Oregon, Part Deux

After a few glorious days with my sister, we bid farewell and skedaddled off to meet up with our friends.  Sissy's head nearly exploded with excitement on our journey.  As we pulled into town, I asked Sissy if she recognized anything.  It's funny how kids' brains operate.  Everything was exactly as I remembered it, they were the same streets I traveled for years, but Sissy could only pick out one or two things that were familiar.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that her eyes are continuously diverted to a book when we drive, or that she's just a kid, but I expected her to recognize more.  However, she did manage to pull out memories everytime we ventured to a specific location, and it was fun to reminisce about her early years in Oregon.

It was also fun to see our friends.  We stayed with our besties - Sissy and her bestie have been intertwined since they were babies.  It's a mind warp to see these girls as pre-teens. Like us, some of our friends have also moved away, so we didn't get to see all of our old buddies.  But it sure was fun to see the ones we could.

We were able to repeat some firsts: I went on a walk with my dear friend at the park where we first met.  At that same park, I pushed Baby in the swings for the first time. They were the very same swings where my older baby also had her first swinging encounter.

Baby had her first breadstick at Straight from New York.

And her first visit to PanezaNellie's, the family-run restaurant we visited every Saturday after swim lessons.  When we walked in, the girls behind the counter exclaimed, "Wow! We were just talking about you and wondering how you were!" I felt a little teary at that. 

It was a wonderful visit.  We had lots to do - we went on a very hot history walking tour for Juneteenth then enjoyed BBQ for lunch.

Had an art party and stayed up late with childhood friends.

Visited a woman who is dear to me.

And ventured to a park and enjoyed the weather.

We also gathered with my friends for an evening of gossip, went swimming, drove by our old house, and had plenty of laughter and fun.

It was a great trip!  I'm glad we were able to go and revisit the past for a bit.  

(But I'm also glad to be back home and living in the now.)