The Joy of Goodbyes

Wait a minute, there isn't really a whole lot of joy to them. Trying to muster up the emotional energy to say goodbye to wave after wave of good friends is not at the top of my "oh joy" list. Of course I can still visit from time to time, but it's still a goodbye to being a regular part of folks' lives. I'm thankful that my last-minute move is not too far away so I can come back up and see those who were missed on my farewell tour. Never fear: weekend adventures will still be happening in the greater Portland area!

It was an emotional evening with the group Tuesday night. While it's hard to be moving on, it was great to feel the love, and it was an encouraging sendoff into the unknown. It was odd not to bring the root beer floats myself but, for the sake of tradition, someone else had it taken care of!

Wednesday night was hangout time with Zach, Amanda and Barbara.
Step #1: find some sushi.
Step #2: have Barbara try some. Not too tough since she was already up for it.
Step #3: get her to try something a little unusual - we were relentless until we succeeded

We chose not to progress to Step 4 (the raw stuff!). We thought she had a great start and decided it'd be best to leave her wanting more. Kudos to you, Barbara. Well done! See you downtown next time around???




We moved on to the Banker abode and while Barbara and Amanda went off in search of dessert ingredients for a future endeavor, Zach and I passed the time with a round of Life: the Star Wars version. Yeah yeah, don't knock it until you've tried it! Once the ladies were back, we switched over to the regular version, and many kids were had. English channels were swum, the cure to the common cold was discovered, one of us became president, and if I remember correctly, somebody won the Nobel Prize - pretty sure that was me. On top of it all, Zach and I had become Jedi Knights. Thanks for the help, Qui-Gon Jinn!