I'm taking a break from the tremendously daunting task of packing for a two week vacation to bid you all farewell. I am getting married! And then going to Costa Rica!
This is all hard to believe. I'm just about ready to go. Have the dress, stepdaughter's dress, wedding rings, Central America backpackers' backpacks, massively heavy car parts to deliver to my dad...I even remembered my lovely ribbon-and-bow rehearsal bouquet!
I look forward to sharing stories and photographs upon my return. We touch back down in Portland on Monday, September 28th and I have a full day of relaxation and blogging on Tuesday.
I want to deeply thank the many individuals who have shown enormous support and generosity as I've prepared for these coming weeks. Many people have shown wonderful kindness and enthusiasm and I am left feeling like the most fortunate girl in the world.
Thank you all and see you soon!
9.15.2009
9.09.2009
thank you mufn!
I'll be honest. I have not given adequate thought to my April 29th Pay It Forward promise. Darn it. I know I'm lacking in the reliability department, but I'm slowly improving.
Yesterday, a mysterious package arrived in the mail. Its weight and shape didn't match my expectations for a package I knew was coming, so I eagerly tore away the outer brown paper to reveal a gorgeously packaged, heavy, rectangular item. Just as gorgeously wrapped as these pretty packages.
I found a little notecard inside the package that read
Sara, I am so glad that you left a comment
on my blog & am now receiving this
small handmade gift. I hope that you
will post a picture of what you
received & continue to pay it forward to
5 more people. Enjoy the book! Have
a wonderful day & know that you
are loved.
small handmade gift. I hope that you
will post a picture of what you
received & continue to pay it forward to
5 more people. Enjoy the book! Have
a wonderful day & know that you
are loved.
-Muffin
Oh my goodness. I can't believe it, I said. This was a gift from pretty, talented Pauline from Mufn Inc!
Inside was a lovely little handbound journal with handmade cover paper and endsheets, delightful detailing - including rub-ons and bone-like beads, and soft, brown suede serving as a spine cover. The book's pages are white with a great linear texture!
This thoughtful handmade gift made my day! It was invaluable to know that someone had set out to make a special present just for me...for no other reason than to pay it forward!
This delivery has made me recommit to getting handmade gifts in the mail to first 4 people who commented on my original Pay It Forward post - Jon, Tim, McKenzie and Trina. Unfortunately, I have no way of getting in touch with the 5th commenter - Laura, who I've never met.
So - I will also send a gift to the first person to comment on this post!
It was somewhat silly of me to expect to be able to get this gifts created while planning a wedding. I am going to have boundless energy and focus when Jesse and I return from our wedding and honeymoon in late September - so I vow (get it?) to get to work then!
9.01.2009
youth
#373 from the recently suggested “1001 rules for my unborn son”: Carry two handkerchiefs. The one in your back pocket is for you. The one in your breast pocket is for her.
They say coincidence is lucky. I’ve touched on this before after reading the highly recommendable book Beyond Coincidence. I recognize that much of coincidence comes from being open to the idea of it, to being observant and aware of the myriad connections present around you.
Sunday night I pulled out the travel journal I used to record my 1998 trip to Italy and Greece and my 2004 trip to England and France. About a third of the journal, in which I plan to write about our upcoming honeymoon to Costa Rica, is still blank.
I was reading through passages about the 2004 trip that I took with my friend Beckie. I literally laughed out loud while reading about how we bumbled through our London to Paris Eurorail adventure (my favorite line: “Then Beckie started crying.”), how we couldn’t understand any English in England, and how we were proud to be misidentified as German tourists.
I read about the day I was searching for an internet café in London’s Picadilly Circus and passed by a woman whose nose was bleeding profusely, the blood pooling on the sidewalk and splattering onto her sneakers. A man walking past pulled a handkerchief from his pocket (his breast pocket, I’m sure) and handed it to the woman. He stayed for a moment to make sure she was okay, and then proceeded on his way. I made a note that I was very impressed by the kindness of this gesture, because he sure wasn’t going to get his handkerchief back. It was a lovely, British thing to do.
So you see the connection. I always liken the awareness of coincidence to learning about idioms in elementary school. Once you learn what an idiom is, you’re suddenly surrounded by them; your ear is honed to them.
