January 22, 2007

72 Hours of Dad Bonding

My dad came for a visit this weekend -- staying just long enough for his poor body to start getting adjusted to West Coast time. It's cruel, this time zone thing. After Christmas it took me a solid week to get re-adjusted to West Coast time -- I fell asleep at 8pm each night and kept waking up at 4am. Anyway, here's a snapshot at what we did each day:

Friday:
After picking Dad up from the airport and grabbing some lunch at home, we load him into the car and drive him out to Cannon Beach along slightly icy and slightly scary roads. Do we know how to use chains? NOPE! Poor Dad has been up since literally 12:45am Pacific time and we know the fatigue is setting in, but he's a trooper. We walk along the beach, ooh and ahh at the haystack rock, and see some kind of large, twisted mass of undersea foliage that washed up on the beach...maybe...but we agree it's some kind of hippie art installation.

Saturday:
My birthday! The realization that when my dad was my age he had a 2-year-old and a pregnant wife. Crazy. I've just got a houseplant and a slightly temperamental husband. I took Dad up to Washington Park, and then attempted to find SE Hawthorne and Mt. Tabor Park, but somehow got lost three times in the process. Got so frustrated that we came back to MV and soothed our souls at the Grand Central Bakery...yum. Later, Ben came home (he was volunteering at a work thing earlier in the day) and we went to the Columbia River Gorge...Vista House and the majestic Multnomah Falls. We finished the day with what is my dad's new favorite movie (right?) - The Devil Wears Prada.

Sunday:
With Ben's help, found SE Hawthorne and Mt. Tabor. And then...FOOTBALL. The main event. The COLTS ARE HEADED TO THE SUPER BOWL!!! To finish the day, some Hot Lips Pizza. So proud of Dad, he tried the ham, pear and cheddar pizza and liked it.

Monday:
Bye Dad...our time was really too short! We love you. Hopefully our paths will cross again soon.

January 06, 2007

The reality of the world.

Ben and I dined at our favorite fast-casual establishment, Noodles & Company, last evening in Beaverton. As we sat down with our mid-priced plates of steaming pasta, in walks Drunk Girl who plopped down RIGHT next to us. Immediately she calls Some Dude and their conversation goes something like this (one-sided only, we only heared this from DG's point of view):

DG: Dude, I am so drunk right now! Yeah, I got fired today. The fire department came in and said the kitchen was insanitary. So they fired me.

Ben and I look at each other. Then we look at our pasta.

DG: So I'm back here at my old job, Noodles, I start tomorrow.

Sigh of relief.

DG: And I am SO wasted!

No kidding!

DG: Dude, I've been doing a lot of thinking, you know? About life, and I just miss you. I miss the way you took care of me. Remember the day we were out on the lake?

Ummm...should we really be listening at this point? But we just can't stop. It's getting too good.

DG: And I almost passed out?

Kind of like now?

DG: You took such good care of me...you really did. I just miss you being you.

Awwwww...go get him then!

DG: But this is the life I've chosen for myself. I have to take on real responsibility and make a life for myself, you know?

Yeah, we know, real responsibility. Kind of like getting drunk on Friday night in a Noodles & Company.

DG: Life is just too hard.

We understand, DG, we do! Go home and sleep it off. Your first (and second) clue should have been the manager asking you two different times to leave. This is a family establishment.

DG: Everything is so messed up. There is no justice in the world. I am the only reality of the world.

WHOA, DG. That is deep stuff. Maybe you should consider a career in philosophy!

At that point we left. We'd tried to leave at several points before but it was just too entertaining. DG, wherever you're at tonight, I do hope you find the reality you're looking for.