Visiting my nephew

This past weekend I was able to fly to Portland to meet my new nephew, Clark! I had a great three days relaxing with Ben, Alli, and Clark and enjoying the fabulous sunny weather! We also enjoyed the cool evenings, along with the fact that there is light until well past 9 o'clock! We walked around the neighborhood Saturday night, and through Tualatin Hills Nature Preserve on Sunday night. Clark loved the walks, promptly falling asleep because of the motion! Monday we headed into downtown Portland to wander, enjoying the sights, sounds and tastes of the city! After grabbing lunch at a food cart on Alder Street we headed to Pioneer Square to sit, enjoy our lunch, the sun, and general people watching. After eating our lunch I found the real reason for visiting Pioneer Square, Caleb's brick. Grief is an emotion that I rarely understand...its swells, its power, its changes. But no matter my comprehension of how it works, its presence guides us to do things that sometimes others don't understand in order to "work through it". Yet Ben and Alli were gracious enough to take me to see Caleb's brick and "introduce" my first real nephew to my first adopted nephew. Thank you Ben and Alli for letting me do that...
Even more meaningful was that I got to do this on Memorial Day. I thought of all the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and children whose loved ones' names are etched in war memorials all over our country. What a powerful memory the written name evokes.... We enjoyed the rest of our day wandering around the city and down the waterfront, with a stop-in at VooDoo Donuts for a Portland favorite (basically a Boston cream donut but with a face on it). Clark even enjoyed his Blazer blunt (just kidding)! Thanks Ben and Alli for hosting me for the weekend! And a huge thank you to Janice, James & Marcy, and Aaron & Christa for helping Randy with the kids while I was gone. I couldn't have done it without you!