The Road Home

I grew up in the beautiful surroundings of the Pacific Northwest (PNW). When I was a young girl, having just finished nursing school, I moved to the south. One of the first things someone would ask me, upon meeting me, was how could I have left such a beautiful place. Like anyone who grows up around something day in and day out, I became accustomed to it and often took it for granted. Yes I hiked, camped and spent countless hours outdoors but it wasn't until I left Washington that I grew to truly appreciate the beauty of that area of the country. I believe that anyone can find fault and flaws in places but every place has something amazing to offer. Sometimes you have to look harder than others but if you give a place time and put in the effort you will find a diamond in the rough.

That being said when my husband was interviewing for jobs I was unable to attend because our daughter, as previously mentioned, does not do well traveling and that was a battle I did not want to take on. When he was offered a job in West Virginia I was a little nervous at first with the pictures my mind conjured up about what this place would look like. I, of course, started scouring the internet but am always a little skeptical about what you find on the there. But I love a good adventure and I had faith that he wouldn't take us to a place that did not suit our family. As we pulled out of his parents driveway in Georgia saying our goodbyes I was so excited for the unknown, not really sure what to expect. I had texted my uncle to let him know we were leaving and explaining my curiosity to what I would see along the way and of course quoting "Country Road." He insisted I would be pleasantly surprised and reminded me that there were numerous songs written about that area of the country.

We crossed into eastern Tennessee and the smoky mountain, continuing our drive through the state of Virginia and into West Virginia. To say I was amazed, awestruck or even captivated does not come close to how I felt driving through this area. It was like I was still back home in my beloved PNW. I could not believe the majesty and beauty of this area. When I lived in Memphis I of course always missed my family but I also missed the PNW. Driving through these areas and having lived here now for two weeks I can say I will always miss my family but I still feel like I am home here. John Denver couldn't have described it better than the very first line of his song "Almost Heaven, West Virginia..." I wish I could describe it to someone or a professional photographer so I could capture the pristine landscape of this area. The lush green rolling hills, the misty sunny mornings, even the storms we have encountered are something that makes you feel serene. And let me not forget the magic of the fireflies or lightening bugs that captured the amazement of our son.
I cannot wait for our road trips and exploring this land. I already have quite a few places on my list to visit and it will only continue to grow!

(Just a few pictures on the road to our new home)

Getting Settled

On Thursday the 14th we drove 11 hours from my in-laws' home in Georgia to our new hometown in West Virginia. I have so much to say about our drive and the beauty of this region but I will save that for my next post. We weren't sure how the drive would go, as our daughter is not the best traveler by car or plane, but we were pleasantly surprised. We stopped four times along the way for bathroom breaks and leg stretches and made it safely in to town that evening.
The next day we closed on our very first home (more on that later) and were getting our few possessions that drove up with us settled in. Our stuff from Seattle was scheduled to arrive originally on the the 15th. However, on the 13th the representative from the moving truck company contacted us to notify us it would actually be the 18th. We were fine with that because that would give us time to figure out a few things in the area and clean up around the house before our stuff arrived. On the 15th, two days after the first phone call, the representative notified us that in fact our stuff would actually not arrive until the 26th to the 28th! They informed us that our belongings had actually not even left Seattle yet and was scheduled to depart Tuesday the 19th.
So for the last week and a half we have been camping out in our new home. We are not strangers to doing camp outs with our kids inside the home, as it was actually one of their favorite things to do in our apartment in Seattle however it has been a bit challenging at times. Thank goodness for the kindness of my mother-in-law who cooked us some food and froze it for us before we left Georgia, so that we would only have to warm it in the microwave. After a few days though we realized it would be beneficial to at least buy a pan and cookie sheet so we could make some eggs for breakfast and cook things in the oven.
We purposely sent our stuff two weeks before we were scheduled to arrive here to allow the 7-10 days of travel time as they had told us. We could've really been upset about  the delay but there is no point. We cannot change the circumstances and we are truly blessed to have what we do have. So this is just another part of our new adventure. As I sit here typing this post on the fire place hearth, our only place to sit in the house, I am thankful for these opportunities. It has given us a chance to fully enjoy the things we do have and our new surroundings. Every meal is spent eating outside on our newly purchased plastic outdoor furniture, using our Coleman cooler as a universal table to place our food. Our nights are spent sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags and our food is ate on paper plates with plastic utensils. We hope that our stuff arrives this week as promised but I can't deny that even this little road bump is a fun and memorable part of our adventure.

