Good morning ... a bit of a hiatus but that's to be expected as the transition continues at my workplace. And we lost two fine mothers this week ... both of whom I knew well. One was my President's mom and the other equally kind lady was mother to the husband of one of my best friends. No matter what the age of the mother ... or the "child" ... it's always too soon to say goodbye to those who loved us best and the longest.
But this post will focus on the family line that runs in the other direction ... toward our children and, if we're lucky (or live long enough!), our grandchildren.
I thought when I earned my J.D., that calling myself an attorney was "the" title ... and then "vice-president" and then "executive vice-president." But all of that was mere window dressing for the main event: being a grandmother. I'm Nonna to Rory and GeeCee to Sabrina. (GeeCee is the shortened form of Grandma Christine ... which is, you have to admit, quite the mouthful!)
But ... as Shakespeare said so well (or meant to say) .. A rose by any other name ... is still a grandmother. So I hope that grandmother will be the title that I wear the most proudly for the "rest of my career." Of course there is still the mom, wife, friend ... but my focus is likely to be grandmother because, let's face it, there is no better truth than "if I knew that grandchildren were going to be so much fun, I would have had them first."
This upcoming Saturday I plan on winning the grandmother award for ... the day! I will get up early ... Rob will drive me to Omaha ... where I will board a direct (and inexpensive) nonstop to Dallas. When I disembark, I will be greeted by Becky and Sabrina ... whereupon we will throw my bag into the CRV and head north ... pit stop at the house ... but north to Lincoln!! Yes, you read that right. We will go as far as Wichita on Saturday and then burn into Lincoln on Sunday in time for a leisurely trip to the pool for Sabrina Fair.
Why ... you ask? Because it is FUN! We've done this before ... the girls' trips start early at our house. And there is no better traveling companion that Sabrina ... as Becky chauffeurs us across country and we watch movies, read books, play games, and giggle. I believe ... and those naysayers among you should shush ... :) that Sabrina and I are bonding for a lifetime of being grandmother and granddaughter.
Once the "girls" arrive in Lincoln, Becky & Sabrina will continue their journey northward to Sioux Falls, where she will catch up with her dad and with the great-grandmother ... my mom. At the end of August, my mom will be 88 ... and the weekend is filled with parties and dinners to help her celebrate the super 8's. We are so glad that Becky, Sabrina ... and Brian, who will join us from his work in Chicago ... will be part of those festivities!!
We just returned from a four-day stay in the Rocky Mountains ... at our own private resort, aka our friends' mountaintop perch. No matter how full our days and nights are when we are there ... we come home refreshed and ready to take on the problems of the world. Interestingly, each visit brings with it a new set of challenges regarding breathing but our friends are at 8,000 feet (with a tremendous view of Mount Evans). We don't yet require oxygen (ha) but Rob did suggest that a really great host would have some available for the flatlander visitors!
We try to earn our keep while we are there ... cooking at least one meal. This time we made one meal, one brunch, and also "brought dinner with us" ... courtesy of lasagna from our friend Mauro. (Our friend John now wants us to figure out how to overnight the food to them! He is also retired and is chief cook and bottle washer.)
So with minimum output, either financial or physical, we have magnificent views and equally good wine. Sitting on the deck(s) requires a book in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Or feet up on the ottoman and excellent conversations among the four of us, covering a gamut of topics from ... where do we next travel ... to when did we get so old! John and I have been friends since our mid-20's ... so we know of what we speak.
When we come down from the mountain, we have a set routine ... a nice dinner, generally Italian, a stop at Applejack's (for the best wine selection anywhere), a trip to the Denver Art Museum, and a movie. No certain order among those ... but the one inviolate stop is Applejack's. Since we buy wine to last 6 plus months, our bill breaks four digits easily. Each time, the owner mysteriously appears and shakes our hands! This time it was much more impressive than a handshake. Two (of the five) cases of wine that we were seeking were out of stock ... although the information desk showed that two cases should be "somewhere." The owner happened by as we were discussing this with the checkout clerk ... and stopped to see what he could do. When I explained the problem (and the response previously had been ... 5 days to get a special order to Applejack's), he said, "Can you come back tomorrow? We'll have it to you by then." Later that afternoon, I received the call ... all was ready for us. As Rob pointed out, when "Big Al" calls, the distributor likely loaded the two cases into his personal car and drove it over posthaste. Now that's what I call service. Plus it makes for such a great story.
So ... here's looking at you, kid ... cheers, cin-cin, salud/salute, prost/proost, sante, skoal and all of that.
PS ... Although Colorado is considering changing their state song ... I hope that they never do ... because John Denver's song is quintessential Colorado to me. :)
If you don't need know the singer Eva Cassidy, dial up iTunes and listen. You may have heard her already ... if you remember the 2002 Olympics, where Michelle Kwan was supposed to win the gold. She did not ... but later she skated to Fields of Gold ... sung by Eva ... during the exhibition skate.
