I packed my bag on Thursday and took the evening train to Tacoma.  It was lovely.  A little snooze.  A little ipod.  A little crocheting.  Brain turned on simmer.  Birthday weekend.  I had a lot of beautiful thoughts and memories about Tacoma running through my head on the train.  Trains must bring out the romance as I was really scripting a love letter to the city in which I once lived.  Since I didn’t bring my computer with me, that all stayed in my head.  Which is ok.  They were lovely thoughts.  

I’ve taken the train to and from Tacoma quite a bit over the years – mostly when Bren lived in Oregon and I was still in Washington and didn’t have a car.  It’s still nice.  I highly recommend it.

My faithful pal Amy (yes, there’s 2 of us) picked me up and she took me to my chateau for the weekend, her little house on a lake. It reminds me of Michigan.  She’s from Michigan too. I think that’s why she chose to live there.  All the lake beauty, none of the snow.

While the weekend was a celebration for my birthday, it was also a celebration of a friendship.  We met on my 20th birthday as part of a group planning to study abroad in Poland in the summer of ‘88. She drove me and a couple others in her Buick LeSabre “Bessie” to the only Polish restaurant in Grand Rapids so we could all get acquainted.  

She’s still driving me around.  We spent most of the weekend in her car, a Saturn this time, driving from thrift store to thrift store to Korean store to Japanese store and to Seattle and back.  Of course she drove me to my favorite places to eat. 

I love this building.  Not only does it look like it could be in Nampo-dong, Pusan, it houses the best Korean noodle shop in all Tacoma.

All through lunch I kept on saying, “I am so happy,” while doing the happy food dance. I’m so glad I can still do the happy food dance at 40.

After more thrifting, we drove by our old neighborhood on the North End and sighed as we passed the coolest apartment I will ever live in.  Dang. It was a sweet thing.  

Even with all the meandering, we made it to The Lobster Shop for it’s twilight menu. Shoot, there I go eating early bird style already.  I did enjoy the view of The Mountain and The Sound.

We spent Saturday in Seattle at the Phinney Neighborhood Center for the Winter Arts and Crafts Festival for a little inspiration.  Then moved on to Ballard for fun shops and a new pair of reading glasses for my aging eyes.  Luckily, they’re green.

When we drove by the Space Needle, I said, “Can you believe I used to live here and I’ve never been in the Space Needle?”  
And Amy replied, “Uh, yes you have.”
“What?”
“Yes!  Your parents paid for both of us to go up to the top when they were out here visiting once a long time ago.  They couldn’t believe we had never been up there.”
“We did?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, I really don’t remember that. You’d think going up in the Space Needle would be something a person would remember.”
“Yes.  One would think…”

This is  why I keep her around.  She’s my memory-keeper for the vast majority of my 20’s.  

On to Chinatown…

…for my absolute favorite, hand shaved noodles and spicy cucumbers at Shanghai Garden.

We kicked back in the evenings and watched tv because Amy has cable. All the choices were so so lovely.  

Sunday, we met our pal Diane for breakfast then headed to the train station.

So much fun. What a gift. Thanks Amy.

When I got back to Oregon today, I was greeted with cute boys racing toward me at the train station.  I wish I had a picture of that. It was a gift. Thanks boys.

Some of you might be wondering what my boys were up to while I was gone.  Our little half bath is looking mighty fine thanks to my spouse and my awesome brother-in-law.  The house was even picked up when I got home. What a gift. Thanks Bren & Ron.

My sis-in-law showed up with her mother-in-law’s famous chocolate cake.  What a gift.  Thanks Erinn.

Thanks everyone.  Great way to start a new decade.

*Excuse me while I go wipe a few tears.  This 40 thing is taking a little while to sink in.