Detours
It has been awhile since my last installment as I am afraid there have been some detours along my pathway. There have been many joys and sorrows-highs and lows-stops and starts since my last post in September 2016. The void created by my absence is about to be filled once more as I return to this love of mine, jomommasfancyflytes.
When I last left you, I was exploring some old hotels in Colorado and New Mexico. I was also getting ready to revisit some of my travels in France, including more Joan de’ Arc. And last, but not least, I was working on the 2nd installment of “It’s a Christmas Miracle”. I will be picking up these threads over the next few weeks and adding some more “aha” moments too. But for now, let me ruminate a bit about the passages and transitions that put me off the main track and out through a few detours along the way.
Shortly after our adventure in Colorado (point and click to see the travelogue). I found my schedule to be caught in a vortex of activity, leaving me exhausted but happy. We begin with a flurry of activity initiated on our trip to Denver in August 2016. While we turned it into an exploration of great historic hotels, the trip itself was born of my desire to share in a group birthday party with some old schoolmates. While attending our 50 year high school reunion in the summer of 2014, some of us promised to return for our milestone 70th birthdays in 2016. So, those of us who remained and who were able gathered for a nice reunion redux.
This trip was a bit of everything including reminiscing, sightseeing, family visits and a great lunch with my lifelong Boulder friends from our early child rearing days. The Boulder friends were my neighbors in 1969. We lived across the street from each other for 9 years. We walked the strollers in the early evenings as the older children followed, we played tennis, formed a book club and a gourmet group. We also took tailoring, painting and art appreciation classes together. We never lost track of each other once I moved to Arizona in 1978. We were four couples who shared so much…our first home, our children, BBQs and fireworks. When I was single and then remarried, we became eight again.
Over the years three of us managed to take a few trips together… yours truly, Karen and Sally. New York City…Santa Fe…and actually some soirees into Tucson and then again Denver….all adventures for us! We discussed doing New York in the spring…it was time. We would see some shows, probably three, so we could each have a choice. Then do the museums and look for different sights since our last trip. Like all our trips, we visit some of the familiar favorite haunts and also look for a new or different adventure, like the Tenement Museum found on the lower east side of the city, NY of course. This one was worthy of one of my “aha” moments when I walked into a room where whole families lived. I remember small houses growing up…some with limited plumbing when I was young…but nothing like these old scared buildings divided into one room homes, which began with no plumbing and no electricity. We managed to find something new every time we visited the city.
This “girls’ trip” was not meant to be. By December, I found out that what Sally described as a nagging arthritic pain in August was something more serious and sinister. The ache in her hip was not a symptom of something she was likely to overcome. This news changed the landscape of my life immediately. I knew that there would be no spring trip, and that I might not even get another chance to see this dear friend. Fortunately, we were able to make a quick trip out to celebrate the New Year with our friends. It was my last time with Sally as she passed away on Good Friday. Now we are seven again…a very odd number indeed. See below a gathering of the eight in Colorado during a little earlier, happier time.
So, this lengthy detour stole my energy and enthusiasm for whimsy and “flytes of fancy”. Yet, here I am back at the keyboard, waxing eloquent (smile) again. Let me indulge a bit and get all caught up so we can forge ahead to the next adventure! Enjoy the catch up beginning with the first travelogue from our most recent trip…Hawaii! (point and click to see the travelogue). Also, expect the next installment of “A Christmas Miracle”…only a couple years late. There will be more France and “fancy flytes” all lined up for their debut.