My Fields of Gold aren't as graceful or memorable as Michelle's ... but they are golden nonetheless. As for graceful ... well, we won't even go there, given the number of spectacular falls that I've taken throughout my professional and personal life. As for memorable ... the professional memories are varied and meaningful to me. The personal memories continue to be made ... now via the eyes of the newest generation: my grandchildren. This blog isn't about memories however ... but about music. I cut my teeth on C/W songs ... I mean, the old-timey, big-haired, nasal-yodeling C/W songs ... Patsy Cline and others. That was my dad's influence. My mom brought "rock" into the house via the songs of Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. I remember driving to Drake Springs pool when I was 9 or 10 years old ... with my mom singing along to Wake Up, Little Susie ... for our little Suzie in the (seatbelt-less) backseat! I came of age with the Beatles ... and could sing you all the verses of Norwegian Wood, no problem. But by today ... well, categorizing my music as eclectic is the kindest description possible. I'm so influenced by those that I love . .. from Raul Julia/Boz Scaggs (Suzie) to Chris Izaak/Garth Brooks/Michael Buble (Cathy/Mark) to Van Morrison (Nathan) to Peter Gabriel (Becky). And so I leave you with Eva ... and Michelle ... and Fields of Gold!
PS ... If you enjoyed Eva's singing ... I would recommend her CD "Songbird." Her songs are limited ... Eva Cassidy died at age 33 in 1996. The world truly did lose a songbird.
When I retire (my but that feels good to say) ... traveling will be ratcheted up a notch at our house. There are those among you who would say ... but you're already traveling at the speed of sound. And it is true ... the travel gods, and a couple of understanding bosses, have looked kindly on me so that I could spend time with Rob in England (months at a time for 2 special trips) and a semester at the University of Alabama (also a treasured memory). But ... next year there will be more in-depth trips, including Vermont, Texas, the coast of Maine ... and the Rhine River's Christmas markets.
But if none of those trips come to fruition ... I will have two travel memories to treasure always.
The first was racing across the frozen tundra near North Pole, Alaska (at Christmas ... of course) for the perfect vantage point to catch the Northern Lights cascading around us. Rob had wanted to see the Northern Lights all of his life ... and I had learned from him how unlikely it was that we would ever experience it. But experience it we did ... and it was mystical ...
The second was driving to the standing stones in England ... better known as Stonehenge ... on All Hallow's Eve. As we stood outside the circle of stones, with the wind blowing through my hair, I could nearly see those who celebrated there thousands of years ago.
Both of these memories are made more remarkable in that they were in the company of our children ... Nathan (and Kristen) "arranged" the Aurora Borealis for us during one of the Christmases spent at North Pole. And Becky, as much of an Anglophile as her mom, stood next to me on our visit to Stonehenge. Nearly a decade later, we returned with my mom, Becky and her husband Brian to England ... and enjoyed Stonehenge again ... but nothing can replace the memory of being there on an All Hallow's Eve.
But not all travel memories require journeys of a thousand miles. Sometimes traveling to a friend's house for a cup of tea is all that is required ... so what are your best travel moments?
If there are Brownies or Girl Scouts in your past, you probably sang many songs about friendship around the campfire ... but "Make new friends but keep the old" resonated me this week as one of my dear friends from my "coming of age" years in high school paid us an overnight visit. She and a friend had been to the Black Hills and were willing to drive back to Wisconsin via Nebraska if they could stop and see us. The answer was ... of course!!
Rob has accused me on occasion of never letting go of any friends. So not true ... too many have been "forgotten" somewhere along the way. But no, I haven't parted with any of my true friends ... whether they were childhood, high school, work, young married/old married/first married/second married ... or couldn't-be-categorized but lovely friends!
This blog, however, is about old friends ... the ones that remind us of who we were and who, hopefully, see us as better than we were. I often wish, though, that I could step into the mind of an old friend who hasn't seen me in many a year. When I was in my early 40's, I saw an old friend from high school for the first time since graduation. When she came to my door, I thought ... why is Claudia's MOM coming to see me? (And remember ... we were in our 40's ... not 60's!) Ha. So I would imagine that my face has prompted a few of those comments, too. (Although I will include herewith a picture of my mom and me ... and I can tell the difference. But perhaps I need to find one of my mom in her 60's ... okay, you got me there!)
Returning to the topic of hand ... old friends. My friend Debby ... the center of many a high school fun-packed evening ... arrived at our house and within the welcoming hug and kiss, we were right back to where we started ... laughing at the silliest of things and sharing stories both past and present. For the sake of brevity (yeah, like that's every been a consideration), I will only share a couple of the best stories. But I would like to add ... that all of our evenings were like this ... plain good old-fashioned fun. We've added wine to our evenings now ... but we still had a ton'o'fun! Here's to the memories of:
Packing her VW Bug full of guys and driving around the K-Mart (now the Hy-Vee) parking lot, hoping to make the Guinness Book of Records. Without blogging or Facebook to help us memorialize such events, our best recollection is ... I was in the very back (not the back seat but the tiny little space behind the back seat) complete with two guys; then four more in the back seat; and, four in the front seat. Plus a few wild and crazy guys who would get half of their body into the Bug once the car took off ... so best guess: 11 to 14.
Driving her VW Bug around town on a cold December day ... feeling like we had the world on a string. We would stand up while driving (yes, she had a sun roof) to sing along with Simon and Garfunkel's "I'm a Rock."
Thanks for all the great memories, Deb, Marsha, Connie, Georgia, Claudia, Mary, Cathie ... and thanks for being my friends for so long and for so well!
And here's to my mom ... whom my friends always adored even when I was in my eye-rolling, "Mother ... really" stage!
