Bringing in the new year this year with Bradley, Joel, Jens, their signficant others (not the least of which is the newest arrival, Osa) was such a treat. Despite being sick with a cold, despite literally not being able to see the fireworks, I was reminded of just how wonderful and fulfilling time spent together is.
Then, I got to drive my favorite material gift of the holidays- my new car (seriously- such an awesome and hugely generous gift mom)- cross country and visit more of my fabulous friends. I got to do the first leg of the trip with Joel from Seattle to Spokane. I stayed the night with him in his great new place; we laughed and laughed and laughed some more. Joel is such a unique blend of ease, hilarity, kindness, and just general good energy. I wish I could've had another full day with the guy.
The next day I made my way to Bozeman. I got to have beers with Colter Anderson- one of my buddies from Three Rivers- and we had such a great time catching up, philosophizing about love, and sharing our dreams. I stayed the night with the Barbol-Eisels (I apologize Carrie if I misspelled either one of your names!?) just up the street from dowtown Bozeman. My favorite part of this was definitely seeing how Justin and Carrie's kids- Marley (4) and Freia (2) have continued to get cuter and more hilarious. I, of course, loved that they remembered me and that I got to read them their bedtime story. Loved it.
The next morning I got to have breakfast with Colter and another good Three Rivers friend, Hannah Arm. We ate at the breakfast joint (the Nova) where we would religiously meet at the end of a week of working with stinky, challenging teens in the woods. We had a great time catching up with the new stuff and reminiscing about experiences that only those who have worked at a wilderness therapy program know about (i.e. dealing with students that poop themselves- awesome).
After a nice nap and some great games of ping pong with Justin out in his garage, I hit the road again, heading for nearby Billings. Thankfully I got off the road just as the weather got nasty, and I was welcomed by yet another cute bunch of kids. This time it was my dear friends Adam and Sarah Lord-Sundtroms' little ones- Nora (3?) and Eric (1?). Nora was super hilarious- running all over the place- though somewhat suprisingly shy. Eric just smiled and smiled. I got to sit down and have a delicious meal of stuffed peppers and grilled marinated antelope thanks to Adam. After the little ones went down, Adam, Sarah, and I shared old stories and generally genuflected on all that has happened in these last years. Sarah noted that she had been graduated from PLU for 10 years! Hard to believe how so much can happen in so little relative time.
We woke up to about 7 inches of fresh snow and I thought for second that I might need to hunker down in Billings for another day. But by noon, the snow stopped, the sun came out, and the perfectly blue skies called me out to at least check on the freeway conditions (which were also clear). I made it as far as the daylight lasted which was Gilette, WY.
I stayed the night in the Super 8 in Gillette, somewhat disappointed by the level of non-smokingness in my non-smoking room, but nonetheless happy to be somewhere warm and off the road (it was -30 degrees in Gillette). I went to bed early and was up early, glad to see that while cold, there was no new snow, and the roads were clear and the skies once again blue. The drive across eastern Wyoming and South Dakota was surprisingly beautiful. The glimmering snow crystals swept over the road and through the air; the mountains, endless blue sky, and then the black hills area- it was like I had been transported to a literally and figuratively moving painting of the artic. Beautiful.
I pulled into Mitchell, South Dakota looking for the most economical motel option. I found the Motel 6 as I saw they were advertising 35 dollars a night. I asked for the student discount, gave the sad "i'm a poor ass grad student" eyes, and was rewarded with a room for 30 dollars. Not bad. This happened to be the night of the BCS Championship Game which ended up being disappointing, bizarre, and probably not as entertaining as the Corn Palace for which Mitchell is famous. Had it not been -40, I may have opted for the Corn Palace. Alas, it was so cold my boogers froze the moment I opened the motel door.
