I’ve decided not to take my computer with me to Portland, so if I write anything over the next week it will be on my phone and later added to this blog. The metrics officially show that no one is really reading this, so it remains just a personal therapeutic release. I still enjoy writing but there is simply no urgency. There is a wedding poem that I have yet to post, and I’ve promised a retirement poem to another friend. This will give me something to do on the long flight tomorrow. I’m fighting a lack of motivation as a result of the suffocating heat. A light rain this morning helped get me through another day of running. A change of pace will be welcome. 

The evening golf cart rides have been a welcome change to the daily routine. I’m grateful just to be healthy after hearing that a neighborhood friend just took a fall and is wearing a back brace. This could happen to anyone at any time. She simply tripped over a dog toy and landed wrong. My son recently tested positive for Covid, not much of a way to celebrate a birthday. He still plans to go to Universal Studios this weekend, taking advantage of our Marriott Vacation Club accommodations in Orlando. By the way, I just learned that Marriott has added the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas to their Luxury Collection. It’s where we were married. Perhaps we can return there as part of our upcoming 25th anniversary celebration. 

Our American flight from Fort Myers to Portland leaves tomorrow evening at 5p, putting us in our Enterprise rental car at about 11p (2a here). We’ll stay at my son-in-law’s new home, return to some of our favorite dining spots, and head to Tillamook, Netarts, and Oceanside for two days of wedding festivities. I hope to work in a visit to a good friend’s home under construction, but my wife wants to spend as much time as possible with her daughter, so logistics will be a challenge. We’ll be gone for eight days, with Tally staying at a neighbor’s house rather than the usual Schnauzerville accommodations. It will be a welcome change of pace for all of us.