Nothing Like Family…

Friday, April 9th — On April 1st, my daughter Sarah (from the Boston area) and my younger son David (from Houston) arrived for a whirlwind visit, only three days. And on April 2nd, my older son Danny, his wife Jackie, and the two teenagers, Heather and William, all from Toronto, joined the gang.

In the 14.5 years I’ve lived here in San Diego, I’ve never had any two of my offspring here at the same time, let alone all three. Now, the thing about my family is, when we get together we tend to be a bit noisy (sometimes we all talk at once, and there is a LOT of talking going on), and the hilarity level is pretty high. We do have a great time together, but it may be a bit off-putting if you’re not used to it.

I have to say, my Beloved Spouse was a real trooper during the past week. He and I live a very quiet life, with our two cats. The cats had no compunctions about simply retiring to a closet or under a bed when things got too noisy for their taste. (Both my sons are tall and large, and they both have nice baritone voices.) Robert, however, hung out with us most of the time. He did tend to wear a facial expression that reminded me of an anthropologist observing the natives and taking mental notes for a future publication… but he hung out. When he’d had enough, he’d simply melt away into another part of the house. It worked just fine.

We didn’t spend all our time carousing, though, by any means. Sarah, the Queen of Organization, announced that it was her intention to completely blitz and reorganize my kitchen. “My Overarching Goal,” she said, “is to make it all completely Intuitive.” Apparently that meant that everything should be just where one would expect to find it. Hmmmm… but what about my piles of paper, magazines, catalogs, cards, and letters? I sort of knew where I could find what I wanted among those.

The pantry cupboard was another story. It’s floor-to-ceiling, and as deep as the refrigerator, which sits beside it. I knew there was stuff in there that hadn’t been seen for several years; I can’t even reach to the back of it, and canned goods and bottles do tend to move sneakily backwards, over time. It’s a scientifically-proven fact.

David and Sarah went out and bought pull-out wire drawers to install in that cupboard. David screwed in the tracks and installed the drawers, Sarah made the “intuitive” decision as to what should go where, and David made a “legend” or road map to tape on the inside of the cupboard door. I hate to admit how many jars, cans, and bottles were thrown away — with expiration dates long, long gone by. I think the oldest item was marked “2003″. Oh dear, how sad.

And there’s more. Danny and David both had fun playing with my new car. The GPS lady is now in communication, and many other problems have been made clear to me. David suggested I back the car into the garage, with the help of the rearview camera. With Robert’s car parked front-first, that gives us lots more room to open driver’s-side doors. And Danny had the brilliant notion of painting white lines on the garage floor, such that if I keep them just within the lines on the rearview camera, I’ll make a perfect landing. A horizontal white line at the back shows me where to stop, with enough room to unload stuff from the cargo area.

We played countless games of Bananagrams, too; Sarah had thoughtfully brought her set along. William and Heather are both excellent at making large and unusual words out of the letter tiles — “carbohydrate” was, I believe, the longest. If you don’t know Bananagrams and you like crossword puzzles and Scrabble, you’ve got to try this. I have become an addict. I was thrilled when the Dannys presented me with my very own yellow twill Banana, containing all the letter tiles necessary for fun and education… I can even play Solitaire. Bananagrams Solitaire… now there’s a thought!

I hated to have them all leave; it was a wonderful, wonderful week. But I confess that as soon as we waved goodbye to them on Thursday morning, the Beloved Spouse and I both took to our beds for a good… long… NAP. Hope came out of my closet and joined me for a cuddle; Chloe settled down in her scratchy-bed; and we were back to our quiet Geezer Life once more.

What a beautiful family I’ve been blessed with! My heart was so full — to think that all of them spent their time, money, and energy to come and be with us, and to devise ways to make our life more comfortable in what we jokingly refer to as the Golden Years. There really is nothing quite like family.

Thanks for reading — Betsy