Jarbidge to the Oregon Trail

Oh, where do I begin?

Faerieworlds? Grandbaby? Nephew? It has been a whirlwind of events over the past few weeks. Faerieworlds deserves its own post, but I cannot promise it will be timely to the event: we are back into a 90-degree (F) weather pattern and that makes the loft (where my computer is) stuffy & hot in the evenings when I have time to post. I could have posted last week, but somehow time slipped by – and there was no post. Time slips by a lot, lately.

There have been a lot of changes at work, not the least of which is that I am pretty much the “Last Woman Standing” from the “old” crew. All the accounting staff I started with in 2007, when I moved to the Closing Department of our company – all of them, except moi – are gone. The last one got married in July and quit by the end of July to start her new life with her beloved. She was my best friend at work and is sorely missed. I feel a little like I have just started a new job because I am learning the new personalities and quirks of an entirely new staff!

Faerieworlds came and went, and while I did not take a ton of photos, I have enough photos to share and a long blog post to write about the 2013 experience, which includes taking a new acquaintance to the event – and our budding friendship, which I hope blossoms. Faerieworlds deserves a post of its own and I am not in the mood to do that tonight.

Tonight belongs to family.

Last week, the day after Faerieworlds, I drove north to PDX. I timed it according to the internet: Arwen’s flight from Alaska was on time & I wanted to cruise through the arrivals exactly 10-15 minutes after her arrival to pick the kids up as they exited the concourse. Of course, their flight was early and they had to sit on a hard bench, waiting for me. Verity, just 3.5 months old, slept through the entire flight and wait and consequent ride to our house.

Verity looks just like her mother at the same age, but acts considerably less colicky. Arwen was a colicky baby. Maybe it was because I was a new mother. Maybe it is because Arwen is such a calm mother.

At one point, Chrystal & Brian, Arwen, Sam & Verity, and I were all together in the backyard. It was wonderful to have so much of the family together.

Poppa certainly enjoyed his second granddaughter!

They left on Wednesday. On Thursday, my nephew flew in from Minnesota.

It’s a long story: my sister died suddenly when she was just 40. She contracted Necrotizing Faciitis (flesh eating bacteria) and died within 36 hours. She left behind several small children and my oldest nephew (then 21? I think he was 21). Chrystal was the oldest, a full orphan at the time. She was almost 9. Mike was the next, a boy of almost 5 year of age. His father took him to live in Minnesota. Then J. J stayed in Nevada with my sister’s widower and his soon-to-be second wife. J is still there.

Mike just graduated from high school and turned 18. He flew out to see his older sister and this weekend, we barbecued with him and Chrystal.

Joe Cool. My nephew, fresh from Minnesota, savoring the steak barbecue. He’s just looking for family connections.

Grand-dog, Fen, came along. Fen has grown so much since his last visit! He’s pretty well-behaved and I think his next visit will be more of an open visit. We will let him meet Harvey outside of the kennel. Murphy would probably be the better playmate, but Harvey is less scary as a big dog. Harvey will be intimidated by Fen, but that’s OK. Harvey dislikes confrontation.

Fen – despite my preconceived dislike of little dogs – is a pretty decent little dog. Of course, he is my grand-dog. 🙂

Brian is the best guy in the world. Whether or not Brian knows it, I consider him my son-in-law. he is definitely the bast man for Chrystal. The three of them went through the only photo album I have that includes pictures of Chrystal & Mike’s mother. I wish I had more.

I wish I had stories. But I left home at 17 and my sister and I drifted apart. We wrote letters, of course, and somewhere I have all those letters saved. But we were worlds apart.

All I have now of her is her children. Her children are beautiful. I hope she knows that.