A therapeutic peek into my photo folders

I've been hit this weekend with a fairly pronounced and quite disconcerting case of melancholy.  It's March 15th, more that eleven weeks since my injury, and I'm still nowhere close to walking again.  It's been a slow realization but I'm coming to accept the fact that the recovery from a severely broken ankle is long.  Really long.  My new friends on the healbrokenbone.com blog (thank goodness for them!) even have a name for the one year anniversary date of one's injury, because the injury still tends to be an issue on that date -- they call it one's "ankleversary."

I must get back on both feet soon -- I simply must -- because I spoke this morning to my dear friend Kristin, who is now on hospice, and... and... well, I simply must go to her soon, and that means getting on a plane.  

Sigh.

In an effort to escape on this lazy Sunday, I took a little self-guided (and alphabetical) tour through the "Events and Excursions" folder on my portable hard drive and found one picture in each folder that made me smile:

From "30th HS Reunion, 2005" here's a picture of my high school sweetheart, Mark, and me: 

From "Ashland Howard Prairie Reunion, 2007," here's Dad and Lou after he presented her with a commitment ring and promised to love her and be her POSLQ (person of opposite sex sharing living quarters) forever: 

From "Ashland with Kat, 2005," here's Kat on a river rafting trip we took together: 

From "Berkeley, March 2007," I absolutely must post two pictures.  This is a picture of my three brothers and me: 

...and this is Kristin and me, best friends since I was 12 and she was 19, a Cal student living with my family, and the closest I ever came to a sister.  God, I love her.

No wait -- here's another! Kristin with my niece, Isabel: 

Sigh.

From "Berkeley, March 2008," a trip to attend the memorial service for a long-time family friend, someone who immigrated to America with my parents in the early 50's and was like an aunt to me as I grew up.  I miss her. This is the view from her house: 

From "Blake Island, Tillicum Village, 2005," two photos.  One of the view from the boat...

... and one of Laura, our "German daughter" (AFS exchange student), whom we miss hugely, with Aleks and Kat: 

From "Germany, 2004," a trip in honor of my mother, who had died a few months previous, here's a photo of Aleks, Kat, Dad, and Leni, Mom's older sister, who is now living in an old person's home and is not her normal, happy self.  Sigh. 

From "Germany, 2007," I want to post so many photos, from my wonderful blogging friends, to Thomas and his family, to Laura and her family, to photos of the incredible places we visited!  You'll just have look here for those pictures, and settle here for this picture of a sunset in Garmish-Patenkirchen (Bavaria):   

From "Hawaii, 2002," a Lahaina sunset:

And from "Hawaii, 2006," the sunrise from atop Mt. Haleakala...

 

From "Pend Oreille, Idaho, 2005," Shasta's first water experience:

And from "Pend Oreille, Idaho, 2007," a photo from inside my sister-in-law's cabin.  I can totally relax there!   

From "Pullman, 2007," a typical Eastern Washington shot: 

From "Seattle, 2005." (I have so many shots from Seattle, but only one folder in the Events and Excursions file because Kat, Elisabeth and I stayed downtown for four days in the condo Kristin bought for the time she spent in Seattle participating in a pancreatic cancer medical trial...  Sigh.).  Here are Elisabeth and Kat flirting with the Pike Place fish guys: 

And the last stop on my self-guided tour of my Events and Excursions folder is a photo of my brothers and me taken at "Lake Tahoe, 2005": 

Creating my virtual, digital escape was interrupted by a 12-hour power outage last night, so I wasn't able to fully immerse myself before being jolted back into the reality of Monday morning.  But I hope at least you enjoyed the journey into my past journeys!