Portland, Oregon
Pacific City to Salem to Tualatin to Portland. That’s too much car time if you ask me. Dennis to the rescue.
Erin experienced a little nausea last night and again this morning. Since there’s not much anybody could do that wasn’t already being done, we just let Erin stay in bed to the greatest extent possible. That saw me up with Jonah at 5:30 AM, but it also highlights just how lucky we’ve been to be surrounded by a group of people who’ve been happy if not ecstatic to take care of Jonah while Erin and/or I do other things (like sleep, shower, or eat).
Our gratitude to our friends in that respect is only part of a larger thanks to everyone who came to Pacific City and helped to make our weekend a fun and memorable one. Bringing Jonah along on his first big outing was something of a shot in the dark, but our impression is that it worked out very well thanks to the support we received. We’re grateful to all those helping us continue to live something of a life since Jonah arrived.
By the time we left Pacific City at 11 AM and headed for Salem, Erin was feeling better. The pretty drive home was made more so by a sleeping infant and a spouse who had returned to health.
Once in Salem, I cleaned and returned the rental bike, caught maybe an hour of a nap, briefly updated this web site, packed, and jetted up to Tualatin for my soccer game. There, I was surprised and delighted to find Robyn and Jared (members of our Reach the Beach weekend group) had turned out to picnic and watch the game. [An aside: I enjoy it when people come to watch my soccer games.]
Given the audience, I am thrilled to report that I played well. Dennis booted a long ball that I was able to run under and, after a couple passes with teammates, launch into the back of the goal. Then toward the close of the first half, I headed in a corner kick. More than that, though, my play finally approached what it should have been all season. We won 5-2, but I’m happier that I played well than anything else.
After the game, I followed Dennis to his place in Portland where he kindly let me crash out for the night. Unfortunately, he also introduced me to SportsNight, the three-time Emmy Award-winning Aaron Sorkin series which proceeded The West Wing. Dennis has the complete 6 DVD set. I stayed up to about 1:30 AM just watching the first two. Outstanding stuff. (Potential gift givers take note: The SportsNight DVD set now appears on my Amazon.com wish list.)
Thanks to Dennis for letting me stay over. I think another 60 miles in a car would’ve done me in.