Ok, this is going to be fairly short because we have a lot happening right now. On September 17th, Bill and I traveled up to Mount Rainier National Park to check it out. One of the funny things about this is that I grew up in Washington. 
I lived all over western WA for 23 years and yet I had never been to Mount Rainier.
Characteristic for the Pacific Northwest, we got there and the mountain was hiding. Those of you who live in the area will understand what I mean when I say, the mountain wasn’t out that day. For those of you who don’t understand, 
it was really foggy and you couldn’t see the mountain.So we drove around a bit and took some pictures of the beautiful scenery, whether or not the mountains out, it’s still incredible up there. Bill and I have had the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful waterfalls in many different places. Mount Rainer NP is only the latest addition.
That’s really all I’m going to say about this trip. Shortly after, staying in Oregon started to fall apart so we moved to Arizona, we were only in AZ for a couple days (not even enough time to settle in) and we got a call from Bill’s mom that Bill’s best friends wife, who had been battling cancer for over a year, was transferred to Hospice and it wouldn’t be long.
It all became clear. Bill and I had been hitting brick walls with every plan we were trying to make happen. And we believe that this was why. We packed up and started heading for PA, and the road was literally cleared for us to get here. There were massive storm fronts moving through the areas we were supposed to be traveling through. But they moved slightly south just in time and we only barely nicked the top of them. We arrived on Saturday the 23rd, and she passed on Sunday the 24th. Bill’s best friend asked us to stand with the family through all of this and we did.
I’m not going to say much more than this. I had another loss in my family just recently and her wish was for people to stop putting off things till tomorrow. My response to that was to make a point to appreciate my life. I said that I would place a white rose in the places that reminded me that my life is pretty good and that I’m taking the time to stop and smell the roses as it were. Now, what I didn’t think about was that there aren’t florists readily available at most of the places I visit. So I do it mentally instead. Now I’ll add another name to that mental hat tip.
I’m going to leave this one here for now.
Appreciate your life, Smile More, Frown Less, Hug More, Worry Less. Love More!
;-)K
