Thanksgiving In Bend

In case it hasn't been clear, we spent Thanksgiving in Bend, OR, and arrived home safe and sound a few hours ago. We didn't want to broadcast our absence too much, because you know that house-breakers spend their days reading obscure blogs to see who's out of town. We didn't want to invite them back to steal our hand-me-down chairs or Moomintroll books.

Now that we're home again, let us talk of Bend! We love Bend! How I lived forty-two years without knowing how great Bend is, I'll never know, because I feel very at home there. We went with a family of friends, so Darcy had a play mate and we could all take turns with child-wrangling. Thursday, we had a more or less traditional Thanksgiving meal with our friends from Crescent City and our friend Kathy who worked with us in Katmai and is now living in Bend. Michael and I got a date night on Friday and spent it in downtown Bend eating lovely Thai food, browsing used bookstores, and previewing a few stores for after Buy Nothing Day was over. We decided that buying our meal couldn't count -- it was date night!

Michael and our friends all skied on Saturday. Bend -- amazing Bend -- has a drop-off play center/day care, so for twenty bucks each, Darcy and H played in an indoor play ground for almost four hours. This was because two kids and a baby was more than I was willing to take on by myself. I know that many, many people do it all the time, but there is a reason Darcy is an only child. They had a great time, the skiers had a great time, and once two of the skiers came back, I got to wander downtown and do a little Christmas shopping at the local toy store and an Etsy collective store. Fun! 

Today, in order to wear out the small beasts for the drive back to Crescent City, we all started with a trip to Juniper Pool, the site of Darcy's summer stitches. Although it's much smaller, the indoor kids' pool was just as big a hit as the outdoor one was. We splashed around for over an hour, with a few adult trips to the hot tub and steam room (my first -- it was insane! I felt like a boiled lobster). And the ploy worked. Darcy stayed awake and apparently very hungry while we went back and cleaned out the last of the rental house and went to a fun pizza place that lets kids make their own pizza. It was very cute. They brought the stretched dough over to the table on a peel with bowls of sauce, cheese, and the kalamata olives Darcy requested for her topping. She put it all together and then we sat at the "pizza bar" so she could watch them put it into the wood-burning oven. 

Ten minutes into the drive home, she was sound asleep. So was I, for that matter. It turns out that three children, five and under, in one house leads to less-than-wonderful sleep for everyone. Darcy slept for half the ride home, which was perfect.

Now we're all gearing up for a totally insane week. Darcy is taking swim lessons two days a week for the next two weeks. Her first is tomorrow. Tomorrow night, Michael has a read through for Willy Wonka! Tuesday is Food Council for me in the evening. Thursday, we're going to do some sort of complicated switch-off with Darcy in Orick in order for Michael to teach a training there during the day and for me to be able to make an evening meeting of the Humboldt Food Policy Council. Whew! We'll be all tuckered out for the weekend just in time for a birthday party Saturday and a bead party on Sunday.

Life doesn't stop.

Things I'm Thankful For

Michael has just gone to bed. I'm waiting up for friends who are having a longer drive than I think they expected. We will celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow with Crescent City friends and an old friend from King Salmon. Darcy is sound asleep. The house is warm. I'm typing this on our new computer that is, at least for now, replacing the two that were stolen last week.

I have a job. Michael has a job. We have excellent health insurance, two working vehicles, and a house that is slowly, but surely becoming the house we want it to be. Sort of. 

Darcy loves school and learns something every day. When I ask her how her day was when I pick her up, she says, "Great!" When I ask what her favorite part of the day was, she says, "Everything!" She is healthy and happy. She reads and writes and counts and plays. She has a new favorite fairy and has insisted on blue clothes for three days now to honor that fairy.

We live in an incredibly beautiful place. Any day we want, we can see the Pacific Ocean and the beautiful rocky coastline. We can see the tallest trees in the world in their fern and moss world. It rains. A lot. And that's what makes the redwoods spectacular and our rivers clean and clear.

My work is busy. My hours were cut in the first real expression of the recession in our household. In 32 hours each week, I try to cram the same amount of work I used to do in 40. But every day, I do something that helps people and that lets me think about and write about food and agriculture and gardening. And in those extra eight hours I have outside of work each week, I manage to get our yard a little tamer, cook a good soup, work on our house, and just generally get a bit more living done.

I am getting to go to New York for Christmas for the first time in three years. I hope to catch up with good friends I haven't seen in too long. I will get to see my extended family. I will visit Ashokan and see in person the huge, but positive changes that have been happening since my last visit.

Michael will be Willy Wonka in March. Every day, we will watch Darcy learn more, do more, and become her own even more interesting self. I will get to help several communities figure out how they most want to improve their food system and find ways for them to achieve some of their dreams.

I have many, many reasons to be thankful. Given the current state of our national economy, just having a job, a house, and health insurance is a wonderful place to be in and we have so much more. I have a most amazing husband and a daughter who leaves me in awe at her talents. Every one of my days start and end with kisses and hugs from them. I am incredibly lucky and I am grateful.

It is now after midnight. It is the 24th day of November and of NaBloPoMo. It is also Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!