All Good Things Must…
My week off is nearing its end. The work nightmares and peri-menopausal hobgoblins are re-emerging.
So today, I blow the dust off my inner tool kit, and pause to reflect on a few of the many things that I am graced with. Fighting bitter tendencies with blessings.

My Traveling Companions: 
Mr. Blitch, and my Book Gnome. They both remind me to put worry aside and enjoy my travels.
I’ve often been accused of being too serious. Fun and frolic were things relatively unknown in my home of origin. I’m taking strides to change my ways.

Mid-week, we headed north. I packed my little buddy in for safe transport from Rockaway to Cannon Beach.
We got in a little trainspotting on the way:

Viewing Through the Lens of Another:
Mr. Blitch grew up fishing on the rivers of northern Florida and the salt water flats of the  Florida Gulf Coast. He was in his mid-twenties when he came to Oregon for art school and got his first glimpse of the PNW coastline.

Now, 20+ years later, his eyes still pop a little every time he sees the Pacific Ocean.
Salmon and steelhead fishing have become my Florida boy’s greatest passions.
When I travel the PNW with Mr. Blitch, the view is entirely different.

I see familiar rocky cliffs with Douglas firs, Sitka spruce, prehistoric ferns and moss.
When I ask him what he sees, he says “Mountains that fall into the ocean.”
One difference I notice between the two of us… I’m always looking down; his gaze is always up and outward. (Note to self.)

Learning is fun!
I am under tremendous pressure to study for, and eventually obtain my Oncology Nursing Certification. It’s been a crap year, trying to work full time while providing care for my father.
My studying had gone completely by the wayside.
But this week, I’ve given myself a Do-Over.
I said goodbye to unfinished and expired testing modules. I purchased a test-specific online study program that will in theory, both provide me with continuing ed credits, and prepare me for my fucking certification exam.
Normally, I’m a paper and pencil kind of gal. But in this case, I opted for the online version. Instead of having testing booklets scattered between home, office, and auto, I have it all at my fingertips.
And much as this Luddite with Amish tendencies hates to admit it, I’ve been enjoying my studying this week.
Granted, my study-buddy and the quiet of a remote coastal motel room have been instrumental in setting the mood. But I am hopeful that I will return to Portland tomorrow refreshed, and on the right track.