Seatac

Thursday the 8th I woke up super early and headed to the airport.  I flew out to Seattle to help my friend Stephanie-a recent health coach-host her first TSFL information night.  It was a whirlwind trip with lots of time in the car, but so worth it!

On my flight there I sat in the very first row-that was a first for me-and by the window.  A nice guy sat in the aisle seat and the middle seat was empty.  My first-ten second-impression was that he was a good looking, probably cocky, early twenties guy.  Then he kindly put my bags in the overhead bin for me.  I thought maybe he wasn't so arrogant.  We exchanged a bit of small talk before the plane took off and ended up talking the whole flight.  Turns out he was headed to Seattle for the day to experience an array of medical tests in a research hospital because he has an extremely rare disease.  He has over 150 tumors inside his body and experiences chronic pain.  Wow.  Talk about learning my lesson about first impressions.  He was honest and sweet and didn't make a big deal of it or want any pity.  I didn't pity him either because he was so obviously happy in spite of his circumstance.  Guess what else?  He is a sky dive instructor.  And I've always wanted to go sky diving.  So that made up most of our conversation.  I told him when I reach my goal I'd love to sky dive as my reward.  Zac is kind of leery about it, but I think I could talk him into it.  Brad {that was his name} made it seem pretty non-threatening and got me excited about the thought of going and trying it.  He doesn't do tandem jumps because his body can't handle holding the weight of another person, so I couldn't go with him, but he does do the photography for a lot of jumps and said he'd happily do that for me.  We exchanged #'s and I told him I'd let him know when I'm ready to "take the plunge!"  We also talked about our upbringing and entitlement-a subject I'm fascinated by right now-and it was a genuinely enjoyable ride.  I felt better for having met him and know Heavenly Father put him on my plane for a reason.  We walked outside together & I gave him a hug goodbye {I'm a hugger, okay?} and told him I'd pray for him with his tests.  A great way to start my trip.

Stephanie & her three girls picked me up and it was great to see her.  We took McKenna to school, visited & looked at their new house {they haven't quite moved in}, ran home to change, and then went to IKEA.  It was my first time and I was in Heaven!  What a fun store!  $100 later I had several Christmas gifts, a couple baby gifts, and a cute bag for myself!  It's a good thing I didn't have a car or carry on luggage to take home because the damage would have been much worse!  Loved it. 

 

We ran to the grocery store, picked McKenna up from school, drove past an the white river amphitheater {where Z & I saw Pearl Jam a few years ago!} and went to Steph's parents home where we were hosting the info night.  We cut up fruits & veggies, set up for the evening, and had a good turnout.  It was fun to visit and laugh with Steph lots in between and I just love that girl and her kiddos.  Her two youngest girls are almost each a few months older than my boys and remind me so much of them!  I loved it and missed the boys!  After the evening {and three new clients for Steph!}, we headed back to her house.  First we had Panda Express for dinner, though. (:  The girls went to bed and Steph, Travis and I stayed up talking till late.  We had to get up super early again because we had to leave their house at 5:30 for me to meet my early morning flight on Friday the 9th.  Short & sweet, but such a fun fun time!  Thanks Hillmans for having me!  And, a HUGE thanks to Mom for watching the boys Thursday, feeding all three of my boys that night, and Taylor for watching the boys Friday.  They didn't even miss me and Grayson thought it was pretty cool to stay up late with Daddy & sleepover with him!