"There is a drugged feeling to life during a rest day. Everything seems to pass by gently as you sit; your body melts into whatever furniture you are sitting on, coffee slides down as if you've never tasted anything so precious." -- Annie
Waking up in our backyard campsite at the Keane residence in Bend was a pretty excellent feeling. It was to be our first full rest day with the only challenges being to find the best coffee shop in Bend and to visit the used sporting goods store for new flip flops.
It is a beautiful thing to just land, smack down, in the middle of some one's life. Taking a full rest day in Pete and Julie's world allowed us to really take in their lives versus having this tight little slice of social interaction over dinner. We got to see the reality of having two active middle school boys running around the house, and of operating a busy guiding business, Timberline Mountain Guides.
Throughout our time we got to hear snippets from Julie's fascinating work as an emergency room nurse. She has traveled to India many times as part of a cleft pallet repair work called Operation Smile. Julie is featured in this website about nurse volunteers: http://journeys4good.com/blog/volunteering/nurse-volunteers-there-is-always-a-need/.
Digging farther back into her life we discovered that she went on a 2-month bike tour as 19-year old in Mexico and Peru, traveling into regions that had never seen a white person. Why do we travel? To hear stories like these.
We landed at Thump Coffee in Bend and stayed for four hours, reading and writing. There is a drugged feeling to life during a rest day. Everything seems to pass by so gently as you sit; your body just melts into whatever furniture you are sitting on; coffee slides down as if you've never tasted anything so precious.
Todd and I occasionally lift our eyes to gaze at each other lazily and gratefully across the table. We get to talk to our kids without traffic noise and write emails that are longer than a few lines. Here is Todd, deeply ensconced in his rest day.
When we finally emerged from Thump the skies were dark and threatening. Thunder rumbled. "What?" We had not seen a rain cloud since we had arrived. So we raced back to the house and out tent that had been left unzipped. All was well. Pete and his family were busy preparing for a big trip so I offered to cook a dinner from what was left in their fridge. What a hoot that was. While Pete and Julie sat at the kitchen table chatting with us and sipping Margaritas, Todd and I cooked up two huge plates of enchiladas. I loved how willing Julie was to completely give over her kitchen.
After sitting around a big table and eating a huge amount, Julie announced we were going to walk around the block. We all piled out of the house -- three boys and three adults -- all exclaiming at the beauty of the sky and mountains as the sun set through the dark, scattered clouds.
Most of the night the thunder rumbled and lightening flashed. It was not until midway through the next day that we were able to leave for Sisters.
Thank you Pete, Julie, Calvin, Finn and cousin Reuben!
No comments:
Post a Comment