So I'll get to the 'signs topic' in a few short minutes (honest, this will not be one of my marathon posts), but first I have to comment on what a wonderful 'last weekend' in Portland we are having.
Friday night we had a fabulous dinner out with our friends Val and Matt Kress, Chris and Jean Pal-Freeman and Mike and Karmen Trzupek (I'll have to follow up with a post someday about our theory on how you list a couple - who gets first billing - i.e. Val and Matt Kress vs. Matt and Val Kress... It will be fascinating, I am sure). This group of friends has gotten together for years - birthday parties, sporting events and barbecues - but always with the kids. Sometimes one of the couples will babysit for another one of the couples allowing 2 or even 3 of the couples to go out together, but never all four couples out for dinner at one time.
So this Friday was different! Mike and Karmen's part time nanny and a friend of hers graciously agreed to babysit all 6 kids (ages 6, 5, 5, 4, 2, and 2) so that the parents could have an adult night out together. We had a wonderful dinner at Merriweather's in NW Portland (we were seated just to the left of the fireplace in the picture below).
It was an amazing evening of cocktails, good Pinot Noir, great food and special friends. It was great way to enjoy Portland's excellent food scene and say goodbye to the city and this amazing group of friends... people that have become a support network such that you really begin to blur the line between friends and family. Saturday morning, when we picked up the kids, Jean and I were both crystal clear on one thing - neither of us really needed that last beer.
If you can't tell by now, I lied about this being a short post. I should stop promising that... I start typing and... Well, anyway, Sorry... Honest mistake on my part... And I still haven't gotten to 'the sign' yet... so bear with me... no reading ahead.
Saturday our plans to let the kids play in the pool all morning was thwarted by a morning of clouds, fog and mist that hung around until almost 2:00pm. We met our new friends from Shanghai (The Canfields, also Intel expats from Portland, home for a few weeks this summer) for lunch at a local pub so our kids could meet each other. Their oldest, a daughter named Maddie, has a little babysitting business in Shanghai, and since we are only 2 buildings away in our apartment complex, we plan on using her quite often.
Saturday afternoon was the PEO picnic. PEO is a women's organization Stephanie belongs to which raises money for women's scholarships in addition to being a social and support network for each other. They meet 1/month for regular chapter business in addition to their fund raising and social events. The husbands believe PEO stands for 'Papa Eats Out', which is what we usually do when Mom is gone on Tuesday nights... I am sure some of the men may actually cook for their families, but I know PEO night usually means 'Spaghetti Factory' in the Welsh house.
The picnic is always great, and this year it was hosted by our good friends Brian and Lisa Wing. So not only did Stephanie get a chance to see and say goodbye to some of her PEO sisters, we got to see the Wing's and their kids one last time before we go. It was one of the classic Brian and Lisa BBQs - the kids run around playing, actually leaving the parents alone for the most part, burgers and dogs flying off the grill, all the beer and soda and water you can handle, and just great company. Oh, and my favorite snack food in the world - Lisa Wing's 7 layer dip... If there was a reliable way to mail 7 layer dip from Oregon to Shanghai, I would pay whatever it took.
When we got back to the hotel, the kids were filthy and over tired... last night it seemed like a complete pain, but looking back on it the next day... that's probably the top 2 symptoms of a great BBQ - filthy and overtired kids.
This morning was a busy morning... Nonnie is up in Portland for the weekend to see us one last time, and Olivia's little girlfriends are having a 'going away party' for her. It's my good friend Mike Trzupek's birthday, and they are down for the weekend from Seattle, so for his birthday he wanted to play golf. I was a little concerned about playing so close to heading out, but given that all our stuff was moved this week (shipment to China went out Wednesday, and storage truck was filled on Friday - house is empty), and the girl's would be at the 'going away party' for Olivia, Steph and I thought it could be squeezed in.
My clubs are in a cargo container headed to China. So are my golf balls, tees, golf glove, etc. etc. I held out one pair of golf shoes from the shipment, that I'll leave here with Mike, and he loaned me a glove and let me use some of his golf balls. This along with a set of rental clubs, and I was ready to go.
Mike recruited one of his old Intel finance friends (Larry Fox) who is retired now, and we teed off at Langdon Farms Golf Club right around 7am.Mind you, I didn't have high hopes for this round. I've played pretty infrequently in the last couple of years, and I was playing with a hodge podge of equipment, and had to get up at 5:30am to 'squeeze it in'.
When I was playing golf regularly, Stephanie really dreaded the 15-20 minutes immediately after I returned home from the round. She would innocently ask 'how was your round' and I would launch into a hole by hole explanation of how it unfolded... usually explaining how 'I was only 1 (or 2 strokes) over par until - '.... what came after 'until' was sometimes 'the 8th hole', occasionally 'the 12th hole', and once even 'the 18th hole'... but there was always something after 'until' that meant I took what could have been a great round and with some stupid mistake, or series of bad swings, turned it into a 'good round' or 'decent round' or worse. Of course what Stephanie was looking for when she asked 'how was your round' was: 'fine, I shot 82' or 'I didn't shoot well, but the weather was great and we really enjoyed each other's company'.
When I got home today Stephanie and the girls are still with Nonnie at the party, so for the viewing public, I offer my hole by hole review of the round.... OK, just kidding. As if my posts don't already resemble the unabridged version of 'War and Peace'.
This is where I am not sure how to interpret the sign delivered to me today in the form of my best round of golf ever. That's right - EVER. I shot 74. Rented clubs and borrowed glove and... 74. 3 over par on a par 71 layout. Now we played the white tees, so it's not like this is the same spot Tiger tees the ball up, but for your average recreational golfer, and compared to my past performance, this was freakin' amazing!
The day could not have been better; this is what it's like when commentators might say 'the conditions are perfect'... It was cloudy and cool, but with very little wind, and not so cool you needed a windbreaker or jacket; Golf shirts and shorts were perfect. The company was great - although Mike hadn't played in 9 months, he had very low expectations, and was so relaxed that he shot an 82 - a phenomenal score for 9 months removed from swinging a club. We didn't really keep score for Larry, this was really just about him getting to catch up with Mike since the Trzupek's moved to Seattle.
The course, which historically plays very slowly, was not very busy, and we never really waited on any group in front of us and were never pushed from behind. We had time to tell stories and enjoy the company, and enjoy what really is a pretty course.
So now, my confusion over signs... What sign is being sent to me in the form of my best round of golf ever? Part of me thinks 'my last 2 rounds of golf have been 78 and 74, just as I am heading to China to a job where I'll be working 70 hours a week and won't be playing golf for a year or so... what are the golf gods doing to me?"
But really, I look at it and realize... This was a perfect part, of a perfect weekend. We have been surrounded by our closest and best friends in Portland, doing the things we love to do... eating good food, drinking good wine, spending time remembering stories from the past, and talking about the exciting future that lies ahead... And playing golf, a game I love, with good company, at a good course, and shooting a good score... I think the golf gods threw me a bone...
To the golf gods, and all our friends that made this an amazing weekend, I say 'Thank You'.
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