They finally made if official. I fought it with zeal, but alas, the Capital City Asay's will be the last remaining in Oregon. Hooray for roadtrips and White Christmas's!
I don't think I've been on a true backpacking trip before. Back in high school, my friend Bart and I planned a multi-day trip to Carl Lake, but we ended up turning around after one night of camping at Cabot Lake because it was raining so much and we'd rather stay at his family's cabin instead. I also hiked up to Moraine Lake as a scout leader, on the way to South Sister, where we camped in preparation to summit Oregon's third tallest peak, but we left all of our gear at the lake on the second leg of our climb. That was back in 2001. I first learned of the Timberline Trail by reading a brief summary of it in, of all places, Portland Monthly. Sure, it was 35 miles farther than I had ever backpacked before, and it involved two more days and nights, and I would be going solo. But the summer of 2016 is all about change and new beginnings for me. Day 1: Timberline Lodge to Ramona Falls I slept in Tuesday morning, as I was up late Monday night making my final preparat...
I grew up in a culture that did not celebrate Father's Day. At least that's what my memory tells me. So it has been a decade-long transition period of letting my wife and kids worship me for a day. This was an uncomfortable thing at first, but now I wish they would treat me like this every day. They let me sleep in and brought me breakfast in bed, with both Edward and Ian helping me eat it. Usually I'm up at dawn with Ian, feeding or changing him. But today I got a free pass. They presented me with gifts: a belt made out of a bicycle tire, with a star wars-themed buckle; a drawing Ed had made (with me as Darth Vader--yes!--and him as Luke); a dinosaur magnet that Aaron had made at school; and a hammock (which has been sitting in the garage for a few weeks now). At church the women presented all of the fathers with chocolate dipped Oreo balls. Even though they had cream cheese in them, I enjoyed them and hounded them for more. The primary aged kids--including Aaron and Ed-...
Aging is a gradual process, so why should I worry when the clock officially tacks on another number to my age? Perhaps I should have realized that, as my peers began turning 40, and I would post half-serious questions about their experience, that I had my own issues brewing steadily in the background. I don't think I've had a birthday party since I was six, but Meg insisted on having one for me--something about 40 being a milestone or something, despite my arguments that I had done nothing significant to warrant anything--I had simply aged another year. But I conceded the point. I offered up the idea of a roller skating party--which is probably what my last party was; see, I haven't changed a bit--but I think she laughed that one out of the rink pretty quickly. I get daily emails from Groupon and LivingSocial, and they had something for a karaoke box rental. My half-Japanese side recognized something that could be fun and probably aligned with my personality. I told Meg...
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