Farewell, friends

Ron and Cathy are off to New York City for some new churchy adventures. We're so grateful that we've gotten to know them over these past few years (they arrived in Oregon just before we did) and they have been wonderful friends as well as really great colleagues. They have showed up for many, many Hispanic ministry gatherings, they have supported us during difficult times in life and in ministry and we've celebrated lots of holidays with them, as we are all far away from family. So it seemed appropriate to head to their place for a Mothers Day dinner. We'd all talked with our mothers and they had talked with their kids, including a skype conversation with their daughter, Meg, who lives in Argentina and is almost exactly my age, and though I don't often think about the fact that Ron and Cathy are much older than we are, I reflected on how neat it is to have good friends that are close to the age of our parents. In many ways, we are equals, but they are also wisdom-keepers for us...people with so much experience and many, many good stories!

The rain was giving way to sunshine that afternoon, and we enjoyed taking the back roads to their place. I sure love the western Oregon countryside.

As usual, they fed us well and we talked around the table until it was late, then they sent us home with leftovers and some (more) goodies from their recent garage sale.

This first attempt makes me giggle. Hmm...maybe perching the camera on a pile of bubble wrap isn't the best option.

We're not saying our final good-byes yet, as they'll be coming over at least twice more, but I am already sad. But maybe now we'll finally have enough reasons to go to New York City -- I've never been!