Our son enjoying his breakfast on a beautiful W. Va sunny morning

Road Trip

On the eve of our road trip to West Virginia I am reminded of the same feeling three years ago when we were packing up to head out west to Washington. We will be driving from Georgia to West Virginia tomorrow and though the mileage is significantly less it will be a fun adventure non the less. In an era where faster is better and the convenience of flying gives us extra time to spend in places, it is also nice to take the time to drive around the country.

When we drove from Memphis to Seattle, we did it in four days. In retrospect, we wish we had the time to spend at more places along the way but we were still able to absorb the beauty of our surroundings. The vast landscapes in Iowa, beautiful mountains in Utah, Wyoming's rock formations and wild horses (to our delight). Water cascading down rocky hillsides and amazing mountain scenery as we drove up the Oregon coast.

This time, our travels will take us through eastern Tennessee and on through the Appalachian mountains to our new home in Morgantown, WV.

I look forward to this trip.

As nice as it is to fly, I will admit I much prefer driving. There is no other way you can appreciate God's beauty in creating this stunning landscape than driving.  

In My Abscence

I'm back. The last month has gone by so quickly and so many things have gone on in the world of my little family. The third week of June my husband was gone to a conference and so I took the opportunity to take our little ones to visit my family for five days. They had a wonderful time and I was glad they were able to have that time with them as we likely won't be back for a visit until next summer. We also drove up to Canada for a day to say goodbye to my husband's Aunt and Uncle and their family in B.C. I will miss them as much as I will miss my own family. I have enjoyed our visits up there over the last few years and watching my kids play with their cousins.

The following week was a whirlwind of sorting and packing so we were ready for the movers to come pick up our stuff to ship to our new home. When we left Memphis for Seattle three years ago we arrived like modern day pioneers.

Everything we owned fit in our Pilot and the U-Haul trailer. Which we drove nearly 2,500 miles in three days. This time around our stuff will be meeting us upon our arrival. Thank goodness!

Our things were picked up on Thursday afternoon and we drove down to my hometown so that Saturday morning my parents could drop us at the airport to fly to Georgia to visit my husbands parents and siblings. We have not been able to make it out to see them in over a year due to his schedule so they were happy to have the time with us.

We have spent the week here enjoying family time and the holiday. My husband and I have spent the week trying to sort out the necessities to transition to our new home shortly and prepare for our drive from Georgia to West Virginia. We thought about flying initially but we do love a good road trip! So that should catch us up briefly in what's been going on in our world presently. Looking forward to writing about our new adventure!

(While we are excited about all of the new things in our life, we are deeply saddened by the horrific week of destruction of human lives and loss of all qualities that characterize our humanity in our country and in the entire world. Like so many others, we pray for peace, tolerance and understanding.)

Sunday Morning

I woke up Sunday morning in usual fashion. While waiting for my slumbering little people to wake up, wondering about breakfast, I laid in bed reading the news. Normally on Sunday mornings I read the news and then I get up and write on my blog. As soon as my eyes rested on an article about what had happened in Orlando I thought to myself anything about our lives I have to write today does not matter. So I rested the computer and took an extra moment in my daily morning prayers to pray for the victims of this senseless tragedy. It has taken me a few days to digest the gravity of that situation. And the more I thought about it the more I realized I do have something to say about it.

We are a family of faith. Our faith resonates in everything we do, and especially to how we treat other people. We teach our children love and tolerance and expect them to treat others with kindness. We do this not only through our words but also through our own actions.

When I saw the name of the of the shooter in this incident my heart froze, not out of fear, but because I knew the backlash of the hateful rhetoric that would soon accompany it.
 I am not a person who speaks openly of politics nor religion. However, on this day I need to take this opportunity to voice my opinion.
It saddens me to see the hateful things that people including leaders and politicians are propagating. Thoughtless comments, that due to ignorance and a lack of understanding, instill fear in others at a time when our beautiful country needs to be showing love and kindness.

One week ago an amazing pioneer (Muhammad Ali) lost his final fight and through his death the teachings of what he believed in was spread throughout the world. In a matter of days it took one xenophobic ignorant person, who does not represent Islam, to completely undo everything that was exemplified last week. For every hateful thing that has been said or written in the wake of this horrific and painful situation I have seen just as many beautiful stories of fellow Muslim-Americans standing in lines in Orlando for hours with the thousands of others, while fasting, to donate blood. Women wearing hijab, also fasting, who were walking down the line to give food and drink to those waiting to give blood. Let us not lose sight of the bigger picture of what we are facing as a nation. Let us not alienate another group of people because someone "claiming" religion committed a heinous tragedy. Let us not contribute to the xenophobia that lead to this crime. Instead let us unite to foster a solution and continue to show love and kindness to everyone irrespective of their race, religion, orientation, country of origin or beliefs.

