Monday, May 31,
2010
You don’t
get to pick your family
Thirty-eight years ago this
weekend, one of my closest friends invited me to her family reunion. That’s
where I first met her brother, Gary.
At the close of the 3-day
weekend, he asked if he could write. We exchanged letters for
nearly a year. The next time I saw him, he proposed.
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Part of the Memorial Day weekend crew |
The Johnsons have been camping
out together over Memorial Day weekend for the past 41 years.
This year there were 106 people in attendance.
Speaking of family, I was the
middle child sandwiched in between two brothers who out-voted me
more times than I can count. (They claim I slammed my bedroom
door in anger more times than they can count, but I think
their memories are failing.) When it comes to brothers, though,
I got pretty lucky.
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While you don’t get
to pick your family, you do get to pick your
in-laws. I got lucky there, too.
These are really
great people. No fighting. No dysfunctional stuff. Just a lot of
teasing and laughter. And at family reunion time, a
lot of embellishing stories around
the campfire, not to mention enough food to feed an
army for an extended period of time. |
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Mom-in-law and two of my four sisters-in-law |
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A brother-in-law
reminded us once of something he heard on a Jeff
Foxworthy video: “You know you’re a redneck if you
met your wife at your family reunion.”
Our daughter shot
back with, “You know you’re a redneck if you watch
Jeff Foxworthy videos!”
(I’m thinking she
gets her feisty-ness from her father.) |
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This 2nd cousin and niece trading in
“Johnson”
for a different last name. What were they thinking?! |
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Friday, May 28,
2010
It’s
in the bag
Our daughter and son-in-law got
tickets to the taping of the Rachael Ray Show in NYC the other
day. The give-away to audience members was a gift certificate to
“Bag, Borrow or Steal” – a New York concept that allows you to
rent status in the form of a designer bag, sunglasses or
jewelry.
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With her $100 gift certificate,
our daughter visited Bag, Borrow or Steal and came away with $760 worth of prestige in the form
of a Moschino bag – on loan for a month.
The catch is, if your co-workers
or neighbors or those other people in the aisles of your local
grocery store have no idea you’re sporting a designer bag, it’s
a total waste of rented self-esteem.
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$760 Moschino bag from their
“Cheap and
Chic” line on loan to our daughter
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And then, for that co-worker who may
recognize your Moschino bag, is your esteem raised in her eyes,
or does it produce envy? I’m thinking envy.
I asked our daughter if she had
to replace the bag If it got damaged or stolen. The answer was
yes.
So, for a $100, you get a bag
that will make your co-workers envious and possibly not even
like you anymore … a bag that will give you a false sense of
worth … a bag that, for a $100 investment, could cost you $760
if your toddler decides to try out her new marking pens on it.
Who needs that
kind of stress?!
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Sunday, May 23,
2010
Only in
Hawaii
We
deplaned at our local airport, grabbed our bags off the cart and
walked across the tarmac – wearing a thin cotton shirt and
flip-flops, temperatures in the low 30s.
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I wasn’t the only
passenger returning from balmy Hawaii who hadn’t
calculated the end destination weather correctly!
Hawaii is a world
away from the mainland in more ways than one.
Where else would you
find colorful parrots on the main street along
Waikiki Beach? |
Parrots - oblivious to the paparazzi
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Using public
transportation most of the week, several times we observed high
school students boarding the city bus with a single oar. We
thought it odd to carry a paddle around, until later in the week
we happened upon a coach yelling at his team from a retaining
wall near a marina.
Where else but in
Hawaii would the after-school sport of choice be canoeing?!
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After-school sports never looked like this on the
mainland |
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And where else are there so many
street signs with so many fun names to pronounce? (Our
granddaughter’s name is Lilly so my personal
favorite is Lili’uokalani.)
And speaking of
streets, it was perfectly natural to see bikini-clad
surfer girls carrying their boards and walking
down the city streets amongst the traffic and
tourists and shops. |
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Fun
street names |
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Amber
sunset off Waikiki |
And then there are
the amber sunsets as surfers linger on the water, and boats of
all sizes and shapes head out for an evening
excursion.
We were sitting on a
retaining wall along Waikiki Beach when Gary snapped
this photo.
Besides
spending time with Shihoko and Yoshi, this was my favorite thing
about being in Hawaii
– these simple, totally
stress-free moments |
with nothing to do, no place to be, hanging
with my sweetie, grateful for all the good things that are
happening in our lives.
