Marilee’s Travels

this past weekend jimmy and i drove down past salem to a rented cabin in jawbone flats (population 11) next to opal creek. we stopped outside of salem at a peony and iris field. all this was to celebrate his bachelor party. and me being the best man… i did what i could. i asked what he wanted, knowing that i would not receive the ‘typical’ male response… “dude let’s get waisted and see strippers.” my brother’s request was much more surprising and wonderful. he said he wanted to hang out with me, perhaps a road trip or camping. (i upped it a notch and got us a cabin for 2 nights and we didn’t have to haul our ‘gear’). he also went out on a limb and asked for ’smore’s (with hershey’s chocolate bars, BIG marshmellows and cinnamon gram crackers.) oh… oh… AND LEMONADE!! we had such a great time just being us. throwing rocks, walking in the woods, making each other laugh AND we made pizza and biscuts and gravy. what a way to transition from single-hood to married with son. good luck jimmy, and thanks for the fantastic weekend!!!

and all my little hairs.

this weekend i went for a walk around my neighborhood and found some amazing flowers and friends. (the flowers are for mother’s day!) spring here is the best. jen and jason also came to visit. we went out to edgefield and had a great time. sorry i didn’t get a picture of jason. next time…

saturday, just outside of salem victor took me to opal creek. it was mostly flat. there were mountains, trees and water. it was a lovely, comfortable day. not too hot and not too cold. as you can see from the photos, it was an old mining town. there are 11 residents that live up there off the grid. you can rent cabins, hike or camp. another great day in the woods. later that evening we went to tory and meagan’s house for cinco de mayo. with a deck and food like that, it definately feels like summer is approaching. on sunday… i met up with april for lunch and walk on the water front. i love weekends.

i left on thursday april 26. (i was supposed to go the weekend before, however, i double booked my parents visit ((which was planned well in advace)) with my trip to see daniel and josh.) it all worked out and i was very happy to recover in palmer. my expectations for going north were… seek some closure to tess’s death 1.5 years ago, smell their house (which, if you know me, isn’t as weird as it sounds) and sit in the presense of daniel and josh. i found all of that and more. i found support, love, acceptance, curiosity, calmness, open thoughts, stress free living, life without media, conversation, connection, peace, non judgement, warm smiles, fantasic food made with love… the list really could go on for a long, long time. all these things have left me wondering about where my life is now. is this what i want? is this all i want? is this where i want to live? is this what i want to do? is this making a difference? am i making a difference? obviously, these are questions that i have pondered (on some level) for 33 years. it was a great wake up call from my hamster wheel that sometimes continues to turn even without me doing a thing.