it's been a while!

I haven't been much of a blogger lately. Life has been good and full in the past few months. I have a lovely man in my life, which results in less time for internetting, but that's OK! This summer I didn't really go anywhere on vacation, but my man, W, and I did lots of weekend activities.  My kindred spirit friend Abbe and her husband Patrick moved away at the end of the summer, and they had a bucket list of things to do in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest before leaving, and we were fortunate to be a part of some of those adventures.  We were also inspired to create our own bucket list. It's a pretty great idea, I think.  Anytime we think of anything that we want to do at some point, we pull out my iphone and add it to the list.  We have already knocked off a number of those things, and some of them will be repeated again.  Hood River was a highlight.  We went there twice this summer to watch windsurfing and kitesurfing, and W LOVES to windsurf, so we will go back again so he can actually windsurf there too.  It's a beautiful place on the Columbia River near Mount Hood in Oregon. Another item on the list was sailing, which we did on Lake Union, and on Green Lake this summer.  Sailing in the middle of our own city... How convenient!  The Lake Union one was cool, because the Center for Wooden Boats has free rides on Sundays, and they have all kinds of old sailboats of various sizes and ages. We got to be on a pretty big schooner, and W even got to steer for a while and help raise the sails.  At Green Lake we rented a tiny sailboat.  Other adventures of the past several months included a little time in Portland; a wine-tasting day in the Tri-Cities area of Washington; hiking at Mount Rainier with friends, which was very snowy, but warm at the same time, and very beautiful; helping friends one weekend as they are building a cabin at the Columbia River; watching Seattle Sounders games; a weekend on Orcas Island with friends; and savoring every moment I could with Abbe before she left!  She and I had a lovely spa day together, and lots of dear moments.

So now Abbe is across the country. She and I have a long history by now.  We met in college and became very close friends beginning in our junior year. After we graduated from college I went to my internship in Michigan for a year and she came to Seattle for a year to do voluntary service. Then when those one year terms were up, we decided to find jobs in the same city and share an apartment. We lived in Indiana for barely a year before we moved to Seattle, which Abbe had missed as soon as she left.  So 9 years ago, we moved to Seattle, and the first four of those years Abbe and I lived together.  Living with a very close friend has a limited lifespan though, and 5 years ago we got our own apartments, but still lived fairly near to each other, and still spent a lot of time together.  Going to Abbe's house was like going home too.  I always felt completely relaxed and comfortable there. She got married a couple of years ago, and now she and Patrick have moved closer to her family to start the next phase of their life together. The good thing for me is that they are only a couple of hours from where my mom and dad live, so I already have a plan to see them at New Year's when I go visit my family.  It's been a little surreal since they left almost 2 months ago. I almost still feel like they are on a long vacation sometimes. I think the only reason I haven't been depressed over it is that I have a companion in my life now.  For so long Abbe and I joked that were like a married couple, and that when we got separate apartments that we divorced.  The thing is, it was kind of true, and it was honestly hard for me to adjust when she met her husband and he became her main person. I got used to it eventually though, and he became a good friend too. When Abbe and Patrick told me last winter that they would be moving, I remember saying that I better have a boyfriend by the time they leave, otherwise I would be a wreck!  Anyway, Abbe and I have such a deep friendship, we are pretty much like family to each other, and we know we will always be kindred spirit friends. We dream of taking vacations together with our families someday, lots of visits, and hopefully sitting on a front porch in rocking chairs when we are old ladies, still laughing our heads off at ridiculous things.

So now I have another main person in my life too, which makes me feel so thankful and blessed.  W came into my life at the perfect time for a number of reasons. It's wonderful to feel so loved and have someone checking in on me all the time, and someone who is always there to do things with. When you're single and over 30, that becomes a lot harder to find and much more cherished! I know another over 30 woman who has also had some trials in her love life and is now also dating a wonderful guy, and we have joked with each other that when you finally find a good man and have a good solid relationship, you hold on!!... but not TOO tight!  It's just a wonderful thing to have someone to go through daily life with, good things and bad, and I have longed for that for a long time, so I am really happy and grateful.  I would say I am more content than I have been in a long time.  As my grandpa R once told my sister, "Love is the greatest thing".