Ah, Hawaii.
Comment
Thursday, May
20, 2010
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Japanese-Hawaiian wedding
Shihoko’s wedding
was a lovely blend of Japanese and Hawaiian
– vows spoken in Japanese and
English, a traditional American
wedding dress with veil and, instead of throwing
rice, the guests threw flowers in a Hawaiian flower
shower. |
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Hawaiian
flower shower |
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Gary was the designated driver
transporting the Japanese wedding guests from Honolulu to a
beautiful little chapel on Kaneohe Bay on the
northeast shores of Oahu.
Shihoko’s family had reserved a
Cadillac Escalade. It had 174 miles on the odometer. I had to
pry Gary out of the driver’s seat when we returned the car to
Hertz.
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Shihoko was radiant
and enjoying every minute of the festivities, just
as a bride ought to ... and Yoshi was handsome in
white tails.
Shihoko’s
Japanese father and American father (that would be
Gary) walked the bride down the aisle
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one on each arm and both wearing aloha shirts,
as directed by the bride. |
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Shihoko - beautiful and having fun! |
Later that evening, we joined
the bride and groom and their families for dinner at a
restaurant overlooking the marina near Waikiki. Great food and
fun conversation with plenty of laughter as Shihoko translated
back and forth.
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We asked how
Shihoko’s father got started in the restaurant
business (at
the time, it was one of the few jobs in Japan where
he could be the owner of his own business) … and how
her mother got interested in climbing mountains (she
joined a hiking club and has climbed Mt. Fuji twice
and Kilimanjaro in Africa) … and if Shihoko’s dad
has ever climbed a mountain with his wife (no, no,
no, only golf!). |
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Shihoko and Yoshi at wedding dinner |
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I asked about a
dowry (yes, the groom’s family pays the bride’s family an amount
that goes toward furnishing the new couple’s home); and the groom’s
mother asked how old I was (29, of course, which Shihoko duly
translated).
Yoshi asked if
we had any marriage tips. I answered that Gary has always
treated me like a princess and how that was a sure-fire way for
the wife to be happy ... and if the wife is happy, the husband is
almost always happy! Yoshi thanked me, bowing slightly.
I think
graciousness must be part of the Japanese culture because all
the Japanese people I have known personally are kind and
respectful and gracious, including our new Japanese son-in-law.
Comment
Tuesday, May
18, 2010
Meeting Yoshi
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Somehow Shihoko talks us, her fiancé, her brother and her parents into getting up early to
catch the
sunrise from Diamond Head.
Gary and I are picked up at the
entrance to our hotel in a van. At 5:30am. While we’re on
vacation. There’s something wrong with this picture.
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Diamond Head |
There are two sets of stairs toward the top of the Diamond Head
trail – one with 99 steps, the other with 74. After the first
set of stairs, with Gary in the lead and not showing much sign
of exertion, the young people ask him how old he is.
Gary admits his age and
even I could translate the Japanese exclamations into
English.
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Halfway
to the top of Diamond Head... and still having fun |
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We all have breakfast together afterward, Shihoko serving as
chief translator.
I ask how she and Yoshi met and how long he waited
to propose.
Shihoko’s mother, who understands some English,
answers my question in Japanese. |
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American style
breakfast |
Shihoko translates:
“She said I dug a big hole and Yoshi fell in and I put net
over top!”
We liked Yoshi immediately. He and Shihoko
are
cute together – teasing each other and laughing a lot,
which is always a good sign.
Gary asked Shihoko if she had Yoshi
trained yet, and she said, “Yes, just like Marlys have you
trained!”
Comment
Monday, May 17,
2010
Happy campers
If Gary had any say in the
matter, he’d lay streets out alphabetically or numerically
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as in Alder, Birch, Cedar ... or 38th, 39th, and 40th. None of
this “corner of Kuhio and Kealohilani” stuff.
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Despite the
difficult-to-pronounce street names, Honolulu has
great public transportation and helpful bus drivers,
and today we ventured out to find the trailhead to
Manoa Falls.
Let me tell you,
there’s a world of difference between hiking uphill
for a mile and a half in rainforest … and the uphill
climbs into the dry coolness of the Oregon Cascades
back home. |
On
the jungle trail to Manoa Falls |
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When we reached the
top of the trail with tall, green mountains hemming
us into the jungle and not a breeze stirring, we
were drenched (probably more info than you wanted).
The
beauty and adventure,
however, were
well
worth the drenching.