And, to my delight, this is a lovely segue to the other item I wanted to mention. My last post makes note of the fact that the word “accident” is but a tiny shard in my internet Persona image. Lo and behold, the next day the non-internet universe set out to prove that “accident” is a present, though often dormant, component of me.
Friday evening Jesse and I attended an Amos Lee concert at the zoo. We decided to depart toward the end of the encore, along with throngs of generally slow-moving concertgoers. Jesse broke into a jog, weaving through the crowd. I grabbed a free rolled-up zoo poster from a volunteer and we practiced our relay hand-off skills while continuing to run. Let me emphasize that I do not run. But I was running nonetheless.
We came to a set of stairs and we both ran up them, one at a time. Jesse shot up ahead and took the next set of 4 stairs in one big leap. Oooh, I’m going to try that, I thought.
Yeah, my feet didn’t even clear the third step. Instead, they got caught up in the stationary concrete and I went sailing smack down onto black asphalt. Jesse said he’ll never forget the sight of me crumpled on the ground, a look of disappointment on my face rather than pain. What a stupid move, the look probably said. A nice woman nearby asked if I was okay. “Yes,” I replied, in a fed-up, easily misunderstood tone that I now regret.
I hobbled the rest of the way out of the zoo and stopped to check myself over once we got to the MAX platform. I pulled up my pant leg and saw that I scraped up my knee pretty well. An INJURY! Glory be. “I can’t wait to blog this!” I said. I took photos with my cell phone to memorialize the rare and special occasion.
They say coincidence is lucky. I’ve touched on this before after reading the highly recommendable book Beyond Coincidence. I recognize that much of coincidence comes from being open to the idea of it, to being observant and aware of the myriad connections present around you.
Sunday night I pulled out the travel journal I used to record my 1998 trip to Italy and Greece and my 2004 trip to England and France. About a third of the journal, in which I plan to write about our upcoming honeymoon to Costa Rica, is still blank.
I was reading through passages about the 2004 trip that I took with my friend Beckie. I literally laughed out loud while reading about how we bumbled through our London to Paris Eurorail adventure (my favorite line: “Then Beckie started crying.”), how we couldn’t understand any English in England, and how we were proud to be misidentified as German tourists.
I read about the day I was searching for an internet café in London’s Picadilly Circus and passed by a woman whose nose was bleeding profusely, the blood pooling on the sidewalk and splattering onto her sneakers. A man walking past pulled a handkerchief from his pocket (his breast pocket, I’m sure) and handed it to the woman. He stayed for a moment to make sure she was okay, and then proceeded on his way. I made a note that I was very impressed by the kindness of this gesture, because he sure wasn’t going to get his handkerchief back. It was a lovely, British thing to do.
So you see the connection. I always liken the awareness of coincidence to learning about idioms in elementary school. Once you learn what an idiom is, you’re suddenly surrounded by them; your ear is honed to them.
And, to my delight, this is a lovely segue to the other item I wanted to mention. My last post makes note of the fact that the word “accident” is but a tiny shard in my internet Persona image. Lo and behold, the next day the non-internet universe set out to prove that “accident” is a present, though often dormant, component of me.
Friday evening Jesse and I attended an Amos Lee concert at the zoo. We decided to depart toward the end of the encore, along with throngs of generally slow-moving concertgoers. Jesse broke into a jog, weaving through the crowd. I grabbed a free rolled-up zoo poster from a volunteer and we practiced our relay hand-off skills while continuing to run. Let me emphasize that I do not run. But I was running nonetheless.
We came to a set of stairs and we both ran up them, one at a time. Jesse shot up ahead and took the next set of 4 stairs in one big leap. Oooh, I’m going to try that, I thought.
Yeah, my feet didn’t even clear the third step. Instead, they got caught up in the stationary concrete and I went sailing smack down onto black asphalt. Jesse said he’ll never forget the sight of me crumpled on the ground, a look of disappointment on my face rather than pain. What a stupid move, the look probably said. A nice woman nearby asked if I was okay. “Yes,” I replied, in a fed-up, easily misunderstood tone that I now regret.
I hobbled the rest of the way out of the zoo and stopped to check myself over once we got to the MAX platform. I pulled up my pant leg and saw that I scraped up my knee pretty well. An INJURY! Glory be. “I can’t wait to blog this!” I said. I took photos with my cell phone to memorialize the rare and special occasion.
Jesse said I was acting “young and free.” That’s the last time that’ll happen.
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