Portland

      Sean and I arrived in Portland yesterday! It is rainy and beautiful. The stressful part of our weekend is hopefully over. We picked up Sean's fathers ashes from the memorial funeral home. Have you been to one of those lately? They are just a little odd.. I felt as if I was stuck in six feet under. The lady was very nice even helpful but, if that is not one of the worst jobs ever. The hardest part of that whole experience was the "Rod" can in a very pleasantly wrapped box with gift bag with name tag that did not describe who owned said gift but, a discription of contents. There wasn't a urn in the whole place that seemed to fit... So we left there with gift wrapped "Rod" in tow. We couldn't help but laugh the irony and saddness could only come out in a laugh at that point.
       We then went to pick up his personal affects at his last known residents. The people were very nice, sad, and talkitive. The women stared at Sean with an expression I did not reconize that I can only assume was shock. Sean looks a lot like his father and she looked at sean as if the love of her life had just flashed before her eyes. I thought for most of the time we were there that she was going to break down and lose it but, she never did. Sean ended up giving the women his fathers car because she had taken care of him for such a long time. They had been friends for a long time it seems.
     The whole experience is something out of a fiction novel at times. More to come as this journey continues.

Pictures too promise.