Two years

A month ago I walked all over Niagara Falls, NY/ON with this guy.

It was a wonderful almost-anniversary and we savored every minute of it, especially since we knew we wouldn't be able to be together on our actual 2nd anniversary, which just so happens to be today.

Me pre-Hurricane Deck at Cave of the Winds

My reaction to the Hurricane Deck

Jonathan pre-Hurricane Deck at Cave of the Winds

His reaction to the Hurricane Deck

Two years hasn't changed my mind any. He's still my favourite!

(In case you were wondering - Jonathan's poncho is so much shorter than mine because he's wearing a backpack.)

Love you as much as all the water that flows over Bridal Veil and Horseshoe Falls, Jonathan! Happy 2nd anniversary!

Five Minute Friday: Belong

I don't belong here. Not in Maine. Not in the U.S. even. And maybe not even in my home country of Canada. I don't think my heart belongs to the continent of North America anymore...

Because nearly three years ago I went to Tanzania for eight months. And I fell in love as I've never fallen in love with another country before. My heart is now torn in two. The one side, the patriotic born-into-me love, reaches west to the sharp-pointed mountains of my home province, British Columbia. The other side pulls far east, diagonally across the Atlantic to the exotic soul-exhilarating love I found halfway around the world.

What's a girl to do when her heart lives in all the places where she does not?

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My musings on the prompt 'belong' for Five Minute Friday. Join in next week if you feel inspired!

Five Minute Friday: Present

Being organized is in my blood. I'm nearly 100 percent German and it shows. I like my life neat and tidy, organized and in a good routine. So the past year and a half, I've been making an effort to organize my digital life. Making more folders, choosing better folder names, clearing thumb drives, backing up documents on my external hard drive, making decisions about which things to save on my computer or put on Google Drive. And now sometimes I find myself so caught up in this web of digital organization that I don't know how to stop. How to pull back, leave the computer, and rejoin the real world. And when I realize that, I shake my head in wonder, push back my chair, and find something else to do. Something real and tangible. Find my husband and talk to him. Go make something in the kitchen. Grab a book from the shelf and read it instead of catching up on the latest blogs I follow. Being organized is good, but - as much as I think it might be - it's not vital to my life. This world, real life, being present, that is vital. Vital to my home, my happiness, and my soul. Less time on the computer (even if it's spent doing valuable things) and more time in reality is my goal for the rest of this year. Being present for those around me should always be my focus.

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My musings on the prompt 'present' for Five Minute Friday. Join in next week if you feel inspired!

Five Minute Friday: Beautiful

The homey lights shining through the windows and the easy conversation floating into the still night air. The beat of rain against the roof, and the promise of a lazy day indoors. The grandeur of high, sometimes-covered mountains seen from van windows traveling up a winding highway. The brilliant green of grass and forest against the grey backdrop of a rainy sky. The next day dawning bright and warm. Too warm...so down to the lake for a swim and a boat ride. Kids screeching in joy as the tube bounces over the wake. Cheers as first one cousin, then another, gets up on a knee board, a wake board, water skis. Loon families floating together on still evening waters. Their shuddery calls echoing across the water-filled valley. Games together in the cabin on moist, warm evenings. Looking out from a high ridge to flashes of fireworks popping into the darkening sky from all across the expansive landscape below.

Togetherness, fellowship, memory-making. A week of beautiful at the family camp in southern Maine.

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My musings on the prompt 'beautiful' for Five Minute Friday. Join in next week if you feel inspired!

Five Minute Friday: In Between

In between. Like the PB&J in a sandwich or the blueberry filling in a pie. I'm stuck in the middle right now. Last June I had a job I loved. Then my time overseas ended and I came back to North America, but couldn't work while I waited for my green card. After months of sitting around trying to fill my time with small jobs for relatives, I finally got my green card at the end of April. But I'm still sandwiched between those two pieces of bread, the bottom crust and the top. With five weddings, and two small family reunions on both sides of my husband's family this spring and summer, there's been a lot of time spent traveling and not enough time staying in one place to start working in earnest.

But, I keep reminding myself, it's the in between times that, really, are the sweetest. What would a sandwich be without the spreads? Who would eat a pie without filling? I've been in between this year, but my life has been full of new experiences and exciting discoveries. Traveling in South Korea and Vietnam last summer. Driving a truck and trailer filled with my earthly possessions from BC to Maine. Moving our things into our first North American apartment together. Christmas at home in snowy BC for the first time in three years. Another cross-continent drive to bring my car east in January. Jonathan introducing me to new parts of Maine, and both of us exploring the area we now live in together. It hasn't been normal, but it has been memorable.

I'm ready to settle down into our life here now, come fall and the return of a less-hectic schedule. And I'm ready to have a job again, to have a routine to follow. This past in-between year has been crazy, but one thing I can say about it is that it's definitely been interesting. Normal and routine are good, but sometimes it takes chaotic and in-between to appreciate the more mundane parts of life.

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My musings on the prompt 'in between' for Five Minute Friday. Join in next week if you feel inspired!