One of the reasons I loved living in Norway was because I felt so loved, appreciated and included. I hadn’t felt that way so much since moving to the Skagit Valley ten years ago. I left all my good friends behind in Seattle when we moved here and the distance has taken its toll. I haven’t made any friends here on the same level in all this time. It’s been pretty lonely. I didn’t even realize how isolated I felt until we lived in Norway and I remembered what it was like to have friends and family nearby. But as I found out today, there are more than a few folks in the Skagit Valley who really did miss us and were glad we came back. Our church had a casual pot-luck Bar-b-que for us (at our house – see photo) so people could give us a hug and welcome us home. It was just what I needed.
It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. Our friend Willie came over early this morning to help me set up a few things for the party. He also mowed the lawn and showed me how to use the mower, since Kory won’t be doing that job for a while. I mowed the lawn for the first six years we lived here, using a push mower. It took about 45 minutes to do the whole thing. When I finally felt overwhelmed with too many household chores, I asked Kory if he could start mowing the lawn. He said he wouldn’t do it unless we bought a riding lawn mower. We don’t even have a half acre of grass, and he wanted a riding lawn mower!? We “discussed” that situation to no end and just before we moved to Norway, I caved and bought him one for his birthday because the push mower died. He had been telling everyone, “I only want three things in life, and Mickey won’t let me have any of them. I want to ship our Honda Odyssey to Norway, I want a riding lawn mower and I want a shower in the basement.” Well, I figured the riding lawn mower was the cheapest and easiest compromise to make because I couldn’t let him be right about me not giving him anything he wanted, so I bought the mower. I have never used it until today when Willie showed me all the buttons and levers and pedals and what they do and when to use them. (I’m thankful I didn’t have to learn it from Kory.) And about the Honda in Norway – that became a moot point when we bought a mini-van over the internet before we moved there. And as for the shower in the basement – that won’t ever happen. Kory put a dry sauna in the basement last year but really wanted a wet sauna with a drain in the floor as well as a shower right outside the sauna. The basement is BELOW ground level AND below the septic tank. It doesn’t take much imagination to think about what the basement would smell like if anything ever happened to the pump that would need to be installed if any kind of drain were down there. When Kory was installing the sauna, he cut a hole in the subfloor insulation the size of a drain. I happened to be down there just as he was covering it up and I asked him why he cut that hole. His response: “In case I live longer than you.” That speaks volumes about Kory and our relationship.
About an hour before the party began today, the couple who lived in our house for the year we were gone, called from Minnesota to tell us our Bar-b-que was broken. We had just figured that out and Kory was in the process of trying to fix it, but couldn’t. Fortunately our neighbor loaned us his grill at the last minute. It would have been pretty funny to have people coming over for a BBQ with no working grill. Stuff breaks. Now maybe we should get a riding grill. Imagine the possibilities.
Kaleb felt much better today and even made the lemonade to help out. He was thrilled to have friends over for the Bar-b-que, but he got a little carried away with all the fun he was having. The pump on our pond broke while we were gone. Kory set a bilge pump in there as a temporary measure just to keep the water from turning green. Kaleb stuck a stick down the main spout of the fountain during the party, which caused the bilge pump to burn out. He swears he was just experimenting with water displacement. Now I guess he’ll be experimenting with cash flow displacement as he’ll need to buy a new pump with the money he’s been saving for a Nintendo game. It was an otherwise lovely party, and we felt very honored to be the center of such lavish attention (and the food everyone brought was good, too!) I’m usually the one having the parties and inviting people over, so this was a definite roll reversal for me, but I liked it! And one of the best things was - I didn’t have to clean up. The last handful of people here prayed for Kory’s back - for quick and total healing. It was a perfect ending. It’s good to have friends.
It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. Our friend Willie came over early this morning to help me set up a few things for the party. He also mowed the lawn and showed me how to use the mower, since Kory won’t be doing that job for a while. I mowed the lawn for the first six years we lived here, using a push mower. It took about 45 minutes to do the whole thing. When I finally felt overwhelmed with too many household chores, I asked Kory if he could start mowing the lawn. He said he wouldn’t do it unless we bought a riding lawn mower. We don’t even have a half acre of grass, and he wanted a riding lawn mower!? We “discussed” that situation to no end and just before we moved to Norway, I caved and bought him one for his birthday because the push mower died. He had been telling everyone, “I only want three things in life, and Mickey won’t let me have any of them. I want to ship our Honda Odyssey to Norway, I want a riding lawn mower and I want a shower in the basement.” Well, I figured the riding lawn mower was the cheapest and easiest compromise to make because I couldn’t let him be right about me not giving him anything he wanted, so I bought the mower. I have never used it until today when Willie showed me all the buttons and levers and pedals and what they do and when to use them. (I’m thankful I didn’t have to learn it from Kory.) And about the Honda in Norway – that became a moot point when we bought a mini-van over the internet before we moved there. And as for the shower in the basement – that won’t ever happen. Kory put a dry sauna in the basement last year but really wanted a wet sauna with a drain in the floor as well as a shower right outside the sauna. The basement is BELOW ground level AND below the septic tank. It doesn’t take much imagination to think about what the basement would smell like if anything ever happened to the pump that would need to be installed if any kind of drain were down there. When Kory was installing the sauna, he cut a hole in the subfloor insulation the size of a drain. I happened to be down there just as he was covering it up and I asked him why he cut that hole. His response: “In case I live longer than you.” That speaks volumes about Kory and our relationship.
About an hour before the party began today, the couple who lived in our house for the year we were gone, called from Minnesota to tell us our Bar-b-que was broken. We had just figured that out and Kory was in the process of trying to fix it, but couldn’t. Fortunately our neighbor loaned us his grill at the last minute. It would have been pretty funny to have people coming over for a BBQ with no working grill. Stuff breaks. Now maybe we should get a riding grill. Imagine the possibilities.
Kaleb felt much better today and even made the lemonade to help out. He was thrilled to have friends over for the Bar-b-que, but he got a little carried away with all the fun he was having. The pump on our pond broke while we were gone. Kory set a bilge pump in there as a temporary measure just to keep the water from turning green. Kaleb stuck a stick down the main spout of the fountain during the party, which caused the bilge pump to burn out. He swears he was just experimenting with water displacement. Now I guess he’ll be experimenting with cash flow displacement as he’ll need to buy a new pump with the money he’s been saving for a Nintendo game. It was an otherwise lovely party, and we felt very honored to be the center of such lavish attention (and the food everyone brought was good, too!) I’m usually the one having the parties and inviting people over, so this was a definite roll reversal for me, but I liked it! And one of the best things was - I didn’t have to clean up. The last handful of people here prayed for Kory’s back - for quick and total healing. It was a perfect ending. It’s good to have friends.
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