May we continue to pray for the victims' of those that suffer at the hands of terrorists; their families and for our country as a whole. May God help us as a people to never loose sight of the qualities and inclusivity that has defined our nation.

The Surgeon and The Chef

I know I used this picture in my very first post but I just love it.

I'm sure when you saw the subject on this post you thought, oh a surgeon who moonlights as a chef?! Now my husband can cook a few things (though 99% of the time I am the one cooking the food around here) but he is not a chef.
A few weeks back we had rented a movie called Burnt. I personally liked that movie, though it didn't get great reviews on the tomato meter. Then the following week we ended up watching a documentary on a two Michelin star chef trying to obtain his third star. It was while we were watching these two movies that I began to see a lot of similarities between chefs and surgeons and the environments in which they work and live. During the documentary I told my husband that it looked like the life of a chef was very similar to his. The chef is the responsible party for the entire kitchen and how the food is turned out. Just like the surgeon is the responsible party in the operating room. That being said though, the chef and the surgeon are only as successful as the staff they work with. Each member in the kitchen plays an integral role in the success of the restaurant. From the cooking line down to the dish washer and garbage remover. Like wise the operating room is only successful with the competence and diligence of the anesthesia personal, nurses, techs all the way through to environmental services.
The hours of the chef are like the hours of the surgeon. The chef in the documentary was putting in 12-16 hour days, EVERY day. The surgeons hours very similar.
The chef was discussing how it took a toll on his family. His commitment to his work brought struggles to his marriage and ultimately led to an unfortunate dissolution of it. When we first moved for my husbands fellowship it was a pretty big struggle. I remember in the first few months calling a friend of mine whose husband was now an attending to talk about what was going on. She told me that fellowship put a huge strain on their marriage but if you can weather that you can weather just about anything. The hours are ridiculous. The commitment is hard to understand sometimes. But in order to move to the next level it must be done.
The training of a chef also appears to be very similar to the surgeon. The demanding mentors, the pressure to not mess up, the occasional hazing. All difficult to navigate but ultimately the process by which they make sure you are good enough to make the cut.   
The chef discussed personal sacrifice. Time with his children. Time with his friends. Time for himself. I have seen this first hand in the surgeons life as well. People have commented to me about how my husbands hours may get better once he is done with training, to which I respond "have you met my husband?" All joking aside though there is a personality characteristic to these driven career choices. There is no clocking out at the end of the day or shift. Work is always in the forefront of their mind. Always pushing to the next level of achievement. Not taking no for an answer. It is something to be admired but also something that causes difficulty in their life and the lives of those around them. I have a whole different perspective now watching that documentary of the chef's life and I can't help but wonder what further damage my waistline would've seen had my husband pursued a career as a driven chef instead of a surgeon. At the end of the day though I must admit I am pretty proud that his "cutting" skills help to add longevity and quality to some little child's life, instead of adding to my waistline.

To Remember

As luck would have it my husband was actually off Sunday. I wasn't confident this would happen as they recently had a few babies born that will require surgical care. And also because he was scheduled for Saturday and Monday of a holiday weekend which normally translates to him being asked to cover Sunday as well. Because he was off yesterday we decided to drive down to the lake to see the family for the day. They were all there to share Memorial Day weekend together.
As we drove home late last night I thought about what Memorial Day means to me. When I was younger I used to attend Memorial Day services at a local cemetery. They would often give a beautiful speech and then call out the names of those placed to rest there and their branch of service. No Memorial Day service touched me as much as the service I attended at the cemetery my grandpa is buried in. He was laid to rest in one of the national cemeteries in Oregon. Perhaps it was because it had only been a year since his passing but to see an entire cemetery covered in American flags at every head stone brings chills to ones arms. Or at least it did mine.
My grandpa was the type of man that could make a friend from a foe. He was quite the comedian and yet had a very serious side as well. He used to tell some of the best stories. I loved to sit around and listen to them knowing full well they likely were at least partially exaggerated. He was the type of person who could give you life advice that you knew was genuine, honest and impartial. He retired as Chief Petty Officer in the Navy with 20+ years of service in the CB's (also referred to as the SeaBees). In those years he received many awards and excellent evaluations. His highest honor was receiving the Bronze Star with a combat "V" for valor while in Korea (for those unfamiliar with the Bronze Star it is awarded to those for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone). He liked to occasionally throw in from time to time that despite all of those years since retirement, he could still always fit in his dress uniform. To which he was actually laid to rest in so many decades later. My grandpa was not killed in action, however, his non-Hodgkin lymphoma was suggested to have been caused by his direct exposure to agent orange during the Vietnam war.

And so this Memorial Day I honor his memory. He will always be one of my heroes. Besides his many years of service to our nation, he was an amazing human being.