Now, Here's Our Reward!!

What an eventful few weeks the Radmalls have had! I am so happy to announce that we were able to (at last!!!) have a vacation with our favorite Oregonians, the Asay Family. They are the type of people who just accept us as we are: grubby sweatsuits, zits, and all. There's no awkwardness, it's just a relaxed, easygoing time when we're with them. Kristine and Adam are really just the best people. We are so thankful for them! They went the extra mile to make us feel at home, and we can only hope to ever re-pay the kindness. Every time we get together, we have lots of good stories to make us smile.

This trip was no exception.

On our last Oregon Coastal Day, we chose to visit Pacific City and its amazing beach. There is a huge dune on the north side; probably 200 feet high. And quite steep. Chad and Adam had taken the kids to hike it and slide down it while Kristine and stayed with our baby boys in the sand below.


Near the end of the day, we decided we'd make the ascent as well. Kristine, despite her nativity to the area, hadn't ever been to the top, and, so we thought, why not? Chad said the view was incredible.


She and I walked over to what we thought was the least-steep spot and began our journey up the unstable hillside. It wasn't easy.


When we were about 50 feet up, we noticed a man and a woman below. The man began climbing effortlessly and quickly up the dune. He had long, sleek, dark hair past his slight shoulders, and a thin mustache. I thought, "Must be "environmental-ish outdoorsy-ish European tourist guy.......backpacking the globe?"


Well, as you may have guessed, he overtook the two mommies and disappeared from our view. Our pride was somewhat wounded. I felt quite old and baggy, I will admit. We continued to work up the dune, taking short breaks, wondering if this was going to be worth it. Here we are after one such break.

Finally, we made it to the top. The panorama stopped my heart. We could see the pristine Oregon Coastline for miles, disappearing into the ocean. I love hiking; making it to the top.
We both felt the struggle was more than worth it, and took in a few more breaths and a few more moments' wonder.

Out of nowhere, a voice broke the windy stillness. "Is zees you-ehr feerst ti-ehm?" the voice pressed. I perked up. Was that......a French accent? I caught a glimpse of a much-more-smiley Kristine as I turned around to see......the swift-climbing long-hair standing comfortably (I know!?@) close.

"Um," I stammered, "Yes." What did he mean by first time, exactly? "It's beautiful," I managed. "She is from here," I say, referring to the silent Kristine,"But I am just visiting." Smile. Think....... "Where are you from?" (Could I be any more awkward? Don't answer that......)

"Montreal." "It ees beauteeful here."

"It is," Kristine's suddenly-silkyvoice adds.

Kristine and I smile and stare, totally gobsmacked.

"Now," he went on, "I szjoost weesh I had my skis. Eet would bee so ea-see to race down zees."

We do a dumb laugh, banter awkwardly, and then with a speedy move, he glides near the edge to catch one more glimpse of a tide pool, and he's gone. A few moments later, after we'd recovered coherent thought, we see him (with the lower portion of his zip-offs in hand) bounding toward his French-Canadienne lover below.

It goes without saying that we both felt somewhat refreshed. Somewhat confused by these, these.....feelings. I won't divulge the conversation we had just then, which ended in giggles, but we were basically both thinking the same thing. THIS must have been our reward for all the effort. We took a picture to remember the experience by. A "little happi-ehr, no?"

How many of you recall Hank Azaria's commanding performance in that stinker-of-a-film "Along Came Polly?" (I still laughed at it, though).

Well, let's just say Deb Messing's character doesn't represent the first or last woman to get lady-killed by an accent (and its accompanying body, no matter what the visual). I mean, I've never been one for men with long, sleek, "Last of the Mohicans" hair, or thin moustaches, but there I was!

Once we realized how horribly cliche the experience really was, we couldn't stop laughing. Belly laughing. I peed a little.

Feeling a bit ashamed of ourselves for getting all giddy over Monsieuer Eco-Quebec, we looked below at the tiny specks that were our greatest treasures, doing exactly what they should have been on such a perfect day.

Money can't buy such a sweet experience as that was for me. Being able to just take in all the love just a few hundred feet below. Kristine remarked that Adam had never looked better to her than he did right then. I couldn't have agreed more about Chad. Our real reward came at that transcendent moment. No words in my mind. Just joy.