It’s been over a month since I last wrote a blog post. Life keeps on chugging along, for better or worse: I attended a professional conference in Newport, I had a spot of illness that took a while to recover from, a felony trial I had ended in a mistrial (again, as this case had another mistrial earlier in the year), I picked up coin-collecting as a hobby, and I’m in the month of major anniversaries (which I’ll probably write more about next time). However, this month has seen a pleasant change of pace: I got to roll out the red carpet for my parents, who were staying in Salem for the week!
This was the
first time my parents had come to Salem since my move, so it was a great opportunity
to share my Salem experiences with them!
I showed them around town, introduced them to some of my favourite restaurants,
brought them home to meet my feline overlords the Serotonin Squad, treated
them with trips to two local ice cream parlours, and even gave them a tour of
my very own office (albeit carefully controlled so that all client info was
protected). They enjoyed all of this,
and I enjoyed sharing it all with them.
As enjoyable as everything was, the high point for me was showing them
my office. It may not be exciting or
yummy, but it filled my heart with pride to show my parents that I have indeed
grown up to the point that I was able to move my law firm across counties and
stay in business. They seem to be proud
of me, and I hope I can keep that up!
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| Can you tell this was taken the same day as one of our ice cream outings? |
I wasn’t the only one showing off things in the area. My parents did some research for their trip and ended up showing me a few things I didn’t know were in Marion County. There was a farm market we visited in Keizer just a stone’s throw away from the local Men’s Wearhouse; I have a feeling I’ll be going back there whenever I’m in the neighborhood. On a more active note, we checked out Silver Falls State Park for a brisk hike and some extremely beautiful scenery. It’s amazing how all this time there can be things right under your nose, but you don’t really notice it until your friends or family from out of town show you the way. As is the case my outings to Tillamook in the past few months, I am coming to see the value of approaching all locations, no matter how “regular” with a visitor’s eye.
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| a lovely waterfall |
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| the same waterfall, pictured with an attorney |
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| Group shot! |
Though there was much I still wanted to show them, my parents had to go after four days and nights of enjoying what Marion County had to offer (they were checking out some other tour spots in the American West). My time showing them around was brief, but it was quite fun and helped me put my life and surroundings in perspective. I’m hoping I can keep that perspective as I continue contending with work, health, and the sometimes-scary roller coaster that is adult life.
