The End of a Remarkable Journey

What a week it has been. Beautiful Harbour Island, meeting new family, launching a couple into a new life together, playing with an engaging 7.5 month old. Hard to see it end.




The island seemed as sad to see us go as we were reluctant to let go of a wonderful week in "paradise." I've never seen what could be described as torrential rains before, but we experienced them along with crashing thunder and a lightening strike to our house, which is located on the rise above the beach. It poured. And poured. Enough to spout from the gutters.

I was glad that Reggie was coming in his taxi to take us to the dock instead of relying on a caravan of golf carts. I didn't want to start out this journey soaked to the skin.

We had an amazingly smooth ride across the bay to Eleuthera on the water taxi. I was also thankful for the full canopy, which kept us relatively dry. After we were loaded in the taxi at Eleuthera, our driver got in a spirited argument over who was there first and deserved to take us to the airport... a six-passenger fare is nothing to take lightly.

We arrived at the airport to find everyone who had planned to leave earlier in the day waiting for the airport to reopen and resume service. We almost had our first wedding party reunion. I was glad Ryan and Anna had left the day before and weren't caught with us. Anna's grandmother, who bought the family house on Harbour Island, told me she had spent the entire day there before without ever getting off the ground.

As is common during these storms, the lights flickered more than once, and a generator could be heard coming to life before they came on again.

Ours was the second plane out, delayed more than a couple of hours by the bad weather. It was good to be airborne, but I read the safety instructions twice since I was the only one sitting at the exit window over the wing of the plane.

The aquamarine that you see in this photo is the ocean, and the darker images are on the sea floor (clouds are white).

Sleeping is the best choice on this flight, and Grandma Weber and Carson were the only ones who crashed.










We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale just minutes before our connecting flight to Houston was scheduled to leave, but it was also delayed. Terry was just thankful to have landed and be heading toward customs. We were all glad it wasn't raining out on the tarmac. The Weber clan barely made that Houston connection, the last flight out. We flew south around some storms in the Gulf, but had time to eat together in Houston before splitting up for our Seattle and Portland flights.

I actually got into PDX half an hour early. We left Houston about 15 minutes early and evidently made up more time in flight. I was surprised since we taxied so long on the ground, I thought we were driving part of the way.

It was a long day. Over 21 hours after I got up in the Bahamas, I was home in Vancouver. Amazing that it can even be done in a day.

All in all, it is very good to be home.

You can see more pictures of the trip here.

Wedding Celebration

The event we have anticipated for months went off with very few hitches. My nephew Ryan married his soul-mate Anna in the Bahamas on the 22nd of this month, with eight adults and one infant from his family in attendance.

The weather on Harbour Island was "iffy" all week - to say the least, and the decision to hold the ceremony on the beach was made at the last possible moment. The photos I took can be viewed here. The reception was marred only by the sunburn inadvertantly acquired by various guests earlier in the day. Most notably, the best man's toast speech was cut short because of his discomfort, but was still remarkable.

In the days preceding the wedding, we spent time getting to know Anna's family at Farcliff and being immersed in family traditions: Dinner Tuesday night, sitting at a table with Anna and Ryan, her parents, sister and brother-in-law. A native dinner in the courtyard the next night, after which Anna's father led a hootenanny from two large volumes of songs collected over the years.

The next afternoon's event was a rousing beach volleyball game on the beach below Farcliff. I was given the honor of holding the game ball by Anna's father, Scott, for having scored 14 consecutive points on serve. We're wearing our "official" Anna and Ryan wedding T's and windblown hair-dos.

That evening, the rehearsal dinner was hosted at Landfall, an estate further down the beach rented by a contingent of Anna's family. Cheeseburgers and Conch salad!

Don't ask me to recall everyone's name, but I met a lot of really, really nice folks. This family will compete with the English Clan on almost every level.












We saw the newlyweds off at the government dock the day after the wedding. We know where the honeymoon is, but we're not telling... not that you're likely to be in the Turks and Caicos this week. In case you don't recognize this vessel, it is a water taxi, otherwise indistinguishable from the water craft that populate the Columbia River on any given day.

Paradise Found

We finally arrived in the Bahamas after a two-hour flight delay. For the second time this trip, our plane was decommissioned because of maintenance problems, and we had to wait for another. The plane was a small Gulfstream, with one seat on each side of the aisle. Lynn and I had a front row seat for watching the pilot in the cockpit.

From Eleuthera, we took a water taxi. I'm not sure what comes to your mind, but this wasn't what I had envisioned. Here's me next to a bag of onions in the back of a very ordinary runabout.




















We seem to have brought good weather with us. After settling in at "Sitting Pretty," where we posed for a family picture on the deck, we had a great time "meeting the parents" for dinner at "Farcliff," a house the Lowes have owned for 26 years.

Roosters roam freely over the island, and a very persistent one served as my alarm clock this morning... much earlier than my body was ready to be up and about. But, I'm told "island time" is very relaxed, so I'm sure there will be time for a nap later today.

Traveling Across Country

The day began with the alarm going off at 3 AM for the trip across the country... from the NW to the tip of Florida. It ended over 14 hours later. Along the way, I had a smooth trip into Houston, where I had time to walk for 40 minutes after eating lunch at Bubba's. (Where else would you eat in Texas?) The airport has a space exhibit in honor of NASA's 5oth anniversary; along with amazing space pictures, my favorite was a full-size model of the Mars rover.

I then met up with the rest of my family and fed Carson strained carrots while everyone else had lunch. Carson's penchant for sucking on two fingers of his left hand, even while eating, gave new meaning to carrots as finger food.

We boarded the jet for the next leg of our journey and were promptly "deplaned" because of some maintenance problem. Less than an hour later, we were underway again. But we were in a holding pattern for quite awhile before we were allowed to land in Ft. Lauderdale.

We felt right at home because it was pouring down rain. Did I mention that it was sunny and 80 degrees in the NW today? Soaked to the skin on the first day of this adventure. I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

Kristi Needs

Thanks, Patty, for a fun exercise this morning. Googling "Kristi needs" garnered some amazingly accurate results. It seems that Kristi needs:

1. A schedule. Kristi needs to know exactly what time she is to be doing something and exactly how to do it. Not really. I'm quite resourceful.
2. A new hair color. What, you don't like the silver highlights?
3. To go to Home Depot and buy a filter for the exhaust fan over her stove. Honestly, I just put in a new fan! Is it dirty already?
4. HELP. Don't we all.
5. Bread. Always, because I have to bake my own. Then, again, there's the beatnik $$$.
   
6. A boyfriend. Most of my life.
7. To be patient. Refer back to number 6!
8. Some sleep. Hmmmmmmmm.
   
9. Our support and prayers. Now more than ever.
10. Numbers. Mostly more numbers in my bank account. See number 9.
    

Happy Anniversary

It has been a year since the day I was called into the CEO's office and laid off "because we don't need you." A year of searching for another full-time position. A year of unprecedented illness and healing. A year of examination and growing. A year of expectation. A year to be thankful that God is mindful of me.