In Seattle with Ashley and Katrina!!!

I got to see Katrina and Ashley!!!! This is me bragging to the world. I just had a totally awesome weekend in Seattle. Not only am I immensely proud of myself for tackling the downtown streets while driving, I also pumped my own gas, helped Katrina find her way around, and found my own way back to Ashley's house as well all by myself. I feel GOOD. Accomplished.

Let me explain who these fantastic ladies are. Ashley was one of the first members of Freedom Friends Church but she moved to Seattle before I came along there and now is a sojourning member at University Friends Meeting. We met at the women's conference and have since become friends as well as Friends. We have been planning for me to come up there sometime for several months and we finally did it. Ashley is now c0-clerk for the next women's conference. She is a Quaker Lightening Rod.

While Ashley and I were thinking of me making the trip north, Katrina sent an e-mail to the Editorial Board telling us she was moving to Seattle for a while. I was beyond THRILLED. I met Katrina in April at our meeting in North Carolina and as with all the members, we really connected. Katrina and I actually flew home together as far as Detroit so we got to know each other a bit better. Several members on the board have gotten to see each other at various meetings and I've been jealous out on my own here in the Northwest. But no longer! Katrina came over to Ashley's on Friday and we got to hang out, eat Chinese, and talk late into the night. I loved having her around to remember our time together as a board, someone who understands what it meant to each of us. And she a lot of fun. It was also a great reminder of how small the Quaker world really is as two people there already knew Katrina and were surprised to hear she was in town.

The next day Katrina and her cousin, Erica, joined Ashley, her roommate, Eric, and I on the Seattle underground tour. It was a great time, I loved seeing the streets below the streets of Seattle and hearing the history of the city. Our tour guide even recognized Eric as a Quaker based on his beard. It gave us all a good laugh but I'll let Ashley blog about that one. In the afternoon, I walked around Pike Market and took a look around on the Space Needle. Something I had never done before. Saturday night we had a young adult potluck and I joined Ashley and Eric at meeting the next morning giving my regular Quaker Youth Book Project spiel.

All in all, I'm still giddy from getting to spend time with people I love and getting to make new Friends/friends.

Then, when I came home, I not only had delicious pumpkin soup with my roommate, Katie, I got an e-mail telling me I have been awarded a scholarship to go to a "Weaving Sacred Wholeness" conference in South Carolina in March! How utterly cool is that? It's all about Quaker diversity and I'm thrilled. Yay for me! And yay for the people who gave the money so I could go! THANK YOU!!! And a huge thank you to Ashley for having me up for the weekend. It was so good and much needed. I'll be back soon!