If I am having a boring day that means someone else is having a good day.

Natalie said that on her way out the door one afternoon following lunch and it has stuck with me throughout this time. Especially during my time in the high school when I don't really have too many kids come through my office (although that has begun to change a bit, which is awesome). I have really started to settle in at my placements. The relationships I have started to form are seemingly worthwhile. There are definitely challenges (and boy, have there been some challenges recently), but they are adolescent teenagers; what did I expect? (This is really hard with the whole confidentiality thing, if you hadn't already picked up on that) But I really enjoy it. Still happy, still good, just starting to move into that challenging aspect of the placement, which was expected.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. I got off work at 11 pm on Wednesday. I had a staff meeting from 8-10 on one side of town. Then I had to ride my bike to the other side of town to the high school. Then I rode my bike back to the other side of town for another staff meeting, but when I got there found out it was canceled, so I rode back home. Which is right by the high school. Oh yeah, and it was 55 degrees, pouring rain, and the wind was gusting up to 40 mph. I guess you could call it my 'Welcome to SE Alaska' moment. I have 2-3 months of that ahead too. Glad I at least got to see some nice weather before it turns real crappy...

Things here, while hectic, have started to settle into a routine. Our door is constantly opening and closing, people are cycling in and out. We are figuring out how to handle maintaining our community while juggling our crazy schedules. And you know what? It is going really well. We are starting to settle into our 'roles' in the house. Mine is that of the father (I know, right). Last week, Katie (or Kakevin) decided that we were like the family. I was the father because I am somewhat responsible, get everyone motivated and excited, and everyone is scared of me (their words, not mine). After a certain amount of laughter she looked at Nick and told him he was the mother. Evie is the oldest sister, Katie is the middle brother (her level of maturity is roughly around 14 years old), and Natalie is the youngest sister. Since then, we have participated in family-centric activities, such as boys vs. girl cornhole. Katie and I won. I like to watch football while Nick does the dishes. Katie likes to pull pranks and antagonize everyone in the house. Its a pretty interesting dynamic.

With that being said, our community experience has been very strong so far. Our nights are highlighted by our card games, cornhole games, watching a movie or t.v. show (we ran through seasons 1-4 of 'The Office.' If anyone has season 5 that they want to donate to the house, let me know...), or just silently reading together in the living room. Our dinner conversations swing from the ridiculous (see roles, family) to the fairly deep (health care reform, American life) and back again. Empty threats fly around the house at a fairly frequent pace. We even fart around each other (Let me tell you, nothing builds community like farting with someone else...). I really enjoy coming home after work and just relaxing with everyone. Our lack of expectations for each other and open minds has really led to a great dynamic in the house. I could go on for a really long time about the community, but I will stop here.

Last Monday (August 31) we had the most incredible weather. I had off from work so I decided to hike up Mt. Verstovia, a mountain overlooking the town. It was my favorite moment of being here so far. Now, going by myself? Probably not the smartest idea that I have ever had (bears are pretty heavy right now, steep climb, etc) but completely worth it. The hike started uphill and only really got steeper. It was uneven. Rocks could be pretty tough to get around, and everything was really slick. I had to stop every couple of meters just to relax and catch my breath. But so beautiful. Every time I stopped I was able to look around and appreciate what it was that I was seeing. When I got to Picnic Rock and able to look around I was stunned at the beauty. After seeing that I knew I wanted to get to the peak of Verstovia, so I went down the trail. It wasn't as clear, or as clean. I had to blaze my own trail at points. Had to climb a few rock facings. But the scenery kept getting better. It wasn't as tiring, but I found myself stopping more just to take in the area. All the mountains were visible. The Inside Passage was laid out before me through the islands and mountains. I worked my way to the base of the peak...and found that the fog had rolled in. The trail got a lot thinner and there was less margin for error. So I stopped. But still, in that time I was so happy just to be out and moving around. And then to be in the presence of that untouched scenery. Stop me if I get a little wordy or seemingly emotional and corny...but wow...Probably my favorite moment of being out here, that hike. And from what I understand there are a number of significantly better hikes out there. Yeah, I'll be exploring those.

Hope you all are doing well. I miss you guys a lot, and love to hear about what is happening down south. Keep me posted and keep in touch.