Visits

Last week I enjoyed reconnecting with many wonderful friends and family members, and also met some new cousins. Here's the way it happened:

Friday. Left the house at 7:45 am, took the shuttle to SEA-TAC, flew to JFK, flew to Hartford, took the shuttle to La Quinta for a good night's sleep.

Saturday. Took the shuttle to Enterprise to pick up my car. Sat in the car and downloaded GoogleMaps to my Blackberry. Discovered I had GPS. Entered Aunt Dot's address and got directions. Spent an hour trying to follow them. Ended up driving through scary parts of Hartford. Got to Dot's latish (1 pm). Took her to lunch in Farmington, got back around 3 PM, had a message from Cousin Paul Strauss that he'd love us to come to Cheshire to see him and family. We did that. Had a great visit with our Chinese cousins Hailey (7) and Kira (2 1/2). Took photos, will post. Had good conversations w/ Paul and his wife Mary. Drove home, dropped Dot off, and drove to Natick, again going through Hartford to get to I-84. I got to the Daniels' about 10:40 pm. Long day! They had gone to bed, since I was again running late.

Sunday. Woke up in time for church, we headed out in two cars: Peter in one, me and Val in the other, so Peter could come home after the first meeting. Met Danny Ainge, the bishop. Enjoyed great talks. One was my a sportscaster from a local network news program but I don't remember his name. Then I met some friends from years past: Mary Anne Foley and Jane Nebeker Murphy. It was like meeting life-long friends, though it's been 27 years. I found out during Sunday School that my Blackberry could access the scriptures online at lds.org, so I was able to enjoy the lesson. I found out in Relief Society that I don't know many people there at Weston Ward. And I found out afterwards that Jane had divorced Bernie Murphy after a 9 year separtion. Their 3 kids are grown... And while I was waiting to sing in the choir just for the fun of it and because Val was staying for that, Jane came and got me because the Lavins were in the foyer. What a wonderful thing to see them! I got to talk to Marsha quite a bit, saw Tony's kids, found out Jolene was in North Carolina with many goats (7?) (or maybe 5), and that they were visiting just for that week. I did get to share a few thoughts w/ Dick, too... Then choir was over and on the way out I saw Fred Bowman, who I heard had gotten married, had a leaping hug w/ him, and then went home w/ Val. We took a walk around the lake at Wellesley College, including hugging the edge of the Hunnewell Estate (or was it Honeywell?), walking between their topiaries and the lake. Then we went back and meditated while Peter made curry. We ate, talked, went to bed. Nice visit. Oh yes - while Val worked to get ready for the next day's teaching, Peter read the paper and occasionally watched The Game, and I watched it and did my very best to get tose Sox to win, but it was The 7th Game and, well. I stayed up to 11:30 to see the end and shoulda gone to bed.

Monday. Got up almost on EDT, at maybe 7:30 aka 4:30 am. Took a shower, packed up, took off for Hadley MA where I had an appt w/ some Shaklee people. I planned to be there at 10:30 and that's when I got there. Talked to Joyce and Bill, took them to lunch, talked some more, meditated, took off for Hartford just ahead of rush hour, gassed up for $2.27 a gallon, and got to Hartford 15 min early, at 5:30. Picked up Dot soon thereafter, went around the corner to the home of Cousin Bob Killian. There we met not only Bob, but Jim Killian (uncle to Bob), Candy (Bob's wife), and Cindy (Bob's younger sister). The purposes were first to meet and second to figure out who everyone was vis-a-vis each other. While we had the wonderful hors-d'oeuvres, we chatted to the point where I began to feel that we were imposters in their wonderful home full of their wonderful hospitality. I got out my computer and went wirelessly to task trying to find the link. Dinner was served, so we exited to the dining room. Bob helped Candy cook steaks in the kitchen while we sat and chatted in the vein of Catholic culture and politics Democrat-style. I felt right at home. My relatives are all part of the party machinery in Hartford, with Bob himself being the elected Probate Court judge for the past 24 years. (Uncle Jim, actually our cousin but Bob's uncle, spent most of his adult life in San Francisco - never married, and apparently enjoyed politics more from a distance.) While we were at dinner, Bob came in w/ his computer because their daughter Virginia was calling on Skype from Chicago. That, folks, is the cousin who wrote the comment here about Robert K Killian (q.v.). She is about 28 and is married and teaches...nice girl, has a dog. (The Killians have a younger daughter who lives near to them.) So we ate steak, had rice pudding for dessert, and with the exclusion of the LDS member of the family managed to consume several bottles of this that and the other thing. We went back to the living room, made our connections, and we left. My plan was to spend the night at Dot's so she made me up the other bed in her room (Uncle Bob's, still there) and we had a pleasant end of the day and good night's sleep.

Tuesday. Lucy and Alan Katz, having arrived home from England the night before, were expecting me, and I drove the 75 min or so to Easton. We visited, went out to eat, had great conversation with Lucy about ethics, morality, and religion. And politics. Slept. Wonderful day!

Wednesday. I worked while Lucy did some things she needed to do, including a chemo treatment. I went to Greenwich and met with our new tax accountants for a couple of hours, then took them to lunch. I got back around 3 pm. The Katzes' granddaughter Ginger turned 4 so we went out to supper with Steve, Laura, Owen, and Ginger. More talk, sleep.

Thursday. Lucy had an appointment in the morning, and I worked. Then we had a quick lunch and headed off to Norwalk City Hall Vital Records office. We spent the next 3.5 hours researching the Tanner line. Lucy's a research whiz! Then we went to Starbucks so she could have a pick-me-up, then back to the house. I cooked supper, then bundled up for the trip home.

Friday. I intended to wake up by 7:15 so I would have time to drive back to Hartford. That worked out, so I arrived at Bradley early, dropped off the car, took the shuttle to Delta, etc etc. I had a 4 hour layover at JFK. I got to Seattle in plenty of time for the shuttle to Anacortes, took the 2 1/2 hour ride to Anacortes, and was picked up by D at 11:40 pm PT. Long day!

Saturday. Good to be home! And it was good to see so many family members and friends...

Set Apart

Today we were set apart. We are missionaries. We are very happy.

We were set apart by Pres Rhine, our stake president, in the Anacortes building. We had several guests, our dearest friends from the ward: Nancy Oczkewicz, Kay and Larry Winebrenner, Bishop Rutter, his second counselor Bro Treiber, Fred Stone, Karen and Norm Buker, and my dear 'brother' Norman Landerman-Moore.

I was set apart first. D and Pres Rhine did it, w/ Pres Rhine as voice. I was blessed with health and strength and the ability to inspire and teach the family history patrons effectively. I was also blessed that during our service our own family would be blessed with the things they need. There was much more that is only vague in my memory. It was very nice.

Then D was set apart. Pres Rhine was voice again, and Bsp Rutter assisted. D's blessings emphasized more of the technical side of the work, and mentioned patrons only toward the end. Again he was blessed w/ health and strength, patience, and blessings for his family during his time of service.

So we are missionaries now.

Our report date is still 12 days away. But this was our last Sunday here. Next week we will attend w/ our new branch.

Which reminds me that we were both promised wonderful new friendships. Stay tuned...

We only hope the friends we are leaving behind will find their way to SLC and visit and have some fun with the wonderful family history facilities that will be our bailiwick. They think they will...

Look Alikes 1 - Who?

Age 21 months.