wrote, spring was in the air, blah blah blah ("they" say 3-element lists have a nice ring to them), and I was sitting at LL's computer in our little duplex in Seattle. Now it is October in Omak. It is cold outside. Blah blah blah.I honestly don't want to be writing right now. Even inside it is cold, blah blah blah (normally I can fill in these blanks--today my own internal processing speed seems to match that of my decrepit computer), and I'm frustrated by spending two hours online with India only to have my internet security unresolved.
But clearly a part of me wants to be writing right now, or I wouldn't be doing it, right? Perhaps I write from the desire to process the flash that was the last 4 months, and in so doing, dampen the speed with which those memories must inevitably fade. Perhaps someone has snuck into the dark spaces, the interatomic recesses, the quark-quark interface, of the cesium NIST-F1 clock in Boulder, Colorado, and monkeyed with its current accuracy of +/- 1 second in 60 million years--perhaps sped it up by a second or two.
Perhaps I am getting old.
But what is age but the accumulation of experiences? In the last 4 months, we:
...moved out of our little duplex and put all of our belongings into a storage facility located somewhere on the Columbia River
...moved into the basement of LL's parents, for the rare times we weren't traveling
...deposited a check on the one place available for rent in Omak, sight mostly unseen
...ran the lower Salmon River from Hammer Creek to Heller Bar for 5 glorious days and 3 glorious nights and 1 Hells Canyon thunderstorm night, including
--an unforgettable trip though the left-hand side of Snowhole Rapids by my brother Hans and my friend Tyler's brother James,
--a gourmet menu of mole enchiladas by my mom, quinoa salad by LL, and home-made cinnamon rolls (overnight sleeping bag rise action) by Tyler and Loren,
--37.5 gallons of water pumped from side streams using our REI filters
...flew into the world'd 3rd-largest city before traveling further to the 400-person village of Cabo Pulmo and snorkeling the only coral reef on the west coast of North America
...flew back into the world'd 3rd-largest city before traveling, in a truck whose engine exploded (required not only a mechanical fix but also a bribe to the local police to look the other way), on to the loud, dirty, blah blah blah city of Cuernavaca for 2 weeks of outstanding language classes and horrendous host family stay (think hot dogs, chicken nuggets and cold showers)
...finally traveled a 3rd time back to Mexico City where we visited the Frida Kahlo Museum (incredible) and managed to not be mugged
...flew back to the US, had a couple days in Seattle, drove out to Omak where our belongings magically materialized, unpacked with the help of LL's parents, drove back to Seattle
...woke up at 4AM to catch a flight to Minnesota, where we rented a car, bought the audio-CD version of "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortensen, and listened to his incredible story as we drove up to the Gunflint Trail near Canada
...joined my dad for the first couple days of a canoe trip, during which we had our food broken into by bearaccoomooses, ran out of cooking fuel, and generally had a great time
...drove down to the Twin Cities to stay with LL's aunt and uncle, who spoiled us silly with food, wine, and entertainment, before going to one of LL's friend's wedding, and then, to celebrate our own 1-year anniversary, stayed at a downtown hotel and saw the musical "Wicked"
...returned to the Emerald City for one last week with LL's parents and a wonderful send-off party before packing up our almost-final belongings and driving out to Omak to start work.
And now here we are. Somehow I feel better, and I haven't even gone into these first 3 weeks of work, which have included our first hospital calls, my first deliveries in this new hospital, a trip with our beautiful little 14-foot sailing boat out to Omak Lake, the discovery of a local Slow Food group and a co-op and new friends.
In fact, as I reflect on this time, process this speed, I realize how incredibly grateful I am to be here, alive, healthy,
able to be doing the work I want to be doing,
sharing this experience with the love of my life,
here, alive, healthy,
here, alive, healthy,
here, alive, healthy, repeat.
