I am sitting in a hotel room, drinking coffee, chewing a cigar, and working my way through 1000 pushups. Writing some blogs, watching TV, and feeling over motivated.
Today is the first day I have felt rested, last night was the first night where I slept for 6 uninterrupted hours in a week. I think we are finally through the jet lag and we don’t have a full day scheduled. All I have committed to today is going to see the most photographed light house in the world, here in the Bush’s playground, Kennebunkport, Maine.
I have begun satiating my appetite for hops, starting in LAX, which I believe is the worst airport in the world, though it was good to stand under the red, white, and blue again, I had a Stargazer IPA, and had a most satisfying hoppy belch for desert. I have had at least 5 different types of IPA’s this week, one of which is called “Leatherlips” and is brewed in Haverhill and is advertised as being so hoppy it should be green. I love a good fresh IPA because it smells like pine trees and it is like a bottle full of mountain ambiance. Hops are full of antioxidants and I have read that they are great for the prostate…so an IPA is good for you.
The ride has not slowed down since we touched down in Boston at Logan Airport. We were met by a good sized group of our family and quickly began discussing the Red Sox, the Pats (close one last night), and the Celtics. We then got our cars back on the road, visited our pastor and the christian school at our church where my mom works, and we picked up Sequoia. (We are going to stay for a little while at my parents, and my mom is letting us keep Sequoia in that room, which I consider to be a major breakthrough, thank you so much mom! A major prayer request answered positively! Who says prayer doesn’t work?)
We followed our Pastor, Chuck Oblom, back to his house and we had mixed emotions as we approached the house. Would Sequoia recognize us? We were excited and nervous, would this be a let down?
We walked into the house and Chuck called for her, we heard her lumber (is that a verb?) over and she stopped and looked at us. I could almost hear the gears and works in her huge nobby mastiff head churning as she slowly recognized us. When she heard our voices, she dropped her head and ears and tucked her tail. She slowly made her way to us, one agonizing step at a time, and she started a little tremor and put her head between us and then she peed. She smelled us and started getting excited and we almost started crying (I say almost, because after this year, I don’t know if I can cry anymore. No wait…I don’t know, I cry over weird stuff now, like being home, being in church, kids in China who have incredibly painful lives)
The dog looks good and has gotten even bigger (she dwarfs Linnea) and it is great to be home, but this blog is getting long and I haven’t even begun to talk about the cigar I am chewing (not smoking it yet though) or why I am attempting 1000 pushups (how bout you Rusty?)
