We, on the other hand, were headed to El Paso, city of my formative years. Keep in mind that my poor wife is still sick, so flying in a pressurized tube at 30-some-odd thousand feet isn't our idea of fun. Touching down midafternoon, mom and my brother dropped us off at the hotel. On the drive to our part of town, I remembered that this city is not the one I grew up in-- so much has changed and is changing. I still know my way around for the most part, and it all seemed familiar yet foreign at the same time. When we finally got to our room, we were greeted by this, left by my parents as a welcome:
It was a much appreciated and very nice surprise-- check out the sticky note, as well.
We unloaded and decompressed a little, then I went to the house while Ann stayed home and rested up for the evening's events. This is about the time my aunts and uncles John and Marianne (dad's side) and Chuck and Cynthia (mom's) joined us. Our family is very small-- dad has John as his only sibling (he has two kids), just as mom has Cynthia (one daughter) as hers. So the couples all crammed into the dining room for the evening. Mom cooked up a terrific brisket meal, with rolls, salad, potatoes, and my favorite, tomato pudding. Home cooking.
What I also enjoyed was sitting in the dining room listening to three army officers and their army wives spending the evening telling 50-year old stories about their earlier years on bases in Germany, a few of which may have involved libation. Cynthia and John also told stories about my parents' younger days. I also didn't know that John had stopped in Mt. Gilead, Ohio (where mom is from) once upon a time many moons ago, and Dr. Ingmire (my maternal grandfather) housed him for three days while things worked themselves out. I don't remember the circumstances, but it's really wild that two separate sides of my family, with only one thing in common connected like that. I wish these stories could have gone on forever, since they were taking about sides of my folks that I don't know too well.
This whole evening made me very happy-- to have these wonderful people wanting to come together to celebrate like this. And excluding Ann and me, only Chuck and Cynthia are on the short side of their 50th wedding anniversary themselves, but only by a few years. So nearly 160 years of marriage was represented in that house, of which we can contribute only two. So we've got some catching up to do.
The nice thing is that we have some terrific role models.
We unloaded and decompressed a little, then I went to the house while Ann stayed home and rested up for the evening's events. This is about the time my aunts and uncles John and Marianne (dad's side) and Chuck and Cynthia (mom's) joined us. Our family is very small-- dad has John as his only sibling (he has two kids), just as mom has Cynthia (one daughter) as hers. So the couples all crammed into the dining room for the evening. Mom cooked up a terrific brisket meal, with rolls, salad, potatoes, and my favorite, tomato pudding. Home cooking.
What I also enjoyed was sitting in the dining room listening to three army officers and their army wives spending the evening telling 50-year old stories about their earlier years on bases in Germany, a few of which may have involved libation. Cynthia and John also told stories about my parents' younger days. I also didn't know that John had stopped in Mt. Gilead, Ohio (where mom is from) once upon a time many moons ago, and Dr. Ingmire (my maternal grandfather) housed him for three days while things worked themselves out. I don't remember the circumstances, but it's really wild that two separate sides of my family, with only one thing in common connected like that. I wish these stories could have gone on forever, since they were taking about sides of my folks that I don't know too well.
This whole evening made me very happy-- to have these wonderful people wanting to come together to celebrate like this. And excluding Ann and me, only Chuck and Cynthia are on the short side of their 50th wedding anniversary themselves, but only by a few years. So nearly 160 years of marriage was represented in that house, of which we can contribute only two. So we've got some catching up to do.
The nice thing is that we have some terrific role models.
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