Bertha, My New Love (And Other Interesting Life Updates)

I’m not sure where to start. Somewhere between seeing a moose in northern Maine a week and a half ago, and the clothes I just folded and shoved into my bag for a twelve day journey to Europe—life has occurred.

This is what happens when I forget to write or put forth any kind of effort to remember yesterday. My last post dated July 8th is starring me in the face, and I only now feel like I’ve caught my breath.

“So, get on with it,” you say, “what have you been doing with your life?” “What’s this about a moose?”

The moose story is a decent place to start. Actually, it has more to do with a rafting trip on the Kennebec River near the Maine/Quebec boarder. I saw signs for moose everywhere, so I decided to sharpen some sticks and go on a moose hunt with some anxious youth group kids. Actually, we just drove around at night and saw them on the side of the road.

I must have been in Maine a lot recently. Last Sunday I visited my friend Lindsey who is home in Maine for the summer. I have had lobster dinner three times in my entire life, and all three dinners have been at Lindsey’s house. Imagine this: 6 or 7 one pound hard shell lobsters, corn on the cob, two dozen steamers (clams), potatoes, onions, and a few hard boiled eggs, steamed to perfection and served on one very large platter. Red Lobster has nothing on this traditional Mainer meal.

And then there’s Bertha. No, I didn’t finally go out on a date (still going strong in that department, thank you very much). I’m talking about Bertha the tropical storm. Bertha’s benevolence has given the eastern coast some of the best waves I seen since I’ve lived here. We’re talking over head high and very clean. I surfed four days in a row. My arms feel like cooked noodles from all the paddling.

Bertha almost catches me up to speed.

For nearly a year now, I’ve been talking about having to officiate a wedding as if it were make-believe—something I conjured up in order to impress my friends doing more exciting things than me. But now that wedding is tomorrow.

Tonight I did the rehearsal. It just happened, so I don’t even know what to say about it, other than the fact that I can’t believe that tonight I did the rehearsal for a wedding I’m officiating tomorrow.

I leave for Switzerland on Sunday. I don’t think I’ll have time to post again before my departure, so suffice it to say that I am so pumped to be hanging out with so many good friends from college. In some ways this trip has only been a year in the making. But in other ways, it fulfills a desire that has been many years in the making. Having been born in a military hospital in Frankfurt Germany, and having lived my first three years in that country, the trip doubles as an opportunity to revisit childhood memories never had.

Thanks for reading.