Fort Worden State Park - Feb 19th, 2011 [news]
This was a fun daytrip that we took, and will end up taking a weekend trip up to see it all with more time.
For this trip, I talked Kevin into heading up to Fort Worden to see what all the "hype" was about. I've lived on the Olympic penninsula for a long while now and had never been up to the park.
Sadly, I don't have any fancy camera's personally so I only managed to snake some pictures off my cell phone. However, more pictures are coming as there were 3 other cameras there (DSLR's).
It was a blast of a trip. Went up with Kevin and his son Mykel, and as a pleasant surprise Jenn and her troupe joined us for the adventure.
(More photos to come!!)
My Christmas Wish... [news]
My Christmas Wish...
It's been quite a while since I've made a Christmas wish.. years in fact. Many of them. Most years, the thought just never crossed my mind. Some might say that I've been too preoccupied, too stuck, too selfish, or any of the other thoughts that have crossed my mind about why I haven't.
As any of my friends or family know already, the holidays are hard for me usually. At some point I feel depression beacuse the ghosts of the past always rear their head and leave me spinning. This year, for some reason, has been extremely difficult. I usually am able to just motor right on through the depression and break out if it in no time at all, filled with holiday cheer.
A couple weeks ago I felt it, and haven't really been able to shake it since. I'm not sure what is different this year, but I've begun to grasp what I think could be the reason. This year, more than any, I've realized that I miss the innocence of the holidays.
I miss the holiday traditions, I miss the magic of the holidays. As a kid I used to dread getting dressed in our nice clothes and going to my Grandma & Grandpa Brown's on Christmas Eve, then doing the same thing Christmas day and going to Grandma & Grandpa Walton.
Family, holidays, big dinners, everyone laughing, and even the usual holiday dramatic arguments that would spring up... I miss it all.
This year, I started feeling like I was letting someone down, and to be honest, I'm not sure who or how. Part of me feels like it's just a facet of the holiday downers, but part of me thinks that I really am. I worry that one day I'll wake up and realize it in a bright flash of light and then it'll be too late to fix.
My wish, my Christmas wish, is to recapture the innocence of the holidays. For me it was never about the presents. It's about my family and friends, it's about restoring old traditions and creating new traditions. It's about making sure that the holiday spirit entrances the youth. I want my kids when or if I have any, to say Happy Thanksgiving and mean it being thankful for something. I want them to say Merry Christmas without worrying about offending anyone.
I want to start small and do a bunch of little things for other people, and then maybe in turn they will do small things for others, and maybe we can begin to restore some of the simple spirit of the holidays.
I want to go caroling with friends and family and spread a little cheer from door to door.
I want to ring in the New Year with family and friends, and have a nice hot bowl of black-eyed peas.
The silliest thing just popped into my head... when I was little we used to have this thing that we'd plug in with the tree lights. It would sit wrapped at the bottom of the tree, a little silver ball that looked like an ornament, but when plugged in it would let out the sounds of a small bird chirping.
I miss that for some reason...
To my family and friends, I hope that Christmas finds you well. I love you all.
-M
