Author: Marlys Lawry Page 11 of 54

What if we could see through the mirror?

I’ve dragged this beautiful, old door around with me through several addresses. Because I had plans to repurpose it into something new and useful. I just didn’t know what. Yet.

 

Beautiful old door

Here’s what happens when you think of everyone else first

It was Summer’s birthday request. She asked her husband for an outdoor activity and dinner in Bend, which meant a drive over an entire mountain range.

 

SIL Josh, daughter Summer, and most of their crew – with The Grandparents thrown in

Will the re-construction be painful?

“We didn’t know how many subs would be here today, and we wanted to get a good parking spot,” said our cabinet guy with a smile. He showed up on Monday at 6:45AM. Six. Forty. Five. In the morning.

 

Knotty alder cabinets

Why we remember

“If you want to use the cabin to think and talk this over, you’re welcome to it,” said our good friend who was standing right there after Dan got the news of his escalating cancer.

Two days later, on a cold spring day, Dan lit a fire that would begin warming the cabin. We donned layers and walked upriver to the spot where we said, “I do,” beneath towering trees.

 

The wedding site beside the Metolius River

Do you know how to have fun?

Before Dan and I were married, we spent a day at a conference center in the Ochoco Mountains. He was finishing up a major electrical project and I cleaned the smaller of the two lodges.

We had lunch with the conference center directors, and then completed our assigned tasks. “That was fun,” I commented on the drive back to town.

 

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

I’ve always thought of myself as brave—not afraid to try new things or meet new people, not afraid of making a major life change.

 

Photo: Pixabay

How beautifully fragile are we?

Although it happened over a short stretch of time, Dan and I fell in love slowly. While hiking wilderness trails and browsing through hardware stores and cruising on his motorcycle and eating food truck cuisine and volunteering with the shower truck and trekking through soft powder on snowshoes and eating ginger spice cookies from the Old Mill District.

 

Can new purpose be found?

Beautiful old things catch my eye—weathered furniture, picket fences, barns. This gorgeous old truck with its fat fenders and bug-eye headlights.

 

Photo by Cayton Heath on Unsplash

Want to extend your life expectancy?

“That was fun,” I said to Dan as we drove home. “And part of the fun is our crew, isn’t it?” He agreed.

 

Our Family Kitchen crew

What are you doing for date night?

We read all the books there were to read. And we built all the towers there were to build. And we bundled up and took a couple walks in the snow. 

 

Engineering skills passed down to the younger generations

Page 11 of 54

Copyright © 2025 Marlys Johnson