We’re camped out
this week on the 12th floor of a hotel
about a block and a half from the Pacific. From our
balcony we can see the surfers and sailboats and
cruise ships just off Waikiki Beach. Diamond Head is
to our left. |
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150-foot Manoa Falls |
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Tomorrow we’ll meet Shihoko’s
family and fiancé.
Back when Shihoko
was a junior in high school, we took her with us to a wedding in
Sonoma, California. We made a quick stop in San Francisco to
have dinner at Fisherman’s
Wharf and ride the cable cars.
Coming back down
the steep hills, Shihoko leaned off the front of the cable car,
our camcorder in hand, capturing the city by the bay and
exclaiming,
“Fun,
oh fun!”
When it comes to
being in Hawaii ... this is our sentiment exactly!
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Bird of Paradise growing
profusely along the trail |
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Wednesday, May
12, 2010
Gearing up
for Hawaii
As we get closer to the wedding
date in Hawaii, e-mail has been flying back and forth between
Oregon and Japan.
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Shihoko |
Last December, we
get a letter from Shihoko, one of our exchange
students from the
late 90s:
Guess what?! Here is news to you. Finally, I am
getting married in May. Do you remember that what
you said? If Shihoko gets married it is suppose to
be in Hawaii. Because Hawaii is between Japan and
America. I remember that words. So we decided to get
married in Hawaii. I want you to be there as
American dad and mom.
And so we put the
May wedding date on our calendar ... and now May is
here and we leave for
Hawaii this Sunday, courtesy of Shihoko’s parents.
But between now and
then, life is extra busy with work and evening and
Saturday commitments, so I’ve begun gathering things
to pack.
A quick e-mail to Shihoko:
“Should Gary wear a dress shirt and tie to the
wedding?”
She answers: “My family is
going to wear Aloha shirts. So it means really
casual.” I dig
deep in the back of our closet and dust off my
flip-flops and Gary’s Aloha shirts. |
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The wedding will
take place on a beautiful bay about 45 minutes from
Honolulu.
E-mail from Shihoko:
Will Gary
drive her family in their rental car to the
chapel site because “we are not good at driving
right side”?
She
also made plans for us all to hike to the top of
Diamond Head to catch the sunrise the day before the
wedding, and then have breakfast together. |
Starting to gather things for a week in Hawaii
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Needless to say, we are very
much looking
forward to seeing Shihoko again, and meeting her
fiancé. In addition to the bride and groom, the wedding party
includes the groom’s mother, the bride’s brother and parents
… and the bride’s American dad and mom. That would be us.
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Sunday, May 9,
2010
Hitting a rock
wall
Gary
took me hiking
on a
newly-opened trail down into the Deschutes River Canyon where we
ran up against a rock wall with no way around.
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The
Scout Camp Trail is one of Central Oregon’s
best kept secrets – the only hikers we encountered
were the 3 at the trailhead who pulled up as we
were leaving.
It’s
700 feet from the canyon rim down to the river. The
Oregon National Desert Association gives the trail a
rating of very
difficult.
We descended on a narrow path, gravel sliding under our hiking boots
on the steeper grades. |
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Mother's Weekend bouquet - better than
store-bought flowers any day of the week |
We picnicked 20 feet above the river rapids – albacore sandwiches on whole wheat, Golden Delicious
apples, homemade granola bars with dark chocolate chips.
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There’s a place at river level where the path ends
at a rock wall. We tried to go around the wall that
juts into the river, but we weren’t exactly dressed
for swimming. We retraced our steps to see if
we had gotten off the beaten track, but no.
And so we clambered up the rock wall, looking for
handholds and footholds as we went. In blind faith.
Hoping the trail would pick back up on the other
side.
Gary
and I have faced our share of rock walls. Instead of
turning around, with God’s
help we pushed forward. Our climbing technique may
not have been pretty, but we somehow managed to find
the path on the other side.
Life lessons from a pile of rocks. |
Clambering up over obstacles |
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The
Deschutes River runs 700' below
the
canyon rim |
And
so, a great
Mother’s
Day weekend
–
a new adventure with my sweetheart; breakfast out; a postage-stamp-size computer bag for my
postage-stamp-size laptop as a gift from Gary ... and the
weekend isn’t even over.
(I’m
going to try to talk him into watching a chick flick
with me this evening
–
wish me luck!)
