Catching up - Aunt Ruth

Friday was a memorial service for Aunt Ruth, Grandma and Pop's sister-in-law, who had passed away in April.  I drove up to Lancaster Pennsylvania, and joined David and Paula and Peter and Janet at the service.  At the gravesite, the minister asked if people wanted to share memories of Ruth, and there was not surprisingly consistency in her love for cards, positive persevering with health issues, and love for the Jersey shore.  Ruth's daugher, our cousin Debbie, her husband Rod and their daughers Sarah and Jennifer and husbands and son Parker all came up from Texas, and in between the services, we all had time to catch up after long periods apart.

 

Among the things we learned:

 

-- Ruth and her family went to the Jersey shore every year for over 35 years, a tradition Debbie hopes to pick up again next year.

-- Ruth loved kite-flying at the shore.  The crew went down to the shore Saturday to fly a kite in her memory.

Matthew and Tina have set a date for January 5 for their wedding in New York.  That will make it easy and a wodnerful excuse to extend Christmas vacation for everyone.

-- Ruth has a brother-in-law Willis who is 96, still drives, still plays tennis and says his secret is a glass of scotch every day.  I suspect there are other secrets to his good health.

-- Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob lived in their retirement community for over 20 years, longer than any place they ever lived.

-- Sean has finished his year and has a great summer internship with someone who has recently been appointed to the federal courts (awaiting confirmation.)  Amanda will be starting her graduate study at Syracuse in the fall.  Sean was going to have a delayed birthday party on Friday evening, since he couldn't celebrate earlier.  I think Joe was trying to go to the party, since he, too, finished his studies last week..

-- David is in his last days before retirement, and has started a project list.  First on his list was getting a NY state fishing license.  Off to a great start!

-- Peter and David have new cars!  Very different kinds of cars.  Peter thought he could fit his Fiat into the trunk of David's Avalon.

 

So, it was sad, but as the minister says, we tend to see each other as families at weddings and funerals. 

 

Mary was not able to come since she had been out four days the previous week due to her bout with bronchitis.  She feels a lot better now, but is still on heavy medication, for a few more weeks.  

 

Hope all the mothers had a great day.  We had brunch with Magaret and her friend Andrew, at a not-your-typical buffet restaurant.  The food was good, but the entertainment was a group of drag queens dancing around the restaurant.  Lots of laughter and smiles and some curious biological wonderment, as you can imagine.

 

Here's some news from Dundee, from Andrew:

 

"Daniel was confirmed May 6, and held himself up as a true gentleman. He also starred in a basketball tournament which had 9th graders pounding  on 8th graders (Daniel's team), but Daniel, with his size, took matters in his own hands. I told him, they give you five fouls for a reason, use them. And he did. Not many players went inside on him. Claire took the ACT for the first time on a trial run and scored a 29, hopefully giving her dad some money breaks. We'll see. She also was the main catalyst for her club volleyball team to sweep her last tournament. I was not there, but other parents let us know.  We hope you ARE ALL doing wonderfully! We LOVE YOU and miss you! See you soon ! Andrew"

 

I passed the one month-to-go mark for my brief return to work.  I am looking forward to the end and to moving up north this summer.  Mary, on the other hand, may be looking forward to summer vacation, but is sad about leaving her work situation.

 

Mary is taking classes, a computer class to learn all the ins and outs of Apple computers, and yoga and guitar.  I feel like such a slug.

 

We spoke with Annie these past two Sundays; she has bought her ticket home for July.  Yippee!

 

Hope you too have a yippee week.  Love from down here. 

 

 

 

 

May Days

Why does it seem that there is never enough news to report after one week, but too much after two weeks?

We start with a strange coincidence.  David posted on his Facebook page of a meeting with William Zinsser, a writer in New York City who he struck up a correspondence with.  So, in speaking with David, he mentioned that the meeting was Friday morning.  It turned out that I too was in NYC Friday, and then we discovered we were staying in hotels a couple of blocks away from each other.  How's that for communication!  

I had gone up to do some planning for a meeting in June of the Fulbright Scholarship Board, and David was on one of his last trips for business, with Paula joining.  And this may be David's last week at work, although he officially retires at the end of the month.  Congratulations!  I picked up some new vocabulary, as one of meetings was at MTV, where I heard two producers talk about putting together a "sizzle" for a reception we're hosting.  Hmmm.  I think I am ready to go out to pasture.

I had tried to get Mary to join me in NY but she wasn't feeling too well.  Turns out she has bronchitis and missed a couple of days of work.  She got some strong meds, but that didn't prevent her from getting short of breath and a Saturday evening spend in urgent care.  I am afraid I am one week behind Mary in this.  Trying to ward it off.

When we looked up bronchitis we came across a few sites on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which I wish I had seen last November:  "As COPD gets worse, you may be short of breath even when you do simple things like get dressed or fix a meal. It gets harder to eat or exercise, and breathing takes much more energy. People often lose weight and get weaker."  Back then I just wanted an explanation.  A little late.

Last weekend, we went to the Eastern shore in Maryland, as we are conscious of our limited time left down here.  We stayed in a town called Cambridge Maryland at a B&B, and it turned out the owners were Foreign Service, and he had worked on the Mexico desk when we were in Mexico.  Small world.  We had some nice meals, went to a Maritime museum where we learned about life and work in the Chesapeake region in the past century - racism, slavery, Underground Railroad, oyster dredging, yachting and a lot more.

  We hiked in the Blackwater Reserve and joined friends in Annapolis for a Kathy Mattea concert, all of which I am sure made Mary sicker.

News from Illinois is Claire tearing up the volleyball court, Daniel taller than Andrew now, and Myles almost walking!    Joe is in his final weeks of studying and grading papers.  Crunch time.  Annie did her taxes!  Margaret and I went out to lunch on Take Your Child to Work Day - figured she didn't want to join the ten year olds playing with the sirens of Secretary Clinton's motorcade.  We had a shortened happy hour with her and Andrew, before we headed to Virginia to see a high school girls lacrosse game, in which Mary's friend Gerry's daughter sprained her ankle and is out for the rest of the season.  Bad luck.

Some other big moments:  John Boyle hit a major birthday milestone, Sean's birthday is coming up and then there is Mothers Day!  

Anyone following the campaign?  the NHL playoffs (go Caps)?  Baseball (sorry Mariano, go Nats! and Reds, of course.)    

All is well, but will be better without bronchitis.   Hope you are well.  Love from down here.