My First Ever Quarantine Birthday

I’m stuck… but so much is happening!

So much is happening in life.

Yes, you heard me.  

Despite the quarantine, so so much.

And yet, I still feel stuck.

Maybe it’s because I am sitting in the same spot everyday at my kitchen table for the last 7 weeks.

And I don’t even have any plans for today. Like, how do you make plans? I can’t invited anywhere. And I don’t think anyone is planning anything soooo… I’ll be headed to Starbucks for my free drinks and take things from there..

It’s been a year.

Last year, at this time, my tooth had just exploded, and I went into a year of multiple dental operations and bills.  

But I’m better now.  I’ll drink something and be like, ‘wow, that’s the first time I’ve sipped coffee in 2 years without pain.’  Turns out I had one tooth explosion and on another tooth, I had a fracture all the way through.  And in case you’re wondering, yes, I brush and floss every day so…  

I’m a couple of years removed from the pain, heartache, stress of the non-profit situation.  I feel mostly recovered now.  I was able to forgive and release bitterness within about a month but the stress wreaked havoc on my body (tooth explosion, anyone?). 

It was such a huge, huge part of my life.  But after a year, I was able to start moving on.  I had created a new life without it.

I always said that 50% of my life went to the NBA and 50% went to the non-profit.  So to lose 50%, I had a lot to replace.

As I wrote in many previous blogs, I felt God telling me to create space.  To do nothing.  To let something new grow.  

So what sprung up in the last year?

I’m glad you asked… a lot.

I started writing more.  A lot more.  I’ve had this cozy blog for the last several years which has been awesome.  But I decided to start a Patreon account to try something different.  And lo and behold, 15+ people subscribed at $3 a month and my writing was making a little money.  I know that’s not a ton, but it felt good to be getting paid for writing and also it covers the costs of hosting this domain, so that’s pretty cool.  And since it’s my birthday… I’ll shamelessly plug my account where you’ll find a weekly blog behind the blog (it’s a blog about each week’s blog if you didn’t catch that) and date night where I talk about whatever is happening in my dating life that week… And seriously, there’s only 15 people, and I know most of them, so I can say whatever I want… or whatever you want.  Shutout to those 15!!!

Oh, about ‘date night.’  

It got real.

Like actually real.

I started dating someone thanks to Grandma and Instagram. 

Can you come up with a better combination that that?!  Probably, but that’s ours and it’s cool.  

Our grandmothers are next door neighbors so we’d known of each other for a long time but had never spent any time together.  We ran into each other a couple of times at Christmas, we started chatting on Instagram, and before you knew it… we were on planes back and forth from Indiana to Oregon and vice versa… until the quarantine hit and said, ‘not so fast long-distance relationship.’  So it’s been a minute since we’ve seen each other.  FaceTime it is.

Speaking of grandmothers, well, as you probably knew, my sweet sweet grandmother of 104 years passed away.  What a life.  So so thankful for her.   And I guess she left me a parting gift with her neighbor’s granddaughter so thanks again Grandma.  I still try to walk everywhere and stretch and exercise all the time, because that’s what Grandma did and I want to be like her.

Back to writing, so I had a lot of time writing and I started writing on Medium as well.  I started writing stories about the people I loved…Chris Bean, Jayme Eichler, Sarah Finnerty, Amanda Matley, Ben Rezac, Andrea Jones, Mady Bartel and soon, I started writing about everything.  And soon after that, I started 3 Publications on there.  Yeah, you heard me, 3!  Come join and write with me!!  Yes, that is plug #2, it’s my birthday, I can do that!  

So this summer, per usual, like the new usual, I decided to take a road trip.  But there was a glaring issue. Our family was meeting in Sedona, Arizona and I wanted to end up on an Alaskan Cruise and make it to Denali National Park.  

So here’s what happened…

A week before the trip started, I called my folks, “Mom and dad, wanna fly to Portland and take a road trip down to Arizona?!”  They were in.  Dope.

We drove through some National Parks and had a pretty non-conflict, amazing time together.  We chilled in Arizona for a bit (Thanks Jayme!), and then my sisters arrived.  We explored Sedona and the Grand Canyon and then it was time for the next leg of my journey.  I flew to Vancouver, B.C.  I got on a ship and headed up the coast of Alaska.

While I was on the cruise and visiting ports, I had time to think and breathe, and walk, and hike, and explore, and pray… and I was like, ‘I should buy a house.’

I got back to Portland, Oregon and told one of my good buddies who is a Realtor, “Jeff, I’m ready this time.”  We started visiting homes.  Small homes, big homes, condos and everything else.  But there was this one home I couldn’t get out of my mind.  It felt like ‘home.’  But it was a little out of my price range.  I tried to buy it twice but things didn’t work out.  I came in a third time and everything was progressing and then I hit a snag.  What snag you might ask?  A checked box from my HR department.

Yes, they needed to check a box and they decided not to.  It dealt with a ‘likely bonus.’  They were like, ‘it’s not likely.’  I was like, ‘it’s 10 out of 12 years, it’s likely!’  We haggled and they checked the box.  I should close on the house in a week and a half Lord-willing.  Everyday seems to be a new snag though so TBD…

Which sets up a new adventure, finding roommates and starting a new-ish life.  I’ve been in my current house / location for 7 years.  Once you’re out of college, you always assume your next home is your last.  A couple years here and I’ll be married and out of here.  7 years later… ‘I gotta get outta here!’

I continued up the shoreline of Alaska and then landed.  But I wasn’t done.  I wanted to get to Mount Denali.  So I hopped on a train to Anchorage and stayed with some parents of a friend.  And then rented a car and found my way to Denali.  It felt incredible!  I did it.  I freaking planned this whole trip and I did it!  PDX to CA to PHX to Vancouver to Alaska to Denali.  I was proud of myself.  

I came back to Portland and got ready for the basketball season.

So I created some space this past year… 

And although I’m stuck at kitchen table right now…

There’s some big things on the horizon…

A relationship, a house, and so many more stories to write.   

Thanks for tagging along for another year!