Farewell, Acadia

     Acadia, my oldest granddaughter, begins a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints tomorrow, Wednesday October 24, 2018.  It has long been the desire of her heart to show her love for the Lord and share the joy of the gospel by serving a full-time mission.  We are excited for and proud of her.
   
     Some of us were able to go up for her last weekend at home.

     Feeling that I am getting too old for the long push,  I planned to take it somewhat easy, visit my sister overnight at Klamath Falls, and make a two day drive.  David, Teresa, and Andrew who had more commitments in Sacramento, drove up together in one long day drive. Well, Miriam and I did make a  two day drive.  She drove a good deal while I dozed.  We had planned to visit my sister Lainee on the way up, but we left late, had to make a lot of potty stops, lost Costco, and it just got to be too late. Instead of making the detour to Klamath Falls, we stopped at a hotel.  We tried to call Lainee on the way down to see if we could visit, but failed to connect.

     Yes.  I lost a Costco.  When traveling between Rosers and home I always gas at Costco in Medford.  So we confidently left the freeway and headed down the road.  My GPS suggested a left turn that we "knew" was a misdirection.  But when we got to Costco, it wasn't there.  It LOOKED like the right place except no sign of Costco or a gas station. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.  I went into  McDonalds and told the young workers that I was lost;  I thought there was a Costco there.  They told me that there WAS, but about a year ago it closed because there was a new one about 3 miles away. I guess the GPS had been right even though the address shown before we started was the Crater Lake Highway location.  We didn't have any trouble finding it on the return trip.

    Other than that mishap, the drive was quite pleasant. The weather was perfect. The scenery was lovely, although there were many signs of drought and fire.  Miriam and I listened to The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper a delightful, surprising, entertaining tale of a widower's quest to learn about a mysterious piece of jewelry and his wife's life before they met.  

    Miriam and I stopped at Oregon Eugene Mission office. Not easy to find that basement hole in the wall!  We left a card for Acadia - her first "mail" on her mission!  I remarked to Miriam that how as it was so close to her home, her mom might deliver packages to the mission office rather than mail them.  (She would not deliver them to Acadia because missionaries have no face to face contact with their families while on their missions.  They write (email now) weekly and they speak by phone or video conference on Mother's Day and Christmas.  Mostly they are fully dedicated to the work.  Besides, Acadia might be assigned almost anywhere from central Oregon to Mt Shasta, from the coast to Nevada).  Miriam thought that was ridiculous.  Later we learned that because of Acadia's strict dietary restrictions, Sariah would, indeed, deliver (heavy) packages of nutrition supplements to the office before zone conferences to be passed on to Acadia.

    Thinking that the Rosers might be overrun and that a real bed and less busy bathroom might be more comfortable, I booked a hotel room for Miriam, Andrew, and I (shared, not individual.  I am not rich) We spent our waking hours at Rosers.

    Because he had been unwell early in the week, David could not take time off work Friday.  They left early in the morning Saturday, made good time, and arrived in the early evening.

    It was a delightful weekend.  Saturday, Miriam, Sariah, and I got lunch from the Golden China which might be the best Chinese food I have eaten. (I had teriyaki chicken, sesame chicken, and pineapple beef, noodles and rice) It was delicious.  Ryan and Acadia got sushi somewhere.  Aurora had already eaten leftovers at home, but Sariah got crab cakes at her request.  (no, thanks)    We played Life.  That game has changed since I was a kid!  The Rosers readied the house and treats for the Open House Sunday. Sariah made delicious asparagus stuffed chicken.  After dinner we made woofums around the firepit on Roser's deck.

    At church, we were all charmed by the beautiful duet of Aurora and her friend Grace singing a lovely medley arranged and played by Acadia.  Sweet, pure voices, beautiful song.  Acadia gave an excellent talk.  She will be such a good missionary.  Strong testimony, sincere, friendly.

      We made bracelets with kits Teresa brought and Sariah fixed a delicious pork roast dinner.  (We did offer to help but Sariah was totally organized) After dinner, however, we remembered that Aurora had planned to make Caesar Salad.  oh well

       Acadia kept saying that 7 people would come to the Open House that evening.  Of course, there were considerably more.  I mostly enjoyed visiting with my sister Kris and her husband Gary.  And we played Sleeping Queens. Everyone enjoyed the yummy gluten free treats Acadia made.

       Too soon the weekend was over.  We said our good-byes.  For a year and a half to Acadia and until Thanksgiving to the rest of the Rosers.

     David, Teresa, and Andrew headed out one street while Miriam and I headed out another.  Serendipity. We met up at Costco in Albany when we filled our cars.  They had gassed up, but were washing the windows when we got there.  David washed my windows.  I thought that was the last we would see of them because they continued on while we made a potty stop.  Surprisingly somewhere along the way they passed us on the freeway!  We followed them until we had to make a rest stop at Weed.  I was sure then that they would be home long before us.  At Medford, (well Center Point, I think it was) we made a last effort to contact my sister Lainee, but did not.  So we continued on.  We made good time and got home about 10pm.  Joseph welcomed us.  Andrew was not there.  What? I was certain they would be well before us.  Within a couple of minutes, to my relief, DTA arrived.  We had not made as many rest stops as anticipated and apparently I am the speedster. Also, we only stopped long enough for me to put together sandwiches with ingredients I had prepped and ate as I drove.   They stopped and did a little picnic.  I actually drove the whole way myself!  And I thought I was getting too old for that.  The weekend must have invigorated me.

    I almost forgot. Our coming home book was All The Ever Afters  which is also quite good and which we must yet finish. Reading Club!