March 10th, 2005
Dear loved ones,
Now that the big changes and busy-ness of the last few months have slowed a bit, we wanted to drop y'all a note, to let you know what we've been up to, and to send a heartfelt, if generic, 'thinking-of-you' your way.
The big changes began happening well before last summer, with Janelle moving to Portland to start a new job, and Sean and Angela going through an amicable but still heart-wrenching divorce. But since August, we (Janelle and Sean) have been settling in to our life together in Portland, healing, and welcoming several exciting new beginnings....
We found a wonderful apartment, actually the top floor of an cool old
house, that is within walking distance of Janelle's work. It's near
the ride-free light rail zone, Lloyd Center, lots of restaurants and
shops, I5 and I84, yet the neighborhood still feels quiet and
residential. The cherry trees lining the street are all blooming
now, making it a magical pink tunnel!
We are enjoying living in Portland, near a variety of outdoorsey things to do – we've driven to the coast for the day, hiked Mt. Tabor, picnicked in parks, and taken many many walks around our neighborhood and surrounding areas (one day we walked across the river to Chinatown for dinner!), just exploring and enjoying the nice days.
In August we again went to the NFNC Summer Camp (where we'd met the
previous year) and spent two weeks camping in the woods with about
100 friends, attending workshops on diverse topics ranging from
Non-Violent Communication to Playback Theatre to sustainablity and
the environment. While there, we held a handfasting ceremony, where
we committed to each other and our relationship in front of our
community. Handfasting is a type of commitment ritual, with a
history going back hundreds of years, often used by couples who
couldn't get or didn't want a priest to marry them. In it, we vowed
to love and support each other in our journey together, for the
traditional period of a 'year and a day' before choosing to renew our
vows (but we didn't even wait that long before renewing them....)
In October, we found out we are going to have a baby! We laughed when we realized that at our handfasting, we had a tapestry depicting Ganesh, remover of obstacles (i.e. birth control!) We are very excited about this blessing coming into our lives. Janelle's had a wonderfully smooth pregnancy so far, and is starting to get pretty big. We've been busy attending birthing classes, and thinking about possible names for the little one.
We've continued to keep music an
important part of life – recently by playing in the Hillsboro
Symphony Orchestra, a local community orchestra that happened to have
spots for both violin (Sean) and clarinet (Janelle). What a kick it
has been to play with a group of 60 people again!
We managed to survive three Thanksgivings without exploding: one with Sean's parents in Eugene the weekend before, one with friends in Portland on Thursday, and one with Janelle's parents and brother the weekend after. After all that, we were glad to spend a quiet Christmas at home, just the two of us.
Though we'd had our handfasting in August, in Janurary we felt like it was
time to have a “real” wedding with a small gathering of
family. So on the 22nd, we said our vows again in a small
Unity church in Newport. It was a very low-stress, quiet weekend
with only 8 other people in attendance, but it was perfect.
With the baby coming, we decided that
if we were going to do a big trip, we'd better do it soon, so we went
to Hawaii for almost two weeks last month! We spent about half the
time on Maui, where we visited with old friends and stayed in a condo
right on the beach where we could see whales spouting from our living
room! We drove the Hana Highway almost all the way to Hana with a
local friend, taking random side trips when we felt the urge. We
spent the second half of our trip on the Big Island, in a house in
the jungle that was on solar electricity and water catchment for
water! It was a fun adventure with the couple who lived in the house
and four others (and more at times) that we knew from Summer
Camp. We spent much of the whole vacation lazing on the beach,
eating papayas, and taking in the wonders of the islands. A
highlight was on one of the last days we were there, we went in the
afternoon to where the lava was pouring into the sea and making new
land! We hiked about a mile and a half in during daylight, and by
the time we hiked out, the moon was out and so bright we didn't need
flashlights! We also visited several intentional communities, each
very different from the other, but they all gave us ideas and things
to consider in our own search for a community we'd like to call home
someday soon.
Well, that's about all that will fit – hope you all are doing well, and hope to hear from you soon. Our contact information is below. Hugs and blessings,
Janelle and Sean
1808 NE Wasco St
Portland OR 97232
503-281-4282
janelles at mac dot com
smbolton at jps dot net
