I returned to Portland, OR after spending a month with my family in Indiana...its been a month of reflection and getting reconnected with my roots. It was the longest I have spent in Indiana for over 7 years...I am proud to say that my dad and I survived each other's quirks and will continue to work together on moving forward. The support we received from family and friends was like a hand from the heavens that reached out to carry us through this emotional roller coaster ride. Thank you all for being there...Below are a few stories (with pictures of course) that I wanted to share about my first weekend back...(picture at left: Multnomah Falls)Upon returning to Portland, I dove right back into my life and reconnected with Shane, my 
mentee through Portland Impact. Shane and I have been meeting since July 2006, but have not been able to meet consistently over the last few months. Shane had a 7th grade basketball game on Saturday and his team was down by 19 points at the half...their coach sat them down and said, "We can come back! Just listen to what I have to say and we can do this..." Their defense came to life...they smothered the ball with their Red Rover 55 defense and got back into the game...they tied it up with 13 seconds left, but ended up losing on a last second shot by the opposing team's rock star point guard. Shane was disappointed about losing the game, but I reminded him how well the team played together to come back from such a large deficit...as any 12 year old would react, he was still bummed out about the loss (picture at right: Shane # 14 and his team getting a pep talk from their coach).
mentee through Portland Impact. Shane and I have been meeting since July 2006, but have not been able to meet consistently over the last few months. Shane had a 7th grade basketball game on Saturday and his team was down by 19 points at the half...their coach sat them down and said, "We can come back! Just listen to what I have to say and we can do this..." Their defense came to life...they smothered the ball with their Red Rover 55 defense and got back into the game...they tied it up with 13 seconds left, but ended up losing on a last second shot by the opposing team's rock star point guard. Shane was disappointed about losing the game, but I reminded him how well the team played together to come back from such a large deficit...as any 12 year old would react, he was still bummed out about the loss (picture at right: Shane # 14 and his team getting a pep talk from their coach). 
I also reconnected with nature...something I am very passionate about. Trailmaster Papp is back! My good buddy Chris and I decided to hike up Hamilton Mountain on the Washington state side of the Columbia River Gorge...an 8 mile round trip hike covering 2.000 feet in elev. gain...it started out with gail force winds, then quickly became a winter wonderland of ice 
and snow and more snow...the summit greeted us with views of Mt. Adams and the tip of Mt. Hood. After the hike we drove to Multnomah Falls to take in the ever changing view of this 600+ foot icon of the Columbia River Gorge...that and we had some hot chocolate to warm our bones from the chilling hiking adventure (picture left: icicles along the trail / picture right: top of Hamilton Mtn w/ Table Mountain and Mt. Adams in background).2008 will be a year of connections...nurturing existing relationships with family and friends, building new ones and finding ways to contribute to the betterment of my community. I wish you all a healthy and happy 2008!
