Sixty-first posting - 30 years

This is it, friends. I have just signed my name sixteen hundred times, and committed myself to the mortgage company for what seems like an eternity. Thirty year fixed mortgage. Yes, if you do the math, it’s 2036. I’ll be sixty-six years old. My parents’ ages. At this point, I’d put them in the “old” category. Sheesh.

After signing my life away, Stephanie (my realtor…more later) and I went to my new house and met the sellers. Mark and Melanie are in their mid 30s and met while they were working at a nursery. For those of you who don’t know, I am a fan of plants. Think they’re pretty. Think they’re essential. And so on. I have never, however, thought of myself as a plant person. Turns out that Mark (a “water feature” specialist) and Melanie (a flower specialist) made my new yard so darn pretty that it took them almost an hour to tell me about every plant. One tidbit to note: my new place has blueberry bushes and native plant species appropriate to the area. Yeah -- even my yard is crunchy liberal! Oh, and my two new fish ponds sometimes attract racoons and herons. Double yeah!

Monday my realtor gets my keys (in Oregon this whole process takes days). Soon, yes, but before I actually get them I leave to go to Las Vegas before actually going to my house. My first time to Vegas, so I'm psyched. Unfortunately, OU already lost in the NCAA's -- so much for betting for them. Then next Friday – one week from tomorrow – I move in. Yikes. It’s definitely exciting, but I’ll miss The Pearl – where I’m living now – and my early morning running partner, Jen.

Last thing – and because I haven’t really used this space for sharing my phenomenal athletic prowess – on Sunday, I raced in the Shamrock Run, a 15K that’s one of Portland’s bigger events. My pace was 8min10sec, with a final time around 1:18. Final time still isn’t posted, but I can admit that it was a pretty freakin’ fast time for me – particularly over nearly 10 miles.

Sorry for such a long posting. More later. NATHAN