Connection

It all began Friday evening. I joined an indoor soccer team a month ago and we’ve now played two games. I think I’m addicted, too. After I leave the game I crave it, and I wish I was playing more days a week than just one. I’m enjoying not only the competition, but also the company, as I play with some friends who I’ve known since elementary school. Our game Friday was a good one, even though the score seemed like it was a close one, we were ahead by a significant amount the entire game. We won, elated by the teamwork and sweet passes that led to some clutch goals.

Saturday morning was a lazy, stay in my pajamas until after breakfast has been eaten, kind of morning. These rarely happen with Landon and I so they are VERY welcomed when they occur. Banana pancakes and coffee filled, I was deeply happy and excited about the day. Around lunch time a few of my cousins and a friend came to our house and we all headed towards Cougar Reservoir, ultimately making our way to the hot springs that are right up there. It was a little hike to get to the hot pools, but so worth it. Clothing is optional up there, but thankfully working in healthcare and especially the hospital, this doesn’t really offend or bother me. Recently I’ve been in numerous situations where people were unashamed about their body types. This has been a very poignant lesson for me, and I am continually amazed about it. As a woman in America, I always seem to look at other’s bodies and wonder why mine doesn’t look like theirs. But the funny thing is, they may be doing the same thing about mine. Why not just be happy and content with myself? It has been a question that I haven’t ever found a good answer for, but I think the answer continues to come as healing happens. The hot springs just reiterated the lesson: be happy and confident in your own skin. Its beautiful.

BrewFest was happening Saturday evening and after a text message from my cousin invited us, we decided to go. We headed home to wash the hot spring slime off ourselves and get some food in our bellies, and then we’d head to the fair grounds to taste the brews by many local and faraway breweries. Twelve dollars got us in the door, a taster glass and one taste, with each taste being a dollar after that. I am a huge fan of dark beers, so I stuck to those and was really happy to taste some new good ones. Laurelwood had an organic Vanilla Porter that was super smooth and delicious, and Block 15 from Corvallis also had a dark beer called Love Potion #9 (or something like that) and it was scrumptious. All the people, commotion, friends and laughter made it an extremely enjoyable evening. I am incredibly blessed to have some amazing friends who also happen to be my cousins, and each time I hang out with them I’m more and more grateful that we are so close. Its unique and I appreciate it.

Committed Partners for Youth is an organization I really believe in and would love to volunteer with, but due to life stuff, I can’t right now. So instead we paid our entry fee and ran the 4 mile Truffle Shuffle on a drizzly Sunday afternoon to support them. Its the first organized run Landon and I have done together and I can foresee more in our future. We ran a 8:38 minute/mile pace, finishing the four miles in just over 34 minutes. I loved the pitter patter of all the runners’ feet on the black top as we literally shuffled down the path that runs out of Alton Baker Park towards I-5. The runners ranged in age dramatically, but everyone was enjoying themselves and breathing a little heavier by the end. It was a sweet end to a fabulous weekend and as we walked back to the car I told Landon that I really felt like I finally connected with where I live. It was an surreal but welcomed realization.

All in all, this past weekend left me feeling very connected to my community. This may sound a little fluffy, and somewhat whimsical, but I feel like if you knew how big of a deal this is for me, you’d understand the absolute gravity of the statement. I cannot remember the last time I felt this way in Eugene, and in fact I am tempted to say it has never happened. As I have said before, I’m a ‘travel-dreamer’, always looking at pictures from another country, always wondering at how I might come to find myself right there in the midst of those photographs. Unfortunately for me, those photographs never seem to have Eugene in the background. Oops. But this town is the background of my life for right now, so how do I reconcile these seemingly opposing forces? I don’t have a good answer for that question. But this weekend did offer some reprieve.