flexagon | Big Sky, indeed

This has been a strange week… I spent three days teaching college freshmen some basic web development, then took Thursday and Friday off work to visit my dad (and his wife K) in Montana. W’d really put it off for too long… three years between visits this time. So I spent three full days and two partial ones in Big Sky country, with wifi only available in tiny patches and everything all rural and rustic. There was hiking, and more hiking, and one night spent at my 20-year high school reunion.

<shudder>

In the spirit of not whining, let’s just list the good things for now.

Getting to meet their cat Noir, and hearing a million times now Noir warmed up to us SO much faster than she does to loud doggy people (duh). Noir is sleek and plump and a huntress, and it was nice to have a cat around.

In Glacier National Park I found the waterfall I will go sit beside if my heart is ever broken again; there's a natural stone bench halfway down the falls, and the water roars deafeningly.

We saw a marten on the trail — first time either I or dad had seen one in real life -- and, on the same hike, lots of wildflowers.

We saw eighteen goats all resting under a highway bridge together, including mama goats with their very new babies.

Kept testing the limits of Lactaid in enabling me to eat dairy. I ate some cheese, and the first ice cream I’d had since sometime before March. No real breakouts; mostly just skin continuing to heal up / calm down from last week’s pre-period shenanigans. I keep feeling like maybe my stomach hurts a little after eating dairy, but I also think I'm making it up.

Walking around with [Bad username or site: “say_shazam” @ livejournal.com]… it’s fun talking about mid-30s girl stuff with the same person I used to talk about six-year-old girl stuff with. Must stay in better touch there. Yes.

High school reunion not so bad. It was pretty emotionally neutral; nobody was there who I'd had a crush on, or who had a crush on me, or who particularly hated me or vice versa. Got lots of compliments on my cheap $30 dress, which norwoodbridge speculates were veiled compliments on my body... heh. It is pretty clingy. We did a full circuit of the room, and took off pretty uneventfully.

Got lots of on-target gift ideas for Dad and K, immortalized them in my spreadsheet of gift ideas.

Good-tasting tap water and easy, stressless driving conditions.

heisenbug had fun with photography, and reminded me I'd like to play with a decent macro lens, and we were able to give them some good pictures of Noir.

Staying in their new guest cabin -- on their property, but separate -- actually worked pretty well.

K gave me a lipstick that works really well on me! "A Different Grape" by Clinique. :-)

In short: survived, could handle going back next year or the year after. All this being nice to Montana is still breaking my brain, though... the place triggers me, and driving hurts my hamstring, and I scratched the crap out of myself in my sleep every night (stress, I'm assuming, though it's not always that clear). Figuring out how I could have a good life there is a serious mental exercise, the answer almost certainly to include frequent hops to Seattle to study acro with the crowd here (as I type away in SEA-TAC). HOWEVER... I don't have to. I get to go home to Hyper and Nala and my usual life. So grateful.