Monday was a day full of the L word. Which L word? Take your pick: love, loss, laughter, Lynn Marie, Laura, light… Those kind of L words. I was really fortunate to have a day that included all of them. Not bad for my first day of nerd camp. I had a chance to catch up with my friend Laura here at nerd camp. The conversation brought me to a whole new appreciation for the choices I have made in uprooting my life (another L word!) and moving to the Lowlands 😉 There’s something to be said about being able to share stories with someone over guacamole from Cactus and share laughter, even when some of the stories you are hearing and telling touch on loss. And lineage (another one) that thanks to Laura I am now completely into the idea of getting my DNA tested to see where my roots really are.

After fortifying myself with guacamole for the traffic battle, I drove over to Ballard to see my old stomping grounds and Lynn Marie. Lynn Marie has been someone who has seen our family through some intense experiences. She’s also the person who we owe a tremendous debt of thanks to her work with my mom. I was promptly surrounded by love from her three dogs – Buddy, BG and Bindi – all similarly sized like their friends Henry and George. And of course then there’s Lynn Marie herself, someone who personifies no nonsense truth and love. I spent the evening with her and the dogs and touring old/new Ballard.

When I spend time with people like Laura and Lynn Marie, I realize anew what I miss about Seattle. I hardly recognize how much the city has changed, even since I was last here in January. I miss the people.

Last night, I took one of my coworkers, the other Caroline on my team, to Cactus in West Seattle. Yes, you read that right, I have been in a Cactus for two days in a row. As I have told stories before about my mom and how much she loved Cactus on Alki, I wanted to stop in and do it again. We were able to sit outside and had a really good dinner. In tribute to my mom, we had a margarita a piece and I convinced Caroline to order and drink a Mexican coffee, just like my mom always had. I passed because I was the designated driver and I have taught the people in my favorite café in Amsterdam to make Mexican coffee. When I am missing my mom too much, they know to make me one.

In a way, going to Cactus last night was sort of a blending of my old life with my new. As I was dropping Caroline off, she said to me that she now understood where all my stories took place. Which was a nice way of saying that the tour was not so boring since I took her all the way around West Seattle and then up to Ballard. I felt like I was connecting myself (and mom) between past and present.

I was reminded anew of the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, the mountains, the bay, Tahoma, the sunsets. It is true, I do miss seeing the mountains and the ferries crossing the sound.