A Stormy Trip Along the Oregon Coast

We Do Sunday Series: Enjoying Life after Trauma

Knowing how much baggage we carried into our marriage, we understand that we truly did do our best to enjoy life after trauma. Thank you for walking down memory lane with us during this Sunday series.

“Success is full of promise till one gets it,
and then it seems like a nest from which the bird has flown.”
—Henry Ward Beecher—

We were on our way to California to attend a fundraising event. It was the end of March 2023 and though not the best time to travel, we thought it would work. Our plan was to drive back along the Oregon coast, an area of the country we had never explored. We stopped at a hotel in Oregon and by evening, I knew I could not continue to the event. The weather was complicated, but it was more than that. We needed to take another day and figure out the plan. So we stayed and I sat on the bed in the hotel room and stared at this picture on the wall. We needed to pivot.

It is hard to explain to anyone how much self-care is required for me to do the work I do. Scott understands this, thankfully. We did a bit of sightseeing near the hotel and made plans to change directions and head to the coast. I captured this image from our hotel room as the sun set over the mountains. It felt like God was placing a safety net underneath me.

For the first leg of the trip to the coast, we headed across the mountains on a road that hugged a river and stayed at a low enough elevation to avoid any remnants of snow. Mountain roads are my nemesis and winding rivers calm me.

Our destination was a hotel with an ocean view. We arrived before a storm hit and hunkered down to ride it out. The churning waves seemed to mirror my inexplicable discomfort. It was difficult to accept that any more memories could surface, but in hindsight, all the signs were there. The path less traveled is the one that returns to ask for help when we thought therapy was finished.

I was obsessed with watching the birds weather the storm. One seagull landed outside the window unable to take flight again. There she stood, seemingly undisturbed by her situation. She simply waited out the storm. Try as I might, I never captured a clear picture of her in the downpour of rain.

While the waves crashed below us, I wrote the beginnings of a book that was inspired by the birds I was watching. It will likely appear here in some form eventually, but that time is not yet. I learned a lot about birds and their nests! And I collected the quotes included in this post.

When the storm cleared we went exploring and found a boardwalk that wandered through a wetlands area. It was clear that the trees had survived many an Oregon storm. I stood and stared at this tree for some time considering how many storms I had weathered. At the time, I doubted I could weather another, but I did.

“It doth not yet appear what we shall be. We lie here in our nest, unfledged and weak,
guessing dimly at our future, and scarce believing what even now appears.
But the power is in us, and that power is finally to be revealed.
And what a revelation will that be!”
—Horace Bushnell—

I will continue up the coast in next week’s Sunday post. After resting for several days and processing how thoroughly my body had communicated my need to stop and rest, we set off on a week of discovering the beauty and history of the Oregon coast. I had chosen to do the self-care I needed and could now enjoy the trip.

“Never look for birds of this year in the nests of the last”
—Miguel de Cervantes—