A note I sent out today to some close friends ...

Dear Everybody,

I haven't sent out a "Dear Everybody" letter since ... a Christmas letter in my 20's ... oh no wait ... I use to send them to the Wacky Pack ... one of you will remember the Wacky Pack. Wow how time flies.

Anyway, in general, I hate "Dear Everybody" letters. They're so ... ... ... well there's about three different ways a body can turn with that idea ... pick your own path. But I also love writing in forums ... where friendly types I like hang out .... and I love writing comments on blogs ... so let's pretend I'm sending a very private message to my own very private forum group.

First, most of you are wondering why you've not heard from me in at least a month. You can find the answer to that question here: My blog at Xanga

But the bottom line is: I'm freaking out and as I get older, I get quieter and quieter according to the level of freaking out I'm doing.

Here's the short list ...
#1) Right this very minute, Billy is interviewing for a job in Tarrytown. It is outside of NYC to the north ... Like Plano to Dallas, Texas. So far, Billy likes the company and the project. It is a reasonable amount of money for NY especially since we do not have to consider raising children.

God is amazing ... on Sunday night ... when Billy was nearly resigned to the idea that he might not get to go to interview in NY ... $1000 ... was placed in Billy's hand specifically for this trip.

#2) In two hours, Valerie (my middle child) will be taking a "challenge test" ... something like a CLEP. For some insane reason the Art Institute of Portland refrained from telling Valerie that the "basic computer" class that she took in Dallas would not transfer as a "basic computer science" class. Or some such nonsense. ... They did not inform her of this until after the last quarter had started. Right. It's true. So, if she does not pass this test, she does not get to graduate.

#3) Tomorrow, my future daughter-in-law and Matthew, my son, are scheduled to spend the entire day in court. They will be fighting for custody of her daughter. My son has spent a great deal of his time and energy and money ... oh and love ... on this endeavor and I am exceedingly proud of him.

#4) Tomorrow Valerie will be flying to Dallas and must somehow maintain her studies, visit with everyone, and attend to all the events surrounding her brother's wedding.

#5) As it stands right this minute, I will not be flying to Dallas for Matthew's wedding. There is no money. It is hard to accept. And I know if God can place money in Billy's hands for the interview in NY, he can certainly get me (preferably us) to Dallas ... clothed appropriately.

I covet your prayers in all of these things. God has been very good to us in amazing ways. I believe He is capable of providing good gifts. In fact this has been my prayer for my family during this time ...

"Lord, you know the good gifts I want for my family and for myself. You are able to provide much better than I can imagine or ask. Please protect and provide."

It is based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 7: 9 - 11

9"Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?
10"Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
11"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

I will tell you one thing ... one lesson I have learned about friends. It is a deep and rich blessing to have people in my life ... many of whom I've never met ... all over the world ... friends who want good things to happen for me. There are, however, times when I wish travel was not so expensive ... specifically ... funerals and weddings ... you have been missed at a few ... and I have missed a few. But ... I also cannot begin to express what it means to me to have such a varied collection of friendships ... you are such a vibrant group of warm threads in a beautiful and comforting shawl about me.

I stand in need of your prayers and I know I can count on you for them.

With love for you all and hopes that you will find joy in your life,

PamElise
Aka MarillaAnne

So Wow! There's over a week I need to catch ya'll up on. Ok well ... Let's see ... so much so fast ...

One thing I failed to mention about Tuesday ... my family landed in Seattle and the temps shot into the 100's in Portland ... and ... they stayed there all week.

Wednesday ... mmm ... well ... I'm sure it happened. We are well past it. Oh, Tuesday all night Stephen, my first son-in-law, climbed Mt. Hood. He didn't get to the top because the snow and ice on the particular route he chose was too much. If he'd gone a different route, he might have made it up higher but he also admitted it was just a lot to take on with so little prep and rest time prior to the climb. All the same, he got some great pictures of "probably the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen."

I called the Ritz camera store and had them put a Fujifilm DS2500 on hold + all the goodies. It looked fairly certain that my dad and my oldest brother and the entourage wouldn't get in until late. My best hope was that we could make a charge into the camera store before the trip to the coast.

Turns out that I have a very good brother. When he realized they would make it in before Ritz closed, he called and they got all the info and drug my dad to the camera store.

