“There’s water all over the place!”

Alternately titled: Portraits Of A Weekend: Dykstra! Edition.

This weekend Angella, Matthew, Graham, Nathan & Emily were in the Pacific Northwest celebrating their Canadian Thanksgiving by stimulating our economy (See? There is no end to The Canadian Nice!) and visiting friends and family. I feel lucky to be counted in that former relational group and have actually been able to see Angella more this year than any other year, which has made this year quite awesome.

Enter, The Mush(y).

I’ve watched myriad people who occupy this great big online space so dubbed “The Internet” attempt to explain to their readers, and to their non-online friends and family, what this community can mean on a tangible level, how these daily/weekly/monthly interactions with people you might never have known otherwise can change your life, and how you can change theirs. I don’t know that I can or will do a better job of explaining the phenomenon. All I know is that it’s true.

This year I experienced the power of that aforementioned community first-hand, and Angella was a driving force behind that power. (She and a slew of equally amazing women who literally lifted me up up and away when I was feeling like my world was falling down around me.) Angella is a driven, talented woman, an amazing friend, a loving mother; she is someone I feel beyond blessed to have in my proverbial corner.

(Right now I feel like I could spend an entire post listing and linking to people I consider dear friends, who once upon a time were simply faces and names behind sites I read and maybe commented on once a week. I know you guys all know who you are, though, and I hope I can continue to show you how (rad! you are, and) how much I love having you in my life.)

In short, the friendships I’ve made and fostered because of this website are the reason this website still exists. They are the reason this website will continue to exist despite my feeling so quiet as of late, despite my feeling so overwhelmed by all that’s happened and all that is continuing to happen that I find myself pausing to take inventory of my life, still sorting and seeking and gingerly traipsing a path I have never before laid eyes upon.

The friendships I’ve made and fostered because of this website are also the reason I can now show you (more!) pictures of my favorite beach on Oregon’s coastline, a beach I spent Sunday sharing with Angella & Co. as they made their first annual!* visit to the Oregon Coast.

(This first picture is technically an outtake, but it was my favorite outtake.)

(The non-outtake, Polaroid style. I love how Iggy’s oh so joyous! face made it into the bottom of the shot.)

A sampling of some of my favorite verbal exchanges with three of the most engaging and hilarious kids on the planet:

“I didn’t keep the caterpillar because caterpillars are creepy.” “Oh, you decided Iggy the caterpillar was creepy?” “Yeah.” -This was Graham and I, after Graham was explaining to Nathan & Emily why he didn’t have his caterpillar as they got back into the van.

“Can you come visit?” “Definitely.” “Tomorrow?” “Maybe not tomorrow, but soon.” “Next Saturday then?” -Nathan and I after lunch.

“Iggy’s just so cute. His face is so funny and CUTE.” -Emily, at lunch, sitting across the table from where Iggy was sitting on my lap.

And Emily, randomly throughout the day:

“Bob. That’s such a funny name. Bob!” (Followed of course by endless (and completely contagious) giggles.)

Postscript: There are no (good) pictures of Angella & I, because for some reason I like to spaz! out whenever I do a self-take, and I promise you, on the other (now cropped) side of the picture below you would have seen me, making a drunk muppet face. (Or what I imagine a drunk muppet face to look like, having technically never seen one.)

Oh, and also! I cut off all my hair! I’ve been meaning to post a pic, so in lieu of the aforementioned drunk muppet face, ta-DA:

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*That was just for you, Rhi.

The title to this post is me quoting Nathan, who exclaimed it in a surprised tone while we were traipsing around Ecola State Park yesterday.