Quarantine Update #4

Where are you supposed to start after months of silence? When I started writing this blog I thought it was simply going to be a fun way to keep everyone apprised of our adventure to The West without sending a mass text to 20-30 people. Instead, I got an insight into world history. Throughout time we have reached pivotal moments which redirected the ship we're all sailing on by manner of surprise. we have seen the common refrain printed hundreds of times in texts, both fiction and non-fiction:

"They never saw it coming."

Maybe now we won't read those words with such incredulity. Who of us could have actually anticipated the iceberg we sailed headlong into? Perhaps the eye in the crow's nest should have been more watchful or the captain should have tracked a course through warmer waters, but now we are where we are. We've seen what we've seen. And now the crew has taken to two camps. One is ready to unfurl the masts and sail as fast as they can for shore, and the others want to patch up, bail water, and wait to drift to clear waters. Sometimes it feels like the ship is no longer manned by one crew, doesn't it?

Regardless, it's about time I presented an update. By now, most readers know that since the last post Cara and I have survived, against diminished odds, the wildfires, the civil unrest, the election, the pain of not having friends around, and adopting a little puppy named Bandi who, by chance, is not so little anymore. When we drove 8 hours to Caldwell, Idaho to adopt Bandi, the humane society there asked if we would be willing to send in an update of how she was doing. We did that just last weekend, and they were thrilled to offer the update on Bandi's life. In fact, they kept the first ever picture of Bandi and offered it with their post on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/westvalleyhumanesociety/posts/5112468115490411

By the way, in her first ever picture she weighed about 10 pounds soaking wet. now she's over 50 pounds and still growing at a mere 6 months old. Every calculator we've run estimates she will be about 90 pounds; an estimate we have not come to terms with yet at all. On top of that, she is the mightiest dog I think I've ever met. Watching the sunset at the beach on night over Puget Sound she spotted another dog and drug me a few feet down the beach. Everything I know about physics leads me to believe this should not be possible, but you can tell that to the sand I am still plucking out of my hair.

I wish I could give a fully detailed account of the last 5 months, but it's just so much to try and cover. And it's so much to cover because despite needing to change our entire collective life over the last year, we are still making the most of it. Cara is nearing the end of her Master's program already. I know! Can you believe we've been in Seattle almost 2 years already? I certainly cannot and I am not the one who had to watch us drive away, literally, into the sunset.

While Cara is finishing up her thesis, there's still the distinct possibility you won't hear from this blog as frequently as you may like. I am, however, going to try to make more posts happen. This may seem an empty promise as I believe I have been promising that every post, every 2-5 months for over a year, but I have found myself in a better place mentally than I have been in a long, long time.

So with that, I suppose I will leave you with the most recent family photo I can find, and wish you all a brilliant night with thrilling hopes ahead.