Happy Birthday Dylan!

It's been about 30 years (*ahem*) since this photo was taken of my brother and I, and I can still remember that couch! It was in our living room until some time in high school when my mom finally replaced it. What I'm even more exited about is Dylan's (yes, he was named after Bob) little yellow shirt and those awesome plaid overalls. Aw!

Dylan and I were always close growing up and we usually got along really well. We played dress up and skate boarding, swung in the branches of the giant weeping willow in our back yard. Dylan would spend all of a Saturday morning setting his GI Joe's up just right in the living room, and my Barbie (who was of course riding a My Little Pony), would swing through and crush them. We built forts and played Atari, ate Pac Man cereal and went swimming all day. Being a little kid with Dylan was pretty awesome.

Now we both have our own kids, and he lives in Colorado while I live in Oregon. It makes me a little sad that we can't spend more time together and that our kids can't grow up together. I miss him a lot. But that just means a lot of extra fun every time we do see each other!

I love you Dylan! Happy Birthday!

Vacation!

Ah...vacation :) Indigo and I woke up in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and flew to Denver, where I grew up. It has been quite the whirlwind trip since them, running around with my mom and Oma (grandma), and my aunt who is also visiting. Tomorrow we're driving up to the mountains to visit my dad for a few days, and we're also squeezing in some extra time with my brother, his girlfriend, and my niece, as well as my ex-stepmom. Somehow between all of this family I am also managing to keep my business afloat, checking emails and even shipping supplies, PLUS catching up with old friends!

It all sounds a bit crazy, but I have also managed to sneak in some naps (something I can only seem to do on vacation--normally I can't fall asleep in the afternoon even if I'm tired) and lots of time reading. Now I'm at a local coffee house, about a block away from one of the gazillions of apartments I lived in before I jumped ship for Portland almost 12 years ago.

It is strange, coming back to the place where I grew up. Even though I've been back to visit many times, it feels less like home every time I come here. I am in touch with less people, old businesses have disappeared, the face of the city is constantly changing. More so, my memory has distorted itself. I can't remember names of streets or where they are located, but I give directions to my mom to a post office that I maybe used 5 times in my whole life. I feel odd, comfortable and out of place at the same time. Still, it is good to be back.

Nostalgia

"Surely She's a Mermaid," 2008 by Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

My little brother, Dylan (yes, named after Bob), is 30 years old. Ever since the clock turned on his February birthday, we two Aquarians have both been in our 30's and let me tell you, that is just weird to think about. As I write this, Dylan and his daughter, my niece, are on an airplane on their way to come for a week-long visit. It is making me a bit nostalgic this morning.

When we were kids, at almost exactly 2 years apart, we were really close. A lot of my childhood memories are at my dad's house, which is weird because we only spent every other weekend there. Like a lot of divorced families, though, one parent has to deal with the day to day discipline, errands, homework, chores while the other parent gets to try to make up for missing out on it all by having a mini-vacation with few rules every other weekend.

Every other weekend. We would eat at Wendy's, rent a ton of videos and video games, and spend the weekend at our dad's playing in between watching all of those videos. We would spend whole days in the 3-foot-tall above-ground swimming pool until our sides were cramped and Dylan's shoulders were covered in painful burns and water blisters, until I had a deep tan and my stepmom would call me her little island girl, until we decided to cover the yard with a plastic drop-cloth and call it a slip-and-slide (not quite the same, let me tell you).

Then my dad and stepmom (now ex-step) bought a house in Colorado's foothills, and while the schedule stayed the same, our stomping ground grew. We would ride our bikes around long curvy roads to the store to buy candy, play with the goats and feed the chickens, run around on the giant hill that was nested up against the back of my dad's property. On that hill was a cave that we would dare each other to walk through. At the other end of the cave was an opening through which we could see the 2-lane-highway far below.

These are some of the best memories that I have of my childhood. There were times when I was in high school and was much moodier, that I didn't want him around as as much, and as we became adults and life got in the way we often didn't stay in very close touch. But we have always been close. I can't wait to spend this week with my brother.

Lake Shasta, CA

Five adults, two kids, and two dogs on a tiny houseboat for three nights...sound stressful to you? Well, it wasn't! With this view off of the front deck, I found myself staring in awe at the complimentary colors in the water and the sand for 3 1/2 peaceful days.

Indigo and Emma got along fantastically, and I really love Steve's family. We were there with his grandma, dad, and stepmom, all of them excellent company :) We spent very little time exploring on the boat, and lots of time enjoying the perfect little alcove we were parked in. Sunbathing, climbing the hill behind us, swimming.... We even made a new friend, "Scratchy Bob" or "Bob Scratchy" the praying mantis, who decided to take his vacation on our boat as well.

Amazingly, I had not even one little teeny tiny thought about work the whole entire time. All of my anxiety was on hold for the weekend, and it wasn't until the long drive home that even an inkling of work popped into my brain. I was amazed, and so thankful, that I was finally able to fully relax for a few days and leave my worries at home.