On Cove Palisades and being a good guest


So this weekend I actually got to be a guest at a wedding!

My good friends Paige and Scott got married at the Sunriver Resort in Oregon.

As someone whose livelihood depends on having available Saturdays all summer long, there are very few people for whom I would take a date off my availability calendar -- but Paige and Scott are definitely two of those people! Paige and I went to business school at Kellogg together and have been great friends ever since. I wouldn't miss this wedding for anything in the world.

So Jonas and I took off Friday morning on a 6 am flight -- which is not a flight ANY civilized person should be on. Maybe once upon a time a 6 am flight wasn't so bad, but with all the new airport restrictions and delays, taking a 6 am flight means getting up at about 3 am. But we were flying on my miles and you've gotta take what is available.

So, here is Jonas -- grumpy either because a) it's 6 am or b) we had to check bags or c) they were out of the "omelet" choice for breakfast.



Sunriver is about 4 hours from Portland so we rented a car and drove so we could take in the scenery. As you may remember from my Canadian sojourn, I don't bring a camera on vacation because, well it's my vacation, right? Also, I want to be in some of the pictures, so I just rely on other people to bring their cameras. And Jonas is getting really good at indulging my narcissism...



And of course he has to indulge his own narcissism...



Mt. Hood...



I have a hard and fast rule: I can either be a good guest at a wedding or a good photographer but I can't be both. There is a different mind set when I am shooting a wedding because I am not in the moment, I am looking for the moment. It is almost as if I have to detach myself from experiencing things so that I can witness what others are experiencing. But when it is one of your dearest friends who is marrying the love of her life, you want to be in that moment and feel it. You don't want to worry about f-stops or lighting conditions or whether Uncle Bob is blocking your shot. You just want to be present for that amazing moment of love.

So, we left Jonas' camera in the hotel room for the wedding and just had a blast. Of course, I am glad that my friends Andy and Corey brought their camera so I could get a picture of Jonas and me.



I took ONE picture of Andy & Corey to return the favor. I tried to take more but Jonas made me give the camera back.



Andy & Corey took a few other pics that I pilfered.

This shot just cracks me up.



Paige & Scott on the dance floor...



To Paige and Scott,

I am so glad I got to be there... to really be there and take it all in. All my love and best wishes to you guys. I am so lucky to have friends like you.

xoxo
rvt

On the way home, Jonas and I stopped at Cove Palisades State Park. It may seem kind of silly, but I grew up spending every summer camping at Cove Palisades with six other families. It is a place that defined a very specific era of my life -- an idyllic time of swimming all day, laughing until our sides split, and playing late into the night with my dearest childhood friends.



Each year, at the end of camp, we would drive into the nearby town of Culver and play a highly competitive game of softball at the Little League park.



Jonas gets to first base with me... ;-)



The Little League park was next to the Culver Market where, when I was 15, I tried, unsuccessfully, to buy beer. Jonas suggested that perhaps I should see if they would still card me. No such luck. :-p



Of course, over time we all changed and grew and out grew that simpler time. And I know we can't go back to that time, but all the same I find it somehow comforting that Cove Palisades itself is exactly the same -- the same as it is in my heart and my memories of those amazing summer days.


Posted: Sat - August 26, 2006 at 12:52 AM          

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