Feeling Nostalgic

I was thumbing through boxes of old stuff and found my posters from the Natural Helpers retreats in high school. Natural Helpers was a club which equipped "natural leaders and helpers" in the school to better respond to problems students faced. At Astoria High School it started when I was a sophomore and at one point I was the president. So nonetheless it was a big part of my high school experience. But remember that my high school was only like 600 students, so I had pretty good odds. The best part of the club was going on the retreats to learn "skills" for helping our peers. They were good things to learn,  but the best part was having a whole weekend to goof off with my friends (at one point my best friend Jennie and my boyfriend Andy were at the retreats too). 

So anyway, at the fall retreat there would always be a poster for everyone to sign for everyone else. Kids would write "yearbook" stuff like, "You're rad, see you at school!" and "You're awesome and such a sweetie!" But there were a few that resonated with me reading it now, 10 years later. One of the comments was from Courtney Guenther. 

Courtney and I sort of grew up together and weren't great friends through high school, but part of me thinks that we could have been. She was an awesome Christian. She was very open about her faith and unafraid to stand for Jesus. She was part of our morning prayer group that met every morning at 745ish in the hall by the cafeteria. I remember meeting for prayer every day and being scared because it was around the time Kip Kinkel went crazy and shot his parents and kids at his high school, and the Columbine shooting in Colorado. It scared me to stand in the hall and pray because I was afraid that someone would shoot me because I was a Christian. I remember praying for God to give me strength. Anyway, Courtney was in that group. We were also in Port City Singers, the choir that students had to audition for. That was another class that was so fun. I learned a lot about music, but mostly it was another place to goof off with my friends. (Jennie was in that class too, which just shows we goofed off a lot together in high school under the guise of being "good students"!) 

Courtney went to Hope International University after high school. I was home for Christmas that year (2001) and spent the night at Gina's house, another good friend at the time. Her dad was the vice principal of Astoria High. He got a call about Courtney being in a car accident. We found out that she had been in an accident on Hwy 101 and hit some black ice, hit a guard rail and died. 

I was crushed. 

For such a young, beautiful, faithful woman to have died so suddenly...I couldn't comprehend it. It made for a bittersweet Christmas. Occasionally I have these days where I think about her and feel sad. I feel sad for what might have been, she was such a wonderful person with such a strong spirit and passion for Jesus. Then I remember, she's with Jesus. No doubt about it in my mind. She's so much better off that me who's still here on Earth. I try to remember that all the wonderful things in my life that God has given me (Bill, the girls, my family) are tiny compared to the infinite power and glory of Jesus. 

Courtney's the lucky one. Not that I sit at home all day wishing my life were over...I deeply enjoy where God has placed me right now and I pray that he gives me a long life. But I know that there's something so much better waiting for me. I'm not sad for Courtney, just sad that she's not here right now, and that's a little selfish of me. 

That's me and Courtney on the left in the top picture (apologies to Kami in the bottom picture, this was the best one I had...my camera's a little confusing to me, maybe I'm just "technologically challenged).

My darling Clementine's

When I was in high school, I worked at a local B&B called Clementine's. It was right next to my dad's dental office and I worked there for about 2 years. It was a great job, the innkeeper Judith was really flexible with letting me work when I was able. In the fall and winter I worked only on the weekends because I had sports, and in the spring she let me work only in the afternoons, and in the summer I worked full time. My job title was "do anything girl" and I definitely did everything. I learned how to fold hospital corners on beds, I cleaned the rooms top to bottom and cleaned when there was a stay-over. I answered the phone and made reservations. This was actually kind of hard because it was before everyone used the internet for everything and I actually had to write it down in a book and it got kind of confusing. I pulled weeds and mowed the grass. I picked up dog poop because Judith had two, sometimes three huge Australian shepherds that wandered around. In the summer when I worked more mornings, she would let me help in the kitchen too, and I'd collect nasturtium flowers to garnish the plates. After breakfast I'd be responsible for cleaning the kitchen too. I'd also be responsible for cleaning the birdcage and the common areas of the Inn. One time I got to make cookies with her Kitchenaid. That was pretty awesome to a 16-year-old.

She also had a separate building that used to be a restaurant, and they were in the process of converting it into two suites, so I helped with some of the major cleaning. One time I had to clean out the nasty kitchen area so it could be a little kitchenette for the Moose Temple Lodge. I almost barfed. I also almost barfed a few times when Judith made me clean her fridge.

The Inn was gorgeous, Judith really had a way of making things beautiful and welcoming. The Inn is an old Victorian home with tall ceilings and stained glass windows. Her kitchen had huge glass cabinets and shelves where she displayed her beautiful dishes. There was a huge island in the kitchen with pots hanging from the ceiling. Each room had a theme. There was the schoolhouse room, garden room, sunriser room, Clementine's suite, and the French Violet room. Next door there was the aforementioned Moose Lodge and above it the River View Loft. My favorite room was the French Violet because everything coordinated so beautifully and it was (suprise!) purple. It also had it's own bathroom. There were elegant featherbeds and sometimes I just wanted to take a nap while working.

Another reason I loved working at Clementine's was because of my coworker Katee. I was all of 16 and she was probably 24 or 25. She was/is awesome. She had such a fun way of looking at the world! She also did my hair for homecoming and prom in my senior year of high school and I think she did a great job. It was really fun to work with someone so fun, it made the gross jobs I had to do that much easier.

Working at Clementine's wasn't my favorite job, but I sure learned a lot and had a lot of fun at times. I would love to someday have a Bed and Breakfast or work in one again, but it's a lot of work!

Ode to the Peugeot

We've been driving my parent's 1984 Peugeot 604 Turbo Diesel for the past few weeks because the Jeep is having problems. This car was my first and driving it around has been like traveling through time back to high school. Except I'm not driving my friends to soccer practice, I'm ferrying Caley around town. This car is pretty nice, considering it's age. However, there isn't a handle on the stick shift (just duct tape, which works well), the left passenger door doesn't open, it smokes up the entire block when it starts in the morning, and oh, the odometer says it has 511,000 miles on it. Bill and I were talking about getting a new car and he said he wants something with like 15K miles on it, because once a car gets past 150 or so, it starts to go downhill. I was a little confused and said, "But the Peugeot has 511K on it and it's running fine!" No, he said, that's just a glitch on the odometer. Shows you how much I know about cars...

It's been fun driving the Peugeot though! Let me know if you ever need a ride.