I Saw You

I SAW YOU

THE BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS: I saw you.. and you saw me. And this is where it all began and how we finish this. I am your Sparkles the Essence of your life. You are My Bright and Morning Star. My Epitome of LOVE. The only way we exist is when we are seen by one another. This has been such a hard, long, and exhausting journey, but the memories, the triumphs, the battles have always been worth it. Thank you for doing all of this with me even when you didn't have to but chose to. Thank you for NEVER leaving or forsaking me. At that one moment we see each other at the altar this will all have been worth it. Every laugh, every touch, every look, every smile, every poem, every song, written for us to understand, share, and enjoy. Without you there is no me. We are one since the very beginning. I could not and did not exist without you. You are the other half of me in every way. My beautiful reflection staring straight back at me. You are my soul, my heart, my best friend, my husband, my strength, my hope, before anything else I serve you. I am so in love with you. Australia is waiting and so are we. To infinity and beyond my beautiful KING. EVIE AND TOME 4 EVER N ALWAYS.

XERISCAPEE: We moved here from Michigan two years ago and have been thinking about how to landscape with half the annual precip. Timely article. Much thanks!

RIVER RUN: You: grey shirt, red shorts. Me: huffing and puffing up Trail 25. Thanks for pacing us up the hill! I don't know what helped more: the conversation or the fine view. Hit me up on Strava — we should go do some more Type 2 fun together.

HIGHER: In the garden. As Adam, you didn't answer when your name was called. Did you wander off in shame? Shed that. The Master who created that Lilac Majesty and pine-filled Northern Lights Sky, has taken that. He is higher. Hold your head up. Not that you are worthy, but by grace. Take it in like Spring rained flowers wafting. We are more precious than even those miraculous blessings, beautifying the evenings. Believe that. Do you know why you doubt? The answer isn't a secret. Like that garden, it is a free gift to all.

CHEERS

RE: DEVELOPMENT: Spokane, what's the difference between a developer and a preservationist? A preservationist built his home last year. A developer wants to build his home this year! CHEERS!

TO THE DOG ON ALTAMONT/HARTSON: I don't know what breed you are, but you're honestly the most beautiful dog I've ever seen! Brindle/striped, well muscled, wagging tail... thanks for giving us some barks of encouragement when we were running up the hill.

MADE OUR DAY: To the mom at the Barrelhouse Pizza in Cheney on Saturday ... We "made your day"? This group of five recumbent cyclists from Spokane Valley gotta say YOU made our day ... Seriously? You paid our tab? ... Wowzers ... Thank you! And a happy birthday to your daughter. A fun day indeed!

JEERS

SKIP THE CIRCUS: Things are getting real, fast. The genocide in Gaza is absolutely atrocious, even so, don't let your despair about it keep you from voting for president this fall. An absent vote in protest is sadly a vote for the Orange clown show to usher back around. And this time the he will not hold back his lunacy, as only yes men and women with fake brains will get a seat at the table, bending the ear. There are less ticket holders to the circus than not, so please consider other meaningful protest and don't waste your Votes this fall! The world is watching.

SPOKANE MAYOR DELAYS SAFETY LEVY: Oh Lisa, you rascal. Didn't think this one through before you threatened your constituents with losing police and fire response. Now you want to walk it back. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the school bond I'm sure will be on the ballot in August. People stop giving these "public servants" blank checks to squander on their pet projects while schools fail and roads crumble. Tell them the 300% property tax assessment of the past 5 or 6 years is enough. Cut the bureaucracy and do what you're supposed to do "public servants.

WHAT!?!? MAGA Postmaster General had 23 high speed letter sorting machines dismantled in 2020 in Washington state. Now he wants to send mail from Missoula, Montana, 200 miles west to be sorted in Spokane. I hope the letters are put on a truck so they can deadhead back the 200 miles. The guy has a $40 billion budget and is hellbent on destroying the Post Office so it can be privatized.

RANDOM THOUGHT: George Gipp: "Some time, Rock... when the team is up against it, when things are wrong, and the breaks are beating the 'boys. Tell them to go in there with all they've got, and win just one for the Gipper. (I don't know where I'll be then, Rock — but I'll know about it, and I'll be happy.)" As I watched the classic-stud game... denial, then I became angry-muted: bargaining, I now suffer. He left? WHY!? It didn't seem right... so young with all that vigor!! Again, and again: real hard, the lives of Knute Rocknesque legends.

UNEARNED OUTRAGE AND FAKE EMPATHY: To all the precious "protesters" longing for 15 seconds of fame on the nightly news, parroting the woke slogans about "oppression" and "colonization" they read on Instagram — just fold up your REI tents and go home to the parents paying for your college educations. Over the summer, maybe read an actual history book about Hamas, and learn what Hamas intends for Jewish people. Your phony outrage and ersatz empathy for people you know nothing about fuels more violent anti-Semitism and gives credence to the MAGA claim that universities are just expensive day care centers for the spoiled children of elites.

JEERS TO COEUR D'ALENE AGAIN: Jeers to not holding the high school student accountable for what he thought was "funny." You should have hauled his as* off to jail even though he probably wouldn't have stayed there. What a sick world these kids live in. As far as mommy & daddy teaching him a lesson — they probably were patting him on the back for being so "funny." Sick & shameful.

COWARDLY DOG OWNER: To the cowardly old white man at the Harvard Road trailhead in Liberty Lake on Sunday with two big brown dogs off leash, you weren't supervising your dogs and they were approaching us and our two small dogs on the rocky beach. Karma will find you for keying my car and breaking the tailight after my boyfriend asked you to call off and leash your dogs. Real tough guy, I bet you make your family proud.

DEADBEAT CITY: I'm not surprised at all by Spokane's budgetary shortfall. The house flippers / investors dodge taxes and fudge the numbers to their advantage. Churches are off the hook when it comes to property tax. Many drivers don't bother with license tabs anymore. Instead of raising property tax, maybe go after the people defrauding the system. Oh, and investigate the previous admin's misuse of funds. That's a good start. ♦