I went to Portland last week for a work trip and extended my stay over the weekend, to ride my bike around the city, explore, and just hang out. Every other time I've gone to the River City, my time has been fully booked, so I was looking forward to this opportunity to have a free weekend with no obligations.
I booked a cute AirBNB in SE near Hawthorne (seriously, so cute, if you're looking for a getaway, I highly recommend this one) and was off for a weekend of solo time. The guest book at the trailer had a quote on the cover that struck me and is the theme for this post:
"Funny thing about joy is that you only really find it when you are too busy having fun to go looking for it."
It's crazy how true that is, and I think a really good reason why I haven't updated this page in so long. After my cancer scare late last year, I've been busy living life. That's not to say I haven't reflected on it, or been joyful for it, or planned to write about my adventures, it's just been pushed to the backburner while I've been out living it.
So a quick update on what's been going on:
-Cancer is gone. They did a quick in-office procedure on February 4th to cut out part of my cervix. Thankfully the affected cells hadn't spread beyond where they treated, so now I'll just need to go get a pap smear every 4-6 months for the foreseeable future.
-I traveled to Hong Kong. I hope to eventually write a longer post with photos about the trip.
-Camping season 2017 has started. We had 2 sunny-ish days in a row a few weeks ago so I took advantage of it and went for a quick S24O to Bainbridge Island. Cold but fun. Can't wait to do more of it.
-I'm going to Stockholm in June for a work conference. Hopefully going to extend my stay to get to Helsinki and Tallin, Estonia. I'm really loving my job and the opportunities it's providing.
-My dad is in a really bad place health-wise. I'm realizing how precious this one life is and trying to navigate what it means to be an adult child.