It's a little after 4 a.m. and I'm in the lobby of a hotel in Seattle. I had an easy flight up yesterday that included an interesting conversation with my seat-mate, a young mom with an 18-month old flying back home to Alaska. Yeah, that sounds like the recipe for the worst flight ever but the kid was well behaved, no fussier than any child that age has every right to be, and she did a great job of keeping him occupied when he was awake.
She works at a salmon farm in Valdez that is like nothing I've ever heard about. I know about those big submerged "boxes" out in bays - Alaska and off the coast of S.A. - where they put gobs of salmon, feed them, fill them with antibiotics to counteract the issues of that many fish in a confined area, and then sell the meat to Costco. But this is very different. They mix salmon eggs (roe) and sperm in a big "pot," release the fry into the creek next to their operation, and let them swim on out to sea. One or two years later, depending on the variety, nature tells them to swim back to their point of origin to spawn. "Here, little fishy." They scoop them up, take the roe and sperm for the next batch, and then harvest the adults. At that point in their life cycle the meat is soft and white, so it's not going to work at Costco, but the entire fish gets sold for dog and cat food.
Fascinating. (to me)
My older brother Scott, who had driven over from Spokane, picked me up at the airport and we went out to the folks', who live at Ida Culver House on the north end. It's always good to be with my parents. That "good" includes eating my mom's desserts which are definitely NOT paleo, but also not resistible. Even at 91 she makes a mean Hello Dolly bar.
I'll do burpees as penance.
Today we'll help them get to some appointments and spend time visiting, but my aunt (dad's sister) Pat is going to stop by on her way back across the state to her home in Spokane. I don't think I've seen her in 30 years, so that will be a treat.
All of that to say I've been here less than 24 hours and this short jaunt has already been refreshing for mind and body. (Unless you've had Hello Dolly bars you can only imagine.) Scott and I talk shop because he's very active in a lay leadership role at his church, and our discussions always help me see my work at Pathway in a fresh perspective. I haven't come to any conclusions about anything, no decisions about things I want to do differently or course corrections that need to be made, but something about the distance from home and the fresh set of eyes & ears always helps me "see" my work.
Work which I need to get done this week, too. I spent some time on my flight doing prep for next Sunday which I'm going to continue now. I'll be back tomorrow morning, maybe with some pics.
2 comments:
Your Aunt Pat was a professor at Whitworth, wasn't she?
Yes, she was. Chairman of the psych dept. for many years, retired at 70. Were you a student of hers?
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