Celebratory Weekend, Part I

Whew! What a weekend. On Friday night, I had my official hooding ceremony and was awarded my MBA degree! Exciting, right? There were two other things that made it particularly adrenalin-filled. 1) I was selected as the speaker by my classmates! Such a nice honor. So you can imagine that my presence was somewhat important at the ceremony. 2) In order to understand this, you need to first understand that the university I attended, George Fox, has multiple campuses. The campus I attended is about 35-40 minutes from the main campus. Now, keep in mind that, for the last 3 months, the information about my hooding was hanging on the fridge. I have read it dozens of times. Dozens. In addition, it was emailed to us. And a reminder email was sent the day before. And the day of the ceremony, Zach asked me which campus the ceremony was located out. You would think that all that would combine so that I would show up at the correct campus. Wrong. Which tells you where my head is lately. I feel just... scattered. You know that feeling? (Maybe this is why I still have not actually mailed a single Christmas present. Sigh. I am accepting my own limitations this year). So anyway, at 6:15 PM, I promptly showed up at the wrong campus, about 40 minutes from where I was supposed to be, with the ceremony scheduled to start at 7:00. I had some moments of freaking out- because who wouldn't, right?- but in the end, it was Zach, looking me straight in the eye, and saying in a completely calm and assuring voice "I will get you there" that saw me through.* And he did. At 6:58, just in time to walk out in the processional. So the day was saved. The speech was made. And I am an MBA (with a hood and everything). I love this picture because you can tell that Tate officially never stops moving long enough to get a non-blurry pic... *Zach told me later that he did not feel confident in any way that he could actually deliver on this promise. Which just shows you how great he is. Because he knew what I needed. And he did it. Oh how I love him.

Long Weekend

The end of summer. At the beach. Such a fitting finale. We drove out after work on Friday and made it just in time for fish and chips and beer and good conversation. There were five of us- Zach and I, Tate, Nonna and Grampa Coach. Nonna and Grampa Coach, you ask? Oh- haven't I told you the happy news yet? My mom and dad- Tate's Nonna and Grampa Coach- have come up to Oregon for the year to take care of Tate while Zach and I are working. Aren't we lucky? Tate will get the absolute best care, and we avoid daycare. But most exciting? My mom and dad are living just down the street! This is such joyful news, and I intend to soak in the luxury of it as much as I can. Weekends window shopping with Mom... improving my (non-existent) golf game with Dad... USC football on Saturday... Sunday night dinners as a family. And getting to watch Tate really grow up around his grandparents. So there we were, the five of us in a small coastal town called Cannon Beach. We slept. And read. And watched college football. And played Bananagrams. And walked around town. I snapped pictures as we went, since really, you can't believe Cannon Beach until you see. It is that idyllic. Charming candy shoppe.

Fresh saltwater taffy...

Yum! So many different flavors. 94, I believe. Zach bought an assortment to share.

The Captain's Quarters.

The wine shop. Grape vines.

Smiles.

Happy times by all.

Now for the not fun part of the weekend. I think on blogs it is so easy to only write about the fun and interesting parts of life, and the good decisions we make. But this weekend, we had one very, very bad (and almost deadly) accident. So here's what happened: like many people with cats, we occasionally leave Moose home alone for a few days. So when we left on Friday, we left Moose at home. A few bowls of food were scattered throughout the house, and multiple bowls of water. But when we walked in the front door this afternoon, laden down with bags and baby, we heard heart-stopping wailing coming from our bedroom. It turns out that, when shutting our bedroom door for the weekend, I had accidentally locked Moose inside. This is embarrassing and horrifying and could have been disastrous, since all his food and water was in other rooms. Luckily, the toilet seat was up, so he had water to drink, but he had nothing to eat, nowhere to go to the bathroom (except our bed, but I consider a new duvet a small price to pay), and generally was put through what I can only imagine was a ridiculously traumatic 3 days. Since we've been home, he won't leave our side (even to eat, which has led us to all huddle around his food bowl giving him encouragement and praising him when he takes a bite) and he is avoiding our bedroom (rightly so, as it was so recently his prison), but other than post-traumatic stress (can cats have that?), he appears ok. I am feeling horrible guilt about it and also incredible thankfulness that this member of our family is alive and well. So that's how we've been. How about you? Any highs (or lows) for the holiday weekend? Anything you are feeling particularly grateful for?