The next day I made it all the way to Waupun, WI. I pulled into Waupun and shared dinner with great aunt Ardell and great uncle Milon. We had hotdish. It was great to sit and catch up with them. Ardell looks like she could keep going for another 20 years without slowing down much, while Milon looks to be on his last legs. It was hard to see how weak he is and how much it takes out of Ardell to care for him (interestingly the reverse roles with Grandma and Grandpa). But we got him out of the house the next morning for breakfast at Helen's Kitchen, this great local family restaraunt. We met up with Ruth Ann and Cal as well as Marge. It was funny to feel this weird sense of connection having for so many years been miles apart and then having had the opportunity to visit them twice in less than six months. I really enjoyed getting caught up on the comings and goings of all their family (though struggled to keep all of the little ones they all have straight!) and, of course, catching them up on Grandpa, Grandma, and the rest of the Braun-Landaal side of the family. We had a great time drinking coffee and chatting.
Ardell, sweetheart that she is, drove with me to their local gas station and helped fill the tank before I began the penultimate stage of my journey. I had a nice moment with her telling her how much it meant to be able to stop in on them, feel so loved, and that I would be keeping her and Milon in my prayers. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I was off.
Driving through Illinois and eventually into Indiana, I was again blown away by just how surprisingly beautiful places are made by the simple addition of snow. All of the otherwise drab and unbelievably flat scenery became this beautiful white canvas that the sun danced on all day. I listened to NPR shows one after another. I drank coffee. I pulled into Evansville, IN sometime around 9pm and was greeted by Skyler York, one of Joel's Grad school buddies who, along with his wife, Melinda, hail from Tennessee and are some of the true salt of the earth types. I got their number from Joel and they said they'd be more than happy to host me for the night. They were in the middle of their first house-warming party, as they had themselves just moved into this beautiful new place two months previously. It was fun to walk into the middle of a party. It was somewhat strange to barely know Skyler and Melinda and then be meeting all these other totally new people, but mostly it was a party. We drank beer and played foosball- what better way to end a long day of driving by yourself?
After a delicious and thoughtful breakfast of biscuits, omelettes, and coffee with Skyler and Melinda, I hit the road to finish the last leg of my near-transcontinental drive. Again I was blessed with clear blue skies and dry roads. I listened to the groovy local college station for as far as its little waves would carry it. When I was out of range I switched to the Ravens crush the Patriots- with a smile on my face. And the exciting Kansas v. U Tennessee Men's basketball brought me the rest of the way. What a way to come back to Knoxville- safe, sound, and with an upset of the then number 1 men's basketball team in the nation.
So I've been back for a week now and am happy to report that the theme of good starts has carried through the technical first week of school as well. Though I only had one official class and a couple of long days at the counseling center with no clients as yet, it was nice to have a week to mentally, emotionally, and logistically prepare for the semester. Last semster I felt that I had suddenly found myself in a kayak in the middle of some class 4 water- not unmanageable, but extremely challenging and somewhat of a shock to the system. This semester has felt like a nice walk to the shore with my gear, all of which I have double checked (well, mostly), and a nice easy entry into a mostly calm eddy. I do see some serious white water ahead, but I feel much more prepared. Plus, we just got a three day weekend to start this week.
My dear friend Michael Fox took advantage of this and booked tickets to come visit me this long weekend, which I'm still savoring. He came on Friday and left this Monday morning. We caught great local live music, saw two UT basketball games (one men's and one women's), had an awesome Sunday afternoon cheering his Favre-led Vikings on over the cocky Cowboys. That was super fun. We actually bought Favre T-shirts with the stipend Michael got from the airlines losing his luggage (with his superstitiously needed Favre jersey in it) and at one point were so into that we were asked to calm down. I guess technically we were asked to make sure we watched our use of the "s-word", it was a family establishment after all. I felt bad and apologized to the manager, but ultimately Michael and I just laughed about how into the game we both had gotten. We just had fun from start to finish, and I really can't believe how fast the weekend went by. I was sad to see him go and glad to get as much time as we got.
Anyhow, it feels like this year is off to a great start.
