Piece of the Sun

I've been really stressed out the last couple of weeks. Lots of pressure. Our 4th Annual Benefit Dinner is tomorrow night and a lot is riding on it! I still have lots of little details to wrap up, but the interns have graciously volunteered their time here and there when they aren't in class. The dinner is at this fantastic place. While we can't serve alcohol at official Multnomah functions, what guests choose to do at the pub or pool hall before the dinner is their own business (wink wink). I can't think of a better place to be tomorrow!

In other news, TriMet has frustrated me 2 trips in a row. Yesterday evening I was trying to wrap up my work in time to catch the bus (it's now too dark to safely take the MAX at 82nd Ave., which is very sketchy), but missed it by 1 minute. Boo. The next one was supposed to come 20 minutes later, so I went back to my office for about 10 minutes, then went outside to wait. I waited. And waited. Aaaaaaand waited. I saw not 1, not 2, but 3 (!!!) buses go in the other direction. Maybe they fell off the edge of the Earth? It was cold and raining, and I was hungry and tired and achy and just wanted to be at home knitting and following the election! Grrr. Anyway, it ended up taking an hour and a half to get home. Ridiculous.

Then this morning I boarded the MAX red line, which goes toward my work on its way to the airport. Except it was actually a yellow line disguised as a red line. How sneaky! How funny it was when I looked up out the window to discover myself in North Portland. And how funny it was to have to run to catch the yellow line going to other direction (in the rain, of course). When I finally got back to Rose Quarter, where the yellow line splits off in its own direction, I had to pee so bad! So I went only 1 stop, got off, and went to Starbucks. The nice guy behind the counter asked, "What can I get for you today?" and I almost started crying. "A gingerbread latte and a bathroom!!!" Amazing how a warm drink and warm smile can make things better.

Oh, and Paul & I are super excited about the election outcome! Obama's speech was inspiring and emphasized what we both feel to be urgent and important to us both: we have a lot of work ahead of us as a nation. It's a challenge we're ready to face.