Highs And Lows

It was a weekend of highs and lows, and CostCo.

The highs were the weather, which was just lovely all weekend long, allowing for the last bits of winter to be swept away. 
Another high was the arrival of a package from my father, who is planning a move from Smallerville, Oregon to EvenSmallerville, Washington this month, and was cleaning out his house in preparation. He had asked each of his three kids if there was anything specific they wanted form the house, and was kind enough to provide a list of Mom-and-Dad items.

Now, I am not a keeper of things. I don't like having a lot of stuff, especially stuff I don't use or need, so there wasn't a lot on the list that I wanted. Except for an Anniversary Clock that belonged to my parents. I have my Grandmother's--my father's mother--Anniversary Clock, and I liked the idea of a pair of them, so Dad sent it along this weekend.

He also sent a set of Little Leather Library Corporation books that had belonged to his grandfather, my Great-grandfather, that I have always loved, along with some Christmas ornaments my mother had made over the years.

I must admit, it was a bit of a weepy feeling, seeing those things that my mother had painted, but I am going to love hanging them our tree next Christmas. It'll be a little more like having my Mom around.

Dad also sent a history of my mother's family that my Aunt Norma had accumulated and written. I didn't know a lot about my mother's family, probably due to an ugly incident in the 1940's that involved infidelity and a murder trial--I may tell this story one day on the blog--but it's interesting to read the stories about them. The funniest part was the story of my grandfather, on Mom's side, being just two pounds when he was born, and being kept warm in a shoe-box near the stove. Seriously.

Of course, having this package, with these pictures and stories, arrive the day before Mother's Day was a bit unnerving. I had odd dreams that night and kept thinking of my Mom almost constantly as we moved through the day. I've always said that, after one loses a parent or loved one, it does get easier, but it never gets better, and yesterday was one of those days that wasn't easy or better. I did get some lovely news from my Dad about an upcoming event in his life that made me smile. My father is getting remarried to a woman he worked with a local aquarium near his town, and they will wed May 21st, in a quiet ceremony in Oregon. Carlos and I will visit them in Washington sometime in August once they're settled.

It makes me smile to think, after my mother died, and I spent a great deal of time worrying about my father's survival, that he has found someone with whom to share his life. I learned at my parent's knees that all you really get in life is happiness and you have to know when to grab it. And I remember that day, nearly eleven years ago, when  I was moving from California to Florida to start my life with Carlos, when my father hugged me at the airport and whispered, 'Be happy.'

And I am, and now I get to wish him that same sentiment.

Oy, did this turn sappy all of the sudden or what? 

So, let me end with this tale: At CostCo, between his snack bites, Carlos picked out a new office chair to buy, an ErgoNomic Something-or-Other. And all the way home he kept muttering that he bought me a new chair. I quickly reminded him that he bought us a new chair because the old chair had broken.

"If a man who is over six-feet-tall needs a couple of pillows to stuff in a chair so he can see the computer screen, then the new chair isn't a gift but a necessity."

And how was your weekend?