GOALS LOOP DRIVE~Woodland-WA

JULY 12TH: Holland has been studying and working on an agenda - and it sounds like fun; I am in agreement with him, on this topic ;-)

So, this morning we got up bright and early to get to where we needed to be in St, Helens-OR before the freeway became a frantic Friday parking lot.

The swelling in my leg has gone down, and my jeans slid up my legs pretty easily … but I noticed, as I pulled my sleeveless top over my head, that I had an allergic reaction to the heart monitoring adhesive from yesterday's Salmon Creek debacle.

I am allergic to adhesives … I started getting allergic to Band-Aids a few years ago.

Off we went … with Holland jokingly quipping, "Now I'll never be able to go off on my own, for fear you'll die on me of a heart attack or a stroke." We laughed, but I say that to him all the time about his high blood pressure and COPD concerns.

We are at the age where we need to adhere to The Buddy System.

Holland asked me if I'd like to stop at the Goodwill in Scappoose to grab a few more books, and I happily replied (((YES!))); I like to read … and the internet connection here, in Woodland, is ify at best - nonexistent most of the time.

Scappoose-OR from Woodland-OR; 50 min (46.5 mi) via I-5 S and US-30 W

I jumped back into Betsy's cab with an armload of paperbacks covering a wide range of interests, and off we went towards today's real goal ;-)

St. Helens-OR from Scappoose-OR 10 min (7.7 mi) via US-30 W

We grabbed the mail on the way through Rainier-OR … and I was instantly miffed: some unscrupulous minion had sold our mailing address - and a clueless moron thoughtlessly opened a wound that took a long time to heal.

UNBELIEVABLE; Bob & I never had THIS address; this address is my New Life address - with my New Last Name. This query does not belong here.

I sold the house at Heron Pointe to get away from moments like this.

This P.O. Box belongs to my new life with my new husband: I loved Bob very much and memories of him will always hold a special part of my heart; but this part of my life with this man does not deserve to have the Past intrude on it. I was justifiably miffed.

But I refused to let the irritation steal this afternoon's good vibes.

When we crossed the Columbia River from Oregon to Washington, we decided to visit Bleu in Kelso: I'm glad we did :-)

Kelso-WA from St. Helens-OR; 36 min (25.5 mi) via US-30 W

Bleu was so happy to see me - it's been months.

We all enjoyed each other for a while before heading back to Woodland. Along the way, we stopped to take a look at the newest building on Kalama's waterfront; the paddlewheel cruise ship was docked there.

Woodland-WA from Kelso-WA; 21 min (19.6 mi) via I-5 S

We drove down by Kalama's waterfront to check this new building out … 

Public Market in Kalama, WA: 

(https://www.pcs-structural.com/projects/mountain-timber-market & https://www.columbian.com/news/2024/feb/09/marvelous-market-mountain-timber-market-now-open-in-kalama-serves-up-sweets-wine-and-more/)

The Paddlewheel Cruise Ship was docked alongside the building.

Queen Of The West: 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_the_West)

Today, by and large, was a good day :-)

BEST FRIENDS FIRST; Ocean Park-WA

I was up early this morning, enjoying early morning coffee and silence as I cruised the Internet; and I smiled when I saw that my MOD Angel Baby Blankets Post had been featured on one of the Blog Hop sites I frequent - and I finished 2 more over the last couple days ;-)

MOD ABB Post was featured ;-)

I'm also reflecting on my go silent undertaking; I won't engage in verbal battles anymore. I want to live a peaceful life.

Holland is sorry for his angry and frustrated outburst - and I have forgiven him; but I am still going to be silent a while longer, and try to cultivate a quieter demeanor. I know that I am a whole lot of woman; and a lot to handle at times. Sometimes I'm even too much for myself … and I have lived with Holland long enough now to know that the {spiciness} he found charming in the beginning of our relationship doesn't tickle his funny bone anymore. What he thought was cute when we were just best friends, has him grinding his teeth now that we are married.

So, during this quiet time we are both going to be working on ourselves; he's gonna work on being less macho-man, and I'm going to work on a quieter demeanor.

We are first and foremost each other's best friend - that sounds strange I know considering the steady bickering; but it's true. We developed a strong friendship immediately when our paths crossed in the Fall of 2021, and over the months we became Best Friends.

Our marriage may have it's sketchy moments, but we will always be best friends. Holland can't stand it when I go silent - but he doesn't like it when I talk too much (I did warn him before we married, that I can be a 'Chatty Cathy'). He gets a bang out my spicy feistiness, but he doesn't want a steady sampling of it - and my saucy sarcastic humor can irritate him (he wants a quieter demeanor once in a while).

Because we spend considerably more time with our spouse than we do with anyone else … more arguments, more irritation, and more joint challenges will pop up than in any other relationship we have in our life.

The flip side of that, is that even with all the angst he has to sort through during this time of in-house-separation, he has stated that he wants this marriage to work because he misses his best friend (me); and he is still wanting to continue traveling to places neither one of us have ever been before - the most important place he's never been is happily married, and he's genuinely wanting to make a deeper connection to living together on every level, than just sharing living space together.

That's a major shift for him - and a welcome goal to me :-)

So, he's been going out of his way to apologize and {make things right} - without verbalizing he's sorry: that's his way. And, I have forgiven him.

We do have some good & happy times together, we are companiable more times than we are in opposition; we agree that we will "absolutely" spend the rest of our life together - and he is actively cultivating the same tenderness in our marriage that he tended to in our friendship over the past two and a half years.

We are first and foremost each other's best friend; and we miss that connectivity when chaos creeps in and diverts our thoughts and attentions into a different direction than US.

We are taking one day at a time; change doesn't happen instantly.

In the meantime, I am doing what makes me happy: visiting gal pals when I can, working on new designs, and cuddling up with Clive Cussler on cold, wet, and windy nights ;-)

My latest Clive Cussler novel; a good read on a rainy night ;-)