Memory games.
What are ten things I remember from last year?
1) Being the last member of my family to visit my Grandma before she died. The week before she had to cancel our meeting because she wasn't feeling well. That meant in two weeks I would be living in Portland and wouldn't see her until Christmas. Stacey and I had visited her a number of times since living in Sacramento, so it wasn't a huge deal for us to not see her on our last weekend there. But we did. And it was probably the happiest decision I made in 2005.
2) Moving from Sacramento to Portland. This happened in about a two-week span. Stacey was getting shit from her job, and it was ridiculous. We hadn't even really considered moving seriously until that point. Two weeks later Stacey was up in Portland checking out houses for us and got lucky and found the amazing place we are at now.
3) Stacey and my one-year anniversary--finding Ichi. That was an amazing day. Sure, the cat pees and poops wherever he wants, but that is what makes him my cat :) I went to get pizza at lunch and there he was, crawled into the tire-well of the car next to me. He was dirty and lovey. While I was petting him I said, "If you climb in this car, I'm going to take you home with me." He hopped right in and cuddled into my lap.
4) Potlatch 2005. Amazing time. Found out Wynne and Josh were going out (friends from UPS), and both playing on the Tacoma team. Met up with a slew of old frisbee buddies like every year at Potlatch and reminised. Every year it just gets more nostalgic and makes me look forward to the next year even more. I love the group of people I play with there. Restores my faith in humanity every year :)
5) The mom, ellen and scott's trip down to Sacramento and Tahoe. This was the mom's big move. The move out of Idaho that everyone had been trying to get her to do since I met Stacey. The trip to Tahoe was a blast, it was my last time there. We had a fun little place, not too far off the "strip" and it had a pool table/ping pong table, two hot tubs and a pool. Lost some money gambling, drank a couple of the 'samplers' and got to eat at the place near S+J's wedding (bob's? bill's? .. soo good).
6) Tornados at Central Fireplace. There was one day in the spring last year where we saw two different funnel clouds from the back of the warehouse. Those were the first real tornadoes I had ever seen. Luke ran his ass off to get inside and the rest of us just laughed and walked closer to the storm. It was very calm, but I could see the spinning, sideways tornado not 200ft away. The sky was amazing then, large and swirling slowly on the outside--getting faster the more inward you went.
7) Stacey's treatment. It is still a bit hard to believe that she got diagnosed with cancer when she was 20 years old. She was still under the effects of radiation on her 21st birthday. Wine-tasting in Napa Valley, but she forced through it and was able to drink when I didn't really think she would be. She didn't have 21 shots, nor did she try, but man, what an experience.
8) Stacey and my trip to just north of San Fran before her treatment began. Probably the highest and lowest point in our relationship was that single day. We had fought before, but nothing like this. Getting through that together made us closer than we had ever been before.
9) Living with Joe/Sean/Jeff/Stacey. That was a very interesting experience. Joe and Sean were very much like my friends back home (at least Andrew and Marc). But weren't as active--basically flakey versions of my friends. We had a lot of fun playing Madden and Hockey games together, but we never really tossed the football or baseball much--and we shot hoops once I think. Could have been a much better time if the athletic side of Marc or Andrew was down there with me.
10) I guess it would have to be my Grandma's funeral. It was a lot harder to think of 10 things than I thought it would be. Besides my kindergarten teacher's funeral when I was 5, this was the only other funeral I have ever been to. And the two funerals were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. My kindergarten teacher had 1000 cranes, he died young from (cancer?), and was outlived by so many friends and people's lives he had touched. My grandma was 95 and outlived all her friends except for her family. She was the oldest person in her retirement home by more than 5 years. Her funeral was perfect though, about ten of us, a short ceremony, followed by dinner at the Indian place Stacey and I went to once while visiting her months before. We just celebrated her life. It felt good to get together with my dad's side of the family and share laughs from his mother's life. That, and my sister and I got our parents wasted at the free drink happy hour at the red lion--I won't forget that for a long time :)
What are ten things I remember from last year?
