Creature

"It's a long way down when all the knots we've tied have come undone"*

I just emerged from a weekend retreat at Lake Cavanaugh with close friends. I couldn't have imagined that the weekend would bring me the insight that it did--especially when the intent of the weekend was to attend a music festival (which we did see, outside and in between lovely rain showers). My friend's parents built a large, luscious (it is actually "luscious") home on Lake Cavanaugh in Mt. Vernon, surrounded by gorgeous wetlands and prestigiously green trees and beautiful little birds and chipmunks and dogs, and they invited all of us to stay there for the weekend. No cell phones (no service!), no computers, they lent us their luxurious guest rooms and delicious food from their pantry. The five of us hauled up there with wine and beer and were treated to a completely relaxing weekend of music, water adventures, the Wii (they have a theater room in their house!), reading, talking and bonding, food and wine and, most importantly, sleeping-in and fresh coffee and quiche (yum!). I feel so grateful to have such amazing, warm, old friends.

The weekend brought on a trance, I'm not sure why. I had a dream the other night that was so eye-opening, I don't think I would have gained the depth of perception from it at home. I felt connected, and I was transitioning. For the first time in ages, I decided Monday mornings were not cool.

Shawn, the known pessimist, made a couple of comments that I didn't look like I was having fun on Saturday. I was so relaxed and chilled out (I didn't have to do anything all weekend) I was just zoned out and happy to be away and with friends, and spoiled a little bit! To talk about it too much would take away the beauty of the weekend (and the concert was great, too, despite the rain!). It was a reminder of why I love living in Washington State and how much I value and love my friends, my own family, and the people who matter in my life, and how much they love me back.

Pictures soon.

*Points if it is known--without a search engine--the song that line comes from.

A Brief Encounter of "Sex"

When I met RB almost four years ago, I had just started getting into the idea of watching "Sex and the City" on DVD, from start to finish. Our first date consisted of a great dinner, snacks, and four straight episodes of "Sex and the City", season one, disc one. Throughout our relationship, he loyally watched almost the entire series with me on DVD (so devoted, ha!). Last night, I dragged RB to one final episode: the opening of Sex and the City: The Movie. It was fantastic.

Now, I'm a terrible movie reviewer. Having studied Hitchcock and Spielberg in college (at PLU) gives me no authority whatsoever as a film critic and besides that, I'm not interested in critiquing movies, or books or TV, for that matter. Despite my love for writing growing up, I despised book reports the same way I despise book reviews and movie reviews today--writing them, reading them. Ironically, my cousin is a journalist in Pendleton, Oregon and he gets paid to write movie reviews, which is right up his alley. While he shares my love for creativity and journalism, my cousin was the obvious choice when science awarded the journalism/Reviews gene at creation. I got journalism/Features. It figures.

I'm not going to review SatC, but suffice it to say that I cried (a lot) and laughed (a lot more) and cheered with the rest of the crowd--like faithful groupies do. Yes, I despise Oprah, too, but I watched the SatC cast promote the film on her show last month (or what they could promote in between the 40 minutes of commercials). The movie is fucking awesome. I generally steer clear of movie theaters these days; I managed to fall asleep in the theater when we saw Spiderman and Borat (against my better judgment--and through the roar of laughter in the crowd, soundly I slept). There are a few things I allow myself to obsess over--"Sex and the City" being one of them. I sat patiently and attentively through the whole movie, completely swept away in the plot; and at the end of the night, two and a half hours of Sex was definitely still not enough. No surprise there.

Getting Board

It turns out that, while I did not get the original position with the awesome non-profit, the interview committee and director/CEO were "very impressed" with me. Last Sunday evening, the director contacted me herself and asked me to keep my considerations open for them, that they have a similar position becoming available shortly. They are expanding the geographic regions that they work within, and I think they're creating a second position to coordinate those projects. It's interesting being put into a position where I am being asked to continue to consider them--essentially, to wait for this position--after initially asking them to consider me for employment. I responded and said that I would be pleased to consider the position and that I expected to here back soon. The director responded with two lines: "Good. You will." Very good news.

While that has been brewing, I received a cold call last week from a really fantastic small, local licensed mental health center and residential program out of West Seattle asking if I would be interested in sitting on their Board of Directors. I was recommended to them by another organization I've worked with and done training through. The development manager and organization's director felt that my background in working with incarcerated youth as well as my degree in social science would really benefit their organization. I'm planning to meet with the dev manager and possibly the CEO in the next week or so to ask a few questions and find out what exactly my role would be for the board, the term (length) of service, what their fund-raising organization looks like, and to get a general sense of how functional the group works together. It's very exciting.

This group offers recovery-oriented services to people living with persistent and serious mental illness, many who have been released from jails or the state hospital. Case workers help to locate and provide permanent, affordable housing, worker training and employment, and they advocate against discrimination and work to keep their clients an active part of the community, off the streets and out of hospitals. According to the organization's website, Washington State ranks the lowest in per capita spending on mental health in the country. 

I am feeling a little bit nervous about taking on such a new, unfamiliar responsibility, but I stand behind the cause 100%. I'm very excited to see where these two opportunities will lead me. They're both exactly what I've been looking for.