The Great Minnesota Get Together

The event that means summer is almost over. 10 days of Livestock, rides, fried food & "Live From The Fair" news casts, and of course all you can drink milk for $1! I love it. It is quintessentially Minnesota.















xoxx

It has been three weeks exactly since The Bridge.
Oddly, it has been a repellant for me. I haven't wanted anything to do with it or be anywhere near it. Handsome Randy and I were en route to our house a couple of days ago & he went the longest way just so we could drive near the it. My stomach turned as we drove over an overpass and saw the buckled concrete in the distance. Really, truly turned.
But he can't stay away. He has been home for just over a week and has probably gone to the area 7 or 8 or six times. A few minutes ago I called him & he was on his way there again. "I have a few minutes to kill, so I thought i'd head down there." I don't get it.
The thought of going there has made me wanna throw up. The carnage, the lives lost and altered, the horror we all felt that day.And it just hits a little too close. I drove over that bridge maybe 30 minutes before it went down. Had HR not been in town it would have been later. I drove over that bridge all the time. 4+ days a week.
Early this morning the last body was pulled from the wreckage. This means that the nearby bridges will be opening up soon. Bridge #9 is a pedestrian bridge quite close to the site. HR and I rode our bikes down there this afternoon. I intitially was a bit wobbly as made our way across. I just didn't want to see it. But then as I looked over it wasn't so hard, I grew fascintated and snapped some photos. I grew teary as I thought of our friend who was injured and of those who lost people they love.
We stood there and stared quietly. About 20 others were on bridge #9 with us & when word were spoken they seemed to be in hushed tones.
shh, we have to be quiet.
After a while a man approached us naming an intersection near our house asking if we lived there. He was a somalian immigrant who owns the gas station at that intersection and recognized us from getting gas there. We talked about our friend, he talked about his friend who lost his wife, their 22 month old daughter and a baby that was expected to arrive in coming months. He pointed out how ironic it was that his friend's wife came to Minneapolis from an impoverished war torn country having survived a bloody, violent time only to die in a bridge collapse in the world's wealthiest country.

tonight's event.

i am sitting in my dining room in the dark. All of the windows are open letting in the sound of water falling hard, flashes of light flood the room erratically and loud pops shake the house.
There is an amazing thunderstorm passing through and I am savoring every moment of it.
Lightning flashes at least 40 times per minute and the rumbling of thunder is constant with crashes that make me jump everytime. The wind is strong and the rain is heavy. Car alarms are going off from vibrations. People shreik as they run through the storm to their houses. Cars swish through the streets as they slowly drive to their destinations. Our porch door is blown shut and the hanging plant & birdfeeder are swaying back and forth fast and furious.
oh, how i love it.
I turn on the television. "SEVERE WEATHER" flashes on the screen menacingly. The weatherman speaks of flash floods and funnel clouds. Meanwhile the crashes and flashes continue outside as the rain continues to pour. I hole up on the sofa to watch and listen as the storm reminds my city that mother nature still rules all. I am mesmerized.
The rain stops, only the drip drip drip from the gutters can be heard. There are still some flickerings and low rumblings as the storm moves on. Sirens whirl in the distance and the crickets are chirping again. she has left us.
Neighbors are milling about surveying the aftermath of the storm. We greet each other knowingly and proudly. We are proud of our weather and we know it's amazing.
xoxx

four oh in phoenix

handsome randy turned 40 on friday, august 10 and he was (& still is) on the road. when we realized that this would be the case a couple of months back, I decided to make a little trip to whereever he would be for the day to surprise him for the big four oh. our friend murs, who is the organizer of the Paid Dues and is on the tour was co-conspirator. he hooked me up with a ride from the airport to the venue & was just overall pretty great in helping me make it happen.
i arrived at the venue shortly after the tour did & murs brought me to randy in the midst of setting everything up. I ran up behind him & said, "Hey, Happy Birthday!". He looked shocked and asked what I was doing, "Well, it's your birthday so I decided to come & wish you a happy one in person." we kissed. we hugged. we kissed again & then I went to the tour bus to hang out while he worked. I hung around & watched the show taking photos and visiting our friends who he's on the road with.
We ended the day with a little birthday song with everyone on the tour and some nice cake from Sarah Jane's Bakery in Northeast Minneapolis. We said goodbye and I took a little nap before jumping on a plane to head back to minneapolis.
a good day was had by all.
xoxx

reunited with the PNW

Last week I spent a few days back in my college home of the Pacific Northwest. I have been back to the PNW probably 5 or 6 times since I moved back to Minneapolis in 2001. But this time was a bit different as I saw so many people that I had not seen in years and in some cases, met their children. I counted: I saw 24 people that I had not seen in 6 years. 6 years! how crazy and for the most part, after the intial "So, what have you been up to?", I really felt as though no time had passed. that is true friendship.

jason, jason & ted.
3 staples in my social circle
through out college.