1) Being the last member of my family to visit my Grandma before she died. The week before she had to cancel our meeting because she wasn't feeling well. That meant in two weeks I would be living in Portland and wouldn't see her until Christmas. Stacey and I had visited her a number of times since living in Sacramento, so it wasn't a huge deal for us to not see her on our last weekend there. But we did. And it was probably the happiest decision I made in 2005.
2) Moving from Sacramento to Portland. This happened in about a two-week span. Stacey was getting shit from her job, and it was ridiculous. We hadn't even really considered moving seriously until that point. Two weeks later Stacey was up in Portland checking out houses for us and got lucky and found the amazing place we are at now.
3) Stacey and my one-year anniversary--finding Ichi. That was an amazing day. Sure, the cat pees and poops wherever he wants, but that is what makes him my cat :) I went to get pizza at lunch and there he was, crawled into the tire-well of the car next to me. He was dirty and lovey. While I was petting him I said, "If you climb in this car, I'm going to take you home with me." He hopped right in and cuddled into my lap.
4) Potlatch 2005. Amazing time. Found out Wynne and Josh were going out (friends from UPS), and both playing on the Tacoma team. Met up with a slew of old frisbee buddies like every year at Potlatch and reminised. Every year it just gets more nostalgic and makes me look forward to the next year even more. I love the group of people I play with there. Restores my faith in humanity every year :)
5) The mom, ellen and scott's trip down to Sacramento and Tahoe. This was the mom's big move. The move out of Idaho that everyone had been trying to get her to do since I met Stacey. The trip to Tahoe was a blast, it was my last time there. We had a fun little place, not too far off the "strip" and it had a pool table/ping pong table, two hot tubs and a pool. Lost some money gambling, drank a couple of the 'samplers' and got to eat at the place near S+J's wedding (bob's? bill's? .. soo good).
6) Tornados at Central Fireplace. There was one day in the spring last year where we saw two different funnel clouds from the back of the warehouse. Those were the first real tornadoes I had ever seen. Luke ran his ass off to get inside and the rest of us just laughed and walked closer to the storm. It was very calm, but I could see the spinning, sideways tornado not 200ft away. The sky was amazing then, large and swirling slowly on the outside--getting faster the more inward you went.
7) Stacey's treatment. It is still a bit hard to believe that she got diagnosed with cancer when she was 20 years old. She was still under the effects of radiation on her 21st birthday. Wine-tasting in Napa Valley, but she forced through it and was able to drink when I didn't really think she would be. She didn't have 21 shots, nor did she try, but man, what an experience.
8) Stacey and my trip to just north of San Fran before her treatment began. Probably the highest and lowest point in our relationship was that single day. We had fought before, but nothing like this. Getting through that together made us closer than we had ever been before.
9) Living with Joe/Sean/Jeff/Stacey. That was a very interesting experience. Joe and Sean were very much like my friends back home (at least Andrew and Marc). But weren't as active--basically flakey versions of my friends. We had a lot of fun playing Madden and Hockey games together, but we never really tossed the football or baseball much--and we shot hoops once I think. Could have been a much better time if the athletic side of Marc or Andrew was down there with me.
10) I guess it would have to be my Grandma's funeral. It was a lot harder to think of 10 things than I thought it would be. Besides my kindergarten teacher's funeral when I was 5, this was the only other funeral I have ever been to. And the two funerals were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. My kindergarten teacher had 1000 cranes, he died young from (cancer?), and was outlived by so many friends and people's lives he had touched. My grandma was 95 and outlived all her friends except for her family. She was the oldest person in her retirement home by more than 5 years. Her funeral was perfect though, about ten of us, a short ceremony, followed by dinner at the Indian place Stacey and I went to once while visiting her months before. We just celebrated her life. It felt good to get together with my dad's side of the family and share laughs from his mother's life. That, and my sister and I got our parents wasted at the free drink happy hour at the red lion--I won't forget that for a long time :)
posted by MHG at
6/01/2006 01:59:00 PM
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