My Summer Vacation (or is it Fall already?)

Okay, so I didn't manage to get in a post about the vacation. We've been back almost a week and it's like a distant memory after a crazy week back in the office. A few highlights I don't want to forget:

1) The breathtakingly blue water of South Lake Tahoe. Who knew it was even safe to drink and more than 99% pure at the surface? Someone should Google that.
2) The first morning, waking up at 6am to my dad ready to engage in a discussion about a couple of books we'd agreed to read about family dynamics, the conversation diverging (devolving?) into "What's with all the religion?"
3) The trees of Yosemite. Amazing.
4) Walking 2.5 miles at Yosemite. In a moon boot. And Richard and I completed the walk well ahead of everyone else on the bus tour.
5) The bus tour to Yosemite. Our guide (who referred to himself at times as Walker, then as Joe, then Dan, and who didn't stop talking the entire time) said, and I quote, "If you think about it, a drop of water is almost more powerful than a waterful, in actuality." I don't know what he meant but it sounded profound. I kid.
6) An incident between my father and a valet guy at the hotel which ended an hour or two later with my father bringing a beer to Richard and me at the pool as a peace offering. The valet guy still had a complaint filed against him. Sorry, valet guy.

Mostly it was wonderful to be away from reality, to have nothing that I had to do, to be free to take naps and be lazy and let my skin tan. And it was really good to be with Richard and for us to spend a week with my dad and step-mom. No family is perfect. Mine is nuts. But I love them.

Now I'm back at work and the countdown to THE EVENT begins...Less than 5 weeks until my department tries to pull off the biggest church-focused conference we've held as long as I've been there. I'll post some prayer requests in the next posts -- prayer is the only thing that will keep my head from exploding and THE EVENT from turning into a comedy of errors (or, worse, a COMPLETE DISASTER).