Adventures in a Far-Away Land

On November 1st, my mom, Maya, Eder, Ben, Aaron and I flew to Maryland for my sister's 50th birthday celebration and my 55th. Looking back on it, we were such babes in the woods, no idea what lay ahead of us. Had any of us known that Ben was going to be sick the entire time and never want to be set down, would we have done anything differently? Would we have brought along tranquilizers (for ourselves)? Had we known how grueling it is to travel by airplane these days, would we have stayed home? (No!) Well, we didn't know any better and we jumped on that plane and flew and flew and flew. It's a danged long ways from Oregon to Maryland. No wonder my sister balks when we ask her to come visit us.

Many months ago my sis, known to the family as Kissy, announced that we would all be joining her for a big hoe-down on her 50th--no regrets permitted--just be there. It had been a long time since our family, small as it is, had all been together. Not since Maya and Eder's wedding in May of 2003. So this was the closest to a family reunion as we were likely to ever have. Courtney has been making the trek back and forth to Morro Bay so much lately that he opted out of this trip and stayed home with Sasha cat and the blue jays and squirrels. (Someone had to defend the fort.)

My sister, her husband Paul, and their son Matthew live in Columbia, MD, between Baltimore and Washington, DC. Paul's dad Art lives in the downstairs of their house. Kissy's son Justin lives in Baltimore. Lucas, Kissy's oldest son, pictured above, presenting me with the collage he made for my birthday, flew in from College Station, Texas. That's our family.

We arrived on Thursday and on Friday night my sister put on dinner party for 20. It was my birthday and the birthday of two of her close friends. What struck me the most that night was that my sis has a full and rich life. I have been following her blog and hearing her stories for years about the community of friends she and Paul have built around themselves in the 10 years they've lived in Maryland. That Friday night was an opportunity to peek into that close-knit community.




On Saturday Paul took Maya and Eder, Aaron and Matthew, and Lucas and Justin into Washington, DC, for a tour of the capitol. (In photo above is Justin, Matt and Paul.) I have my total attitude about Wash, DC, so didn't feel a need to go. But more importantly it was a chance for the guys (and Maya) to get out together and do something fun. Mom, Kissy and I took care of Ben--as best we could. He would only let me hold him and I had to keep moving, jiggling and consoling. He would drift off from time to time and I could sit down and hold him while he slept. Then, usually because he was so congested and trying to breathe, he'd wake himself up and we'd start pacing and jiggling again. Poor Benny, poor my back, poor Kissy, who so desperately wanted to be able to hold Benny and love on him, but he was not having any of that!




Meanwhile, here's the Gang of Four at the site of oh so many protests. Lucky lucky lucky we were that the weather was beautiful the whole time, and the next day my sis loaded up me, Mom, Maya and Ben, Aaron and Matt and off we went to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. Kissy's best buddy and business partner Janine had loaned her giant SUV (fondly named The Global Warmer) to Kissy. So she packed us in there like the Brady Bunch, complete with carseat and stroller--we were in the lap of luxury. (Sorry, Earth!)

Monday night, before we flew out Tuesday afternoon, was Kissy's birthday party. I'm still waiting and hoping for photos of it. We had a couple of oooops--forgot to take Maya's camera to the party and Kissy's didn't work. Hopefully Kissy's friend Hope, who so wisely brought her camera to the party, will be able to supply us with some good shots and I'll blog again to finish this story.

Until then, I'll just say that being in my sister's house is like a trip to a faraway land, full of fancy and fantasy and memories. I don't know how to describe it, and I'm still waiting for more of my photos (taken on Maya's camera) to make their way into my computer. So that will be yet another blog story. Suffice to say, wherever you look in Kissy's house, there's something to see--not something boring, but something unique, creative, fun. In the little room I stayed in, my favorite little companion was this one below. Sorry she's a little blurry (in real life she's not). Anyway, hopefully the rest of Kissy House photos will be in focus and somehow help me

give an accurate portrayal.



But, until then, I want to post this as the first of a series on our Travels in a Far-Away Land. As photos allow I'll hopefully finish this story before it's so far in the past that my memory fails me. That doesn't take long these days.

Happy trails until then,

Valori

A Tribute To Clancy

On October 20th Courtney's dad Clancy passed away. He was 94 years old, which says alot right there. As John Robbins said in his book Healthy At 100, people who live to a ripe old age are generally pretty healthy. Clancy was far more than that--he was vital, energetic, enthused about life. At 92 he gave up golfing (and driving his golf cart over to the club for 18 holes and a couple of beers) and took up gardening. He had a flower bed put in on the top of a retaining wall so he didn't have to stoop over to garden. He was passionate about it, and would only come inside to rest a while and catch his breath. Then he was back out to his garden.





Clancy is pictured below with his wife Kay in their home in Morro Bay, CA. What a handsome couple. They married when Clancy was 79.





I think it was about the same time that he gave up golfing when he also quit driving his car and took up riding around on the scooter pictured below. Originally it was going to be used for him to go to the bottom of their driveway and get the mail. Next thing we heard he was riding it down to the bank and grocery store. A couple of times he admitted to Courtney that he'd taken a direct route off the curb and onto the street, but never injured himself and seems undaunted by near-misses. He was quite the guy.





Below, the picture of the three of us, was taken from in front of their house. You can see what a fabulous view they had of the bay. The town of Morro Bay is a designated bird sanctuary, and one of Clancy and Kay's favorite past-times was watching birds, including the many that came to Clancy's bird feeders.




Clancy was one of those people who's quick with a smile and a story and a joke. He loved people. He enjoyed life. It doesn't get much better than that. He was just almost fully-functioning until about 10 days before he died. Then he told Courtney's sister Nancy that he was tired and just wanted to sleep. Hearing that, she went into action and alerted the siblings that it was time to come tell their dad good-bye. Courtney took the train down and spent a few precious days with his dad and then came home. His dad died a day after he left.




To the very end Clancy retained his joie-de-vivre and his great sense of humor. He even confided in Courtney that he was a little excited about seeing what's waiting on the other side.

Courtney knows what a good role model he's had in this life. And I think many of us who knew Clancy feel inspired to live our lives more fully, appreciate and enjoy our lives more, because of the example Clancy set for us.

As George Sand said, "There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved." Clancy had a happy life in that way and will be missed.

Valori