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Friday, May 7,
2010
Love story
She was born on a 2,200-acre family farm in Nebraska and “ran away” to
school at the ripe old age of three. The school board met with
her mother to decide what to do about her. They let her attend
classes—any class she wanted—on
Friday afternoons.
Several years
later, this
independent-thinking young woman,
Jean, met her husband-to-be, Tod, in California. Tod’s
father had been a professional football player who signed his
boys up for dance classes, thinking
it would make them more agile for sports. And it did. Tod had
nine years of professional dancing …“and boy, could we dance
together!” says Jean.
The couple was married within 4 months of their
first date. After Officer Candidate School, Tod
went off to fight a war in Europe and Jean went to live with her
mother while awaiting the birth of their firstborn.
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Tod returned from the war with a
silver star, a bronze star, and a purple heart. They
came at a high price, though. He weighed a mere 145
lbs stretched across his tall frame, and needed a good deal of physical and emotional
healing. Jean stayed
the
course with him.
Fast forward several years. Jean heard from someone that if you could paint
a nude, then you could paint anything. So she set
about painting a nude, and Tod showed her work to an
artist who had studied in Europe.
The artist said he
would give Jean art lessons for free. Tod signed up
for classes, as well, and through the years, they
have filled their home with some incredible artwork.
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Jean with one of Tod's oil paintings
(John Wayne)
and one of hers (young girl) |
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Gary and I recently met Jean
when we spoke to a group of seasoned citizens. She is 87
years young, and has survived three bouts of cancer, but there’s
a suspicious spot on her lung that is even now being looked at.
Cancer hasn’t
played fair with this
family. Tod survived prostate cancer only to die of lung cancer just 2½ years ago.
Through all this, Jean is an amazingly positive person
–
the kind I’d
like to be when I grow up.
We were chatting about her life a couple days ago and Jean said
that she
married Tod against her mother’s wishes. “Like everybody, you
make mistakes,” she said, “but I didn’t make a mistake there.”
Personally,
I’m a sucker for a great love story.
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Tuesday, May 4,
2010
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L
to R: Peggy Carey, Cancer Center Dir; Becky from the
mountain; Lizzi Katz, my partner in crime; and Peggy
Lukens, Nurse Navigator. |
Oversized check
Becky from the
mountain stopped by the cancer center today with
money. I love it when people do that.
For
those not in the know, the mountain is
Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort. (If you’re a New Yorker, it’s the city. If
you’re from Central Oregon,
it’s the mountain.)
I blogged a couple weeks
ago about this fun ski/snowboard event hosted at the
mountain to benefit
Sara’s
Project.
Today was the
check-delivery day, which meant a fun photo op. I
quite cleverly got out of being in the photo by
showing up with my camera and bossing people around.
(Gary says I’m quite good at that.) |
At any rate, we get
these two checks – one, an oversized check on foam board; the
other, one of those little paper checks for the same amount. I’m
thinking we can cash both and double the funds ... all for a
worthy cause. ;)
Comment
Sunday, May
2, 2010
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Extraordinary ordinary life
We’re in the middle of what promises to be another
extraordinary ordinary weekend, defined as one of
those weekends in which all the ordinary things we
do—Friday night date, experimenting with new recipes, hiking, laundry,
reading, attending church, connecting with
family—makes for an extraordinary life.
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Jackson’s Corner pizza guy in action |
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Gary and I caught a
Nicholas Sparks movie and had Oven-Baked
Chicken Pesto sandwiches at Jackson’s Corner on
Friday night. Jackson’s Corner is this fun,
community-friendly
restaurant/deli with its mismatched tables and
chairs housed in one of Bend’s historic
buildings. They’re known for their house made pastas,
pizza, soups, sandwiches and salads.
Yesterday we hiked above the Deschutes River, capturing osprey
on film. We cooked elk steaks for
dinner, and attended church last evening.
And in between it all,
housework and laundry beckon us ... and I’m in the
middle of an interesting book ... and there’s email
to answer and family to phone ... and always a
knitting project waiting to be completed. |
Jackson's Corner Oven-Baked Chicken Pesto sandwiches |
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How this makes for an extraordinary life is that we have plentiful
food and a modern kitchen to cook it in; Gary and I
propelled ourselves along the trail on our
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Osprey (upper
right) and its nest |
own
two legs yesterday; our eyes are working well enough to
catch high-soaring osprey, watch a movie, read a
book; we attended church without fear of someone
reporting us to the authorities; we have family
across the country who love us.
This is our extraordinary ordinary life … and I will
not take any of it for granted.
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