The MacDainings: "Michigan seems like a dream to me now"

This is the last post from us. The blog began as a means to show family and friends how we were settling into our new life in Eugene and we think we've reached that impasse. It is time. I suppose we'll have to revert to archaic ways of staying in touch: email. phones. etc.

Michael and I have had a wonder of a year. We swam in the South Pacific, abseiled waterfalls. Michael stopped drinking Mountain Dew. I graduated from Bennington with fifty pages of my own work in tow, as well as life-long friends and fellow writers. Michael turned 30 and we had a Trifecta party. We threw stones into the Atlantic ocean then into the Pacific ocean just a few weeks later. We drove across the country with cats. We found jobs, an apartment, a futon, and a home in Eugene. We climbed mountains and played in rivers. Michael started school. Michael made a 4.2 gpa his first semester. We made New Friends.

Yesterday we said goodbye to our New Friends, now Old Friends, who moved to Colorado. We are terribly sad about it, but they are tumbleweeds in the world. They want to never stop exploring, one of many reasons we love them so. Though it is an awful cliche, it's true: Michael and I both said how we're better people for knowing them. Before they left they bestowed some wonderful gifts, including a record player and records, including MJ's Thriller, Journey, Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and more. They also passed along their beloved Captain. He now hangs over our entryway, blessing our home with his Whitmanesque spirit.

O Captain! my captain!

"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"

Me and J. We hadn't been drinking. Really.

Favorite peoples

We are glad for our memories and to be better people. Michael and I eagerly welcome 2012, hoping there will be less goodbyes. We have many plans for the new year, including trips to Colorado and hopefully Europe too. We want to hike and climb with every opportunity. We want to do a puzzle together and read a book together. We want to watch whales migrate. Generally, suck the marrow out of life to know we lived.

So, here are some of our favorite pictures, memories of the past year.