Amelia is the new little daughter of my friend, nora.










Meet Rowan, Meg & Peter's son.



This is Erik. Erik is now a professional eater.


more to come!
xoxx

the day bridge went down.

a major bridge in my city collapsed yesterday.
i'm okay - i wasn't on the bridge though I had driven over it 30 minutes before it fell. I drive over it all the time, probably 5 or 6 times a week. it's crazy and sad and mystifiing and frustrating and leaves you feeling raw. right now i feel really raw.
I'd just walked into First Avenue (the music club/venue) to see the Paid Dues Festival when Randy approached me and said "BK just left; julie was on a bridge that collapsed." what? He didn't know anything more.
Brother Ali was set to go on momentarily but wasn't going to since his DJ (BK) had just left to see to his fiance (Julie). I stepped outside to make a phone call and the phone lines were jammed. Still unaware of the perpensity of the bridge collapse I thought nothing of it and hit redial. Then I overheard it: The 35W bridge over the mississippi collapsed into the river. I immediately thought of Julie and imagined her swimming in the river to shore. I imagined a titanic like scene of hundreds of people in the water screaming for help. I imagined many cars floating in the river as they gradually succumbed to the water. I felt frantic. And I didn't even calculate in all of the steele and concrete and sharp materials bridges are made from.
I called my dad, "I'm okay, but there has been a bridge collapse here. Would you turn on CNN and tell me what's going on?" From Kansas City, for about 20 minutes my dad recounted to me what CNN was reporting. Between "OH MY GODs" he noted a school bus that somehow didn't go over. Little did I know that was the bus Julie was on.
I finished the call with my dad & went back into the club to find randy. I got word that he was on his way to the hospital with Ali. I walked to the lightrail & got on en route to the hospital. At this point I had no idea of Julie's condition, I only knew that she was on the bridge. she was all I was thinking about.
Through out this time I received several mass text messages from friends asking, "Everyone Ok?", 2 of my aunts called, so did my cousin and my mom's boyfriend. By the time I got to my stop I recieved a message from randy that he was back at the club. Julie was injured but slated to be OK. I got off the lightrail anyway & stood there unsure what to do. I could go left and go to the hopsital or I could go right & see the bridge. This is also the stop for the Metrodome & was it was a Twins game night. hundreds of fans stood around in a daze seeming as unsure as I was.
I headed for the bridge. I got about half way there & decided I really wanted to be with Randy so I went back to the club. I got there in time to kiss him and wish him a good set as he left for the soundboard to engineer sets for Living Legends & Felt. I sat in the green room with my friend, Jessie feeling antsy and weird. I wanted to see the bridge.
So I got back on the lightrail. By the time I reached the banks of the mississippi dusk was upon us. The light outside was this amazing orange, giving the feeling that the entire city was under an amber spotlight. The pedestrian only Stone Arch Bridge was closed and so was River Road which goes beneath the bridge. I stood on the bank of the river squinting to see. My Uncle Chris phoned me around this time. He was watching CNN. He told me what he was seeing on television and I told him what I was seeing in person. I couldn't see much & felt a bit relieved of that. There were people everywhere squinting in the direction of the bridge and talking, exchanging tales of where they were when they heard of the collapse and if they knew anyone who was on it. A handful of people had super dooper zoom lenses on their cameras and were shooting like crazy.
I only stayed at the river for about 10 minutes. Then I went back to the club arriving in time to see the last half of Felt's set.
As I stood there watching the show I thought about how normal it seemed in the room, as though nothing was different in our city. I knew the moment the show ended it would all be real again. Slug introduced the last song warning the audience that it would feel weird "out there" and to be sensitive to everyone's reaction when we left the show. I mentally hugged him for that aknowledgement.
The set was over and reality began. When randy & I got home we layed in our bed & watched CNN in disbelief of not only the event but how it was indeed world news. I cried, we held hands & sat silently watching the media coverage.
I don't really know how to end this post. I feel as though I should express some sort of reflection, but I don't have any; I'm just really exhausted and raw.
xoxx