A 50th Anniversary

John has spent some isolated time in the office recently, working on a special project. Every once in a while I hear the strains of some acoustical guitar music coming from the computer speakers.

Next week is a special anniversary for John’s parents – their 50^th wedding anniversary. Over the last few months he has been scanning photos from the family photo collection, and putting them together into a slide show, complete with mood music. Originally we thought it would be the highlight of a fancy dinner party at a hotel with friends and family. It is a bit bittersweet that we will only be able share it with John’s Mom and Dad running on our laptop perched on the dinner tray of the rehabilitation facility that is Dad’s current home. And also that John’s mother will only remember some of the events chronicled through the hazy envelope of dementia.

Seeing these old photos, from John’s birth to the ruffled tuxedo of the senior prom, has given me some insight into the circumstances that formed the character of my husband. Take a look at the photo above as an example. Taken in 1970 in the grassy median of downtown Ontario, California, John and his sister Diana performed as the duo “The Now Sound” at a Kiwanis pancake breakfast. My understanding is the sound was pop music, perhaps featuring some Beatles. Obviously the two women in the foreground are grooving to it, big time.

John’s parents were generous, providing music lessons for their children. John’s mother, always looking for a return on an investment, would find gigs – church socials, community events, etc. She even got some paying jobs, at about the same time that Diana lost interest in music, which Mom never forgave her for. But music stayed a part of John’s life, and with an epiphany upon first hearing the rock group Yes, he continues to this day to perfect his craft. Some of my most contented moments are while working in the office, hearing the strums of his guitar in the other room, knowing he is doing something he loves.

So John will share his digital photo album with the family, and the memories will be as special for us as it is for his parents.

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Familie aus Deutschland

We arrived in Southern California just in time to experience a record-breaking heat wave. One morning we are scraping ice off our windshield, and the next John is walking around in shorts showing off his snowy-white legs. We actually made a detour – we headed north and then west to stop for a one night visit with my sister Monica and family. I had a new touring bike waiting for me at the REI in Berkeley – it was last year’s model, discounted $250, and the closest one in my frame size was in the Bay Area. Surely a valid excuse for meeting up with family.

Our trip south was intended to be a one week jaunt, but parental health problems kept us for another week. This time John’s mother had a very rapid heart beat which put her in the hospital for a day. We stayed a few extra days to escort her to a cardiologist appointment, and monitor the effects of two new medications. Things seem to be stable now.

My cousin Baerbel, her companion Lothar, and their daughter Linda arrived at my parent’s house for a two-week visit from Hamburg, Germany. They had to see Las Vegas, although none of them left a single Euro there. They drove to the Bay Area for a visit with my sister and a grand tour of San Francisco. The original plan was to have them visit us in June Lake, but our unexpected extension of our trip cancelled that. We did cross paths, however. We met for dinner, and we all stayed the night at my parents house, talking until midnight. From somewhere in the depths of my memory came enough German vocabulary, augmented by wild gestures, for us to have good conversation. They flew back home the next day, and we promised to visit them next summer when we travel to Europe. The accompanying picture documents this family reunion.

Upon our arrival home, it was a full day before we realized none of the clocks in the house were reset for daylight savings time. We turned on the radio to listen to the news, and the announcer said it was 6:00 pm, not 5:00 like we thought. No wonder we were so hungry!

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