On Thursday morning when we met for the beach trip, I also found out that my brother had also "drug them on a FOUR mile hike!" Now, when my dad told me this, I knew we were all getting old. My dad was complaining about a four mile hike and my brother had only selected a four mile hike! But then I was informed that, no, my brother was not getting old he was just moving a little less quickly because he and his son and my cousin had gone up Long's Peak about four or five days before.

The trip to the beach was great! Just a perfect Oregon beach day. It was also the only time we'd be cool sans air conditioning for the rest of the week. I spent the evening visiting with my youngest brother and his wife.

Friday morning I woke happy, happy. Billy was going to be coming into town and he'd be able to help me move the last of the boxes I was packing and then we'd get a good night's sleep ... and then he called from the NY airport. And ... I basically came unglued. There were severe thunderstorms in the area. The best they could do to get him to Portland was 1pm on Saturday!

So, yeah, I was sobbing. The wedding would start at 1:30 over an hour away from the Portland airport.

Billy talked to United, Billy called Travelocity, I called United. It did indeed look very bleak. What I found out from United, that they weren't telling the people in NY was that there was actually a series of thunderstorms. They really didn't know when they'd be able to get people out of NY. I almost just let go of it but Billy had asked me to also look online.

I calmed down enough to call down and get the hotel management to let me use an adjacent room that did have working Internet. (I had been going down to the lobby to use the Internet because the connection in my room didn't work.) It was a very easy. He quickly agreed. I think they were trying to figure out how to check on me, anyway. When I opened my door to get the key from the manager, there was a very very worried looking housekeeping lady standing off to the side.

I looked at Travelocity and discovered that there were three airlines offering flights at about 6am out of Billy's connecting city (Denver). Up to this point, the best anyone would suggest was a standby on an 8:30am flight. So, my deduction was that they didn't really expect to get Billy to Denver before 6 AM! I called him with the news and told him he'd better just find a corner and try to get a little sleep. This is very difficult for someone with sleep apnea ... all the same ... a little sleep is better than none.

So the show goes on, right? At the rehearsal dinner, everyone was asking about when Billy's plane landed that night and I would just smile and say, "It won't be coming tonight. It's a matter of prayer. Pray for a flight that lands him in Denver before 6am."

Just as dinner was ending I got a text message from Billy that he was boarding a plane.

I had to get into the rehearsal phase so I updated my youngest brother re the Denver possibilities and asked him to see what he could do through United.

United worked with my brother and got Billy on a 6am flight to Portland via Herizon Airlines.

At 2am Billy sent me a text message to be sure and thank my brother for his work because United proceeded to overbook that flight. Since Billy was one of the very first people to book, he had no problems getting onto the flight.

Hmmm and writing this I just realized that Billy's text message to me was an odd thing! I shouldn't have even received it. Several of us tried unsuccessfully to send Billy a reply from the dinner. We were on an analog signal!

Since newest daughter-in-law (technically she's my only possible daughter-in-law) was also sans husband, she and Emma went with me to my hotel to stay the night. I so needed and appreciated Sam's help!

Then wa-la! My son's plans changed. Seems the groom ran out of room for all of his groomsmen to stay the night with him. So ... he also came and stayed the night with me (well ok and with Sam & Emma.)

Emma tried hard to stay awake but she collapsed. They put her in bed with me. Do you know that the older I get the more therapeutic my granddaughter's snuggles get? She found me in the middle of the night ... in the middle of the king size bed ... and just about snuggled me out of bed by the time the sun came up. I didn't care.

So ... I'm outta time ... library's closing ... I'll tell you all the rest another day.

Saturday morning Matthew and Sam went and fetched Billy from the airport. Then they ran a whole bunch of errands while Billy and I got ready and finished the packing for our move. (Ok and we did squeeze in one bodacious hello kiss.) I was surprised by how much we were able to accomplish! I was especially surprised by how many errands Sam and Matthew ran.

After much running
back and forth
between V's apt
with packed boxes and
wedding gifts and
bubbly and
dog,
we took off for the wedding.
Luggage in the back.
Luggage in the floor.
Luggage in our laps.
Zoom!
Off to the Woodland Recreational Area!

We hoped we were also off to much cooler temps! But, at the foot of Mt. Hood, the heat was still stifling. The humidity reminded us that we were indeed in a rain forest. There wasn't even a breeze! That was a bit disappointing and it created several challenges.

