Thanks for the memories

One advantage of getting older is having a lot more memories than the young. You may not know who these folks are, but I remember them all well and in 2008 we had to say goodbye. I'd like to say thank you to the following folks who lived long upon the earth and who made it a better place. You made me laugh or cry or raised my hopes and dreams:
Thanks to:
Michael Crichton for bringing dinosaurs to life
Tony Hillerman for introducing us to the Navaho world
Edie Adams for creating some of the silliest TV and movies ever
Bill Melendez for the Peanuts Christmas special
Phil Hill for being a hero to my Michael
Louis Teicher for thrilling piano music
Jo Stafford for Louisiana songs
George Carlin for weather reports
Sydney Pollack for the way we were
Dick Martin for the Farkle family
Kermit Love for designing Big Bird
Tasha Tudor for making precious books that my children loved
Cyd Charisse for other-worldly dancing
Bo Diddley for the beat
Yves St. Laurent for making women look beautiful
Mel Ferrer for making Toulouse Lautrec live
Suzanne Pleshette for believably putting up with Bob Newhart
John Stewart for one third of the Kingston Trio's music
Paul Scofield for brilliant acting
Aime Cesaire for creating poetry that lifted a whole continent
Paul Newman for lots and lots of reasons
and
Edmund Hillary for redefining what mankind can achieve.

Old acquaintance isn't forgotten.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is what sixty years of happy marriage look like. This is a picture of my folks just days before their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

Since I arrived only one day before Thanksgiving, I didn't try to put on a whole Thanksgiving dinner. We went to a potluck at church instead. What with cool Hispanic music and a turkey named Steve, we had a wonderful time. I took ten pounds of mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. We even got to take home leftovers. I spent all day yesterday decorating. It's just the two of us but discipline must be maintained. The tree is up and we have a bay window to put it in and for the first time ever, I have a banister to decorate. It looks nice, I think. We spent a cozy evening last night. Michael set up his train around the tree and then we watched one of our old favorites, Bachelor Mother, with David Niven and Ginger Rogers. Pretty nice. Both Christmas movies we have watched so far were set in New York City. We keep looking at ourselves saying, "We could go there and see Radio City Music Hall, Gimbel's, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, etc." I hope we get the chance. If not this year, then maybe next. It's totally weird living so close to those mythic places.

Back home

I'm back home arriving one week and a day later than planned. I spent most of my birthday yesterday in planes and airports. The couple we invited over for Thanksgiving dinner has had to punt and we will be joining them at a Thanksgiving dinner at church. I'll be making ten pounds of mashed potatoes. Not exactly what I had planned but that's okay. My mom is back at home and doing well and that's the most important thing.

Thanksgiving is a great time to send out a few thank yous. I must say thank you to Michael, my parents and my children for knowing me so well that they all gave me perfect presents this year. And to my brothers, I also say thank you for all the support, love and laughs this week. I can't imagine being an only child after this experience. We needed each other and our parents needed each of us.

An amazing surprise was all the birthday wishes from my students and friends on Facebook. I appreciate all those thoughts as well.

Michael and I both knew that this move would mean that I would need to return to Shreveport often and so it has worked out. As I'm watching snow fly past my window, it's hard to believe that I was where the camellias are blooming just yesterday. But as lovely as all those 70 degree sunshiny days and gorgeous flowers were, this is now home and I'm glad to be back.

My mom

The whole purpose of this blog (in my mind, at least) is to record for future generations (haha) my life-changing move to Pennsylvania. One of the hardest wrenches was leaving mom and dad behind as they are 89 and 87. My brothers and I planned a surprise for their sixtieth wedding anniversary this coming week. The parents were going on a cruise so we surprised them a week early. It was going to be a cool surprise with all three of us showing up together until mom went into the hospital. One brother had to come early, the other brother came a little early and I finally got picked up at the airport. My arrival and the second brother's arrival were good surprises. But not as cool as the original plan. But then the morning of my flight back to PA, mom got sick again and I'm still here. I didn't want to blog about it until I had good news but I think she's finally around the bend. I don't know when she's coming home but the extensive surgery that was threatened hasn't happened and looks like it's not going to happen at this point. It's been a long week for the whole family.

What I feared when I moved up to PA was that my parents would need me and I would have trouble getting back home. In fact, I've just happened to be here when first dad then mom had a problem and I stayed to help. I have told mom and dad that I won't be flying down any more because every time I do, one of them goes into the hospital. Maybe I'll drive but flying to S'port seems to be bad karma. Just kidding of course. I'm very glad that I'm here but I have fretted some about the things left undone in PA. This will be a test of my faith that all will work out for the best.

So many things about the move that I dreaded have turned out really well in spite of my worries. But my parents' need for me to be close has turned out to be a real problem. On the literally bright side, the weather has been so beautiful here with temps in the 70s and 80s and lots and lots of sunshine, that it's been hard to be too depressed about the situation. The camellias are blooming at the hospital garden and I've soaked up as many rays as I could. I wish I could take it home in a bottle the way Hermione Granger carries around her bluebell flames.

New grandbaby

I just got word that I have a new grandbaby girl born in the Czech Republic today. Mom and baby are fine. How exciting!

Best surprise ever

We had planned to surprise my parents with a visit from all of us (me and my twin brothers) with all of us just showing up on their doorstep at the same time this past Friday. This was to be an early surprise for their 60th wedding anniversary since they were going to be on a cruise for the actual day. But then Momma got sick and went into the hospital for a few days. So change of plans. K1 went early with his son and arrived on Wednesday, K2 and S arrived on Friday and surprised them. Then I arrived on Friday afternoon late and surprised them again. Momma said it was better this way because if we had all arrived together she would have cried. This way she was just really, really happy. We all went out to dinner on Friday night. Really cool. The amazing thing is that no one blew the surprise even though half of America knew we were doing it. Maybe a hundred people knew about the secret and yet no one let it slip. It was great fun. But the twins had such a good time telling "Dad" stories at the restaurant that he finally asked, "Is this a roast?" A good time was had by all.

What are the chances?

I called one of my doctor's offices in Denton for some medical records two days ago and the nice lady I talked to was from Wilkes-Barre. She wanted to be here since her sister was due any day. I wanted to be there since my mom has been in the hospital. What were the chances of talking to her that day?

Aren't human beings always like this? Wanting to be somewhere else, wishing they had more of this or less of that, worrying about things they can't do anything about? Unsatisfied would just about describe most people on most days.

But not being satisfied with the status quo is responsible for who knows how many scientific discoveries, social improvements and great works of art. Wishin' and hopin', thinkin' and prayin', plannin' and dreamin' are all important parts of life. But Dionne Warwick is right, you gotta go ahead and live in the present. If this move taught me anything, it's that the more you appreciate the "now" the happier you'll be.