SOMEWHERE ON I-90, MONTANA – So far, so good. I write this from the passenger seat while Marley drives through the Montana badlands.
We’re feeling a bit beat up, though. I’m still nursing two good-sized road-rashes I got from a spill I took on the alpine slide in Denver. My ego was bruised more than my body, but my body still hurts.
Marley slept funky last night and has a terrible kink in her neck. It’s the kind of kink that makes it painful to even turn around, so hopefully having keeping her eyes on the road rather than smacking the kids around in back will help out.
Meanwhile, Noah has stopped bleeding. His sister schwacked him with a golf club last night on the hotel’s putting green. Gashed a pretty good hole in his forehead. Thought we might have to get stitches, but we managed to get things under control on our own. (Props to the Holiday Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming for sporting the first putting green we’ve seen on this trip, or any trip for that matter, inside the hotel, and of course for putting up with a screaming, bleeding four-year-old with grace, an ice pack and bandaids.)
Amelia seems to have gotten through the worst of the swimmers ear fever, but the twice daily doses of foul-tasting antibiotics remain a challenge. Still, despite it all, everyone seems to be doing pretty well. Plus, we haven’t lost any cats yet. Or the transmission.
I’ll close this on-the-fly posting with the story on-the-elevator encounter I had this morning. I was going down to the car to begin the packing process and stepped onto the elevator with a couple and their young daughter. The wife immediately took notice of my Mars Hill Graduate School sweatshirt and said “Mars Hill Graduate School!”
Long story short, she’d heard of our little seminary in Seattle. They’re a military couple. He’s an Army physician and they’re in the middle of their own cross-country move, relocating from Fort Bragg, N.C. to…um, yeah…about 20 minutes down the road from where we’ll be living.
Their pastor from back in Bragg is helping them move. We all enjoyed a long cup of coffee together talking about faith and military mental health issues – something Marley and I think we may very well get into after Mars Hill. It was, in short, a moment.
Anyway, they gave me a book they’re excited about, their contact info and a promise we’ll all get together once the dust settles from our respective moves.
The Blog from the HOG
About Us
- Jon Anderson
- A family of four on a grand adventure to Seattle and back, and then back again.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost
-- J.R.R. Tolkien
(They) attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.
-- Douglas Adams
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best...
-- Paul to the Philippians
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
-- Mark Twain
Not all those who wander are lost
-- J.R.R. Tolkien
(They) attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.
-- Douglas Adams
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best...
-- Paul to the Philippians
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
-- Mark Twain
2 comments:
A "moment."
What a great word to capture the marking points of life. I remember a "moment." I was 13? 16?dancing in front of a jute-box playing "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" with Dickie Dwyer, my friend since we were 10. We had been "going steady" but he needed me to know plans had changed: he was going into the seminary. I will always remember that moment: it was a time of honest declaration that marked a friendship that has lasted 50 years.
Thanks, Jon, for giving a name to those moments in time that our hearts capture forever.
Marley: so thankful for your great endurance and how you always manage to keep a smile on your face and in the tone of your beautiful voice. (I'm president of "Whiners Anonymous" - and you can feel free to join in anytime you like!)
Love,
Mom
God is so cool! What timing he has. He put those people in your path to bless and encourage you. Although we are in mourning here you have to move on to higher ground and moving you are.
Marley I woke up with a stiff neck this morning too. So I know exactly how you are feeling. If you have any kind of opportunity to put some ice on it do so. It will help alot. I realize you may not have an ice pack with you but if you get by a grocery store you can us a bag of peas or corn or of course you can come up with something in a hotel with a bag of ice. No longer than 20 minutes at a time though.
I see you are none too short on adventure this trip. That's one thing about you all, there is never lack of adventure. You always have something to write about John.
Kudos to the pic with Carmen. I missed your smiling faces. I am reminded of the night we had your party at the LaSalles...Marley said she was just going to sit in one spot and stare at people and memorize their faces. I am thankful to have the pic. I should have started staring and memorizing weeks ahead of time because I realized how quickly you forget what someone looks like. It's especialy hard when you have so much emotion involved.
Keep on moving ahead and expect God to bless you everyday in every catagory.
Much love,
diana
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