We did the formal pictures without walking far. Stayed in the shade! The guests were not seated until we were all ready to line up and march in. Then, they charged the field -- the middle of the baseball diamond -- but only rushing in in a manner appropriate for that much heat -- to the accompaniment of a string quartet. I have deep respect and admiration for the quartet who had been seated and prepared for at least ten minutes prior. But they were obviously pros and brought their own canopy. Good thing!

Perhaps I should explain something at this point. Yes, I have a son named Matthew. I now have a son-in-law named Matthew, whom we call Matt. Mainly we call him Matt because that is the name he gave when he introduced himself to us. His family calls him Matthew. Adding to the duplicate name theme … the bridesmaids were V's cousins, V's sister and step-sister, and Matt's cousins. One of V's cousins is Emily. Her sister is Sarah. Matt's cousins are Sarah and Emily.

So the guests are seated and the "white carpet" is rolled out and the wedding party processional begins. The "white carpet" turned into a challenge as it was really a thin piece of vinyl-type material and the ladies' heels poked and tore innumerable holes in it. Between it clinging to their heals and the very uneven ground, there was a major support role played by the groomsmen and the bride's father.

Matt's mother and I walked in together and went down and lit the two single candles that V and Matt were to use to light their unity candle. Hmmm well my lighter wouldn't fire … Matt's mom tried too and then she gave me hers and it suddenly wouldn't light … neither of us to get either lighter to work … In a true moment of inspiration, she snatched up her candle and my hand and we lit my candle with hers. I thought it was fitting because I firmly believe that the support of both families will help them to have a more successful marriage. Even the photographer murmured that it made a much better photograph.

So somewhere along in here clouds cover moved in and broke the glare. There was nothing ominous about them … just clouds.

The pastor started by saying that he'd been requested to not get overly long with the ceremony … by numerous people from all the various groups that made up the gathering. He blamed the heat on the Texas people … and then admitted he was also a Texas native. (He's been a pastor in Oregon long enough to raise his family there … so over 20 yrs.)

And so the vows began … Matt got choked up. Everyone got teary-eyed. Valerie sounded poised, calm, and exceptionally clear. Matt believed he'd said enough and was ready to kiss the bride. But then the pastor encouraged him to go ahead with the ring exchange and Matt readily agreed.

Then more wet drops fell … not tear drops ... Rain Drops! We all stayed calm … it was just light-weight stuff. The pastor sped up even more. They got the rings exchanged. Then it was time for the unity candle and the rain was beginning to fall just a little faster but still lightly. Matt was able to get the single candles relit (imagine that … they went out) and they lit their candle … which was just resistant enough that, with the little breeze and drizzle added, we all found ourselves holding our breath a bit.

The pastor presented Matt and V as a couple and announced that they would be back to greet their guests by dismissing the rows. Matt assisted V through the vinyl Swiss cheese carpet. And then … the ushers pulled up the "carpet" to the sound of cheers. The bridesmaids and groomsmen exited … all the while the rain is misting down on us. The bride and groom rushed back and dismissed the first two rows and then the rain became more intense and so they shoo-ed everyone else into the shelter.

It was probably one of the sweetest and shortest ceremonies I've ever attended. Of course the rain stopped immediately thereafter. The heat did not. Still, the reception proceeded in a very leisurely fashion and was completely enjoyable. There was great food … a combo of "Texan" and Oregon. I think the biggest surprise was the picante sauce! It was fresh -- made by the caterer. True he followed a recipe … but you have to understand … Oregonians don't do spice. It's just a fact of life up there. Most of the "Texan food" was toned down for the sake of the Oregonian guests but not the picante! -- Perfectly served with the Texas shaped chips that were shipped in special.

The couple doing the catering took great pleasure in announcing the cake. (They are members of the same church and all of their work was their gift to Matt and V!) "Ladies and Gentlemen! At the bride's request, we are now serving cheesecake covered with fresh Oregon berries." And let me tell you … Fresh berries are one thing that Oregon excels in!

The car was decorated. The guests trickled off and Matt and V stole away for a few more photographs down by the river. The family (including Matt and V) took down and packed up all of the décor. Then the party was adjourned by the bride for games in a cooler location – the lobby of her grandparent's hotel!

So this is where the wedding story pretty much ends and the moving story takes up … but do keep in mind that at this point Billy had been awake for at least 36 hrs.