In the spring, my little sister Cami told me about her summer plans and how she was hoping to visit us on a long weekend and see Portland for the first time. I said she should just live here for the summer instead. At the time I was sort of kidding… but we have an extra room so she is always welcome to stay here. Two days later Cami called and said, “I’m moving to Portland in 2 weeks!”
Since she wasn’t taking any summer classes Cami could work and live in Provo or she could work (with a higher wage) and live in Portland (with free living expenses) so… I think it was an easy choice : ) As soon as she got here we dubbed the season, “The Summer of Cami.”
Cami and I hadn’t lived together for 9 years and we are pretty different people so I thought, “this is going to be interesting!” But from day one both Lucas and I loved having her here with us.
Cami’s enthusiasm for life makes a lot of things more exciting because her reaction is so fun. Example: surprising her with decorations the morning of her birthday.
If you know Cami, you know she is incredibly social. After two weeks of being in Portland she had more friends than us and we’ve lived here for almost 5 years… She also got a job offer near our house in less than 24 hours of trying. It turns out that CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants I think…) are in high demand and Cami is a stellar CNA.
She helped us cook dinner, we helped her create a personal finance plan. She provided hours of entertainment from work stories (she was a CNA in a nursing/rehab facility), we provided a free place to stay, food to eat, and helped her buy a new laptop for school. She brought a never-ending load of enthusiasm and zest for life, we helped her navigate some personal relationships. Since all three of us were working full time while she was here and Cami’s social calendar was packed, we didn’t get to spend a ton of time together but we enjoyed the time we had.
Here are some of my favorite Cami statements from the summer… (I’m writing this 8 months after she moved out so I can only remember a few but there were TONS of gems)
- “I feel like I haven’t gotten a chance to really experience Portland yet. All I do is go to work!
- “Get lit! You know, it means to get energized or excited about something.”
- “I realized that something I need in my life is a place to flop when I get home from work. Your house doesn’t have any floppable places.”
- “I was asked to clip a resident’s nails at work so of course I did an incredible job! As a manicurist I couldn’t NOT do a good job.”
- After two weeks of working 40 hour weeks… “Working is exhausting! It’s like you can’t do anything but work in the day.”
We miss you and love you Cami!
