How does that Kaci Musgrave song about family go? “You get what you get, and you don’t get to pick ’em. They might smoke like chimneys, but give you their kidneys. Yeah friends come in handy but family is family.” I was humming that a lot last week in Ocala with my mother-in-law Grandma Joanne (an inspiration at 90), my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, one of my husband’s cousins and her husband Bob from New Hampshire and so many dogs. Grandma Jo has two: tiny Joey the poodle and Brewster the tall terrier of some sort. Karen (Chip’s sister) and her husband David have a big shepherd, a little Jack Russell and Tequila, a Mexican street dog who has found a new life on their Ocala farm. Vicky who is also from Mexico, kept little Chica near her always. Anne from England and Georgia came by with Willow, a brown spaniel that likes to sit on her lap. Joanne’s many friends always bring their dogs to dinner, or say the Super Bowl party (after a corgi and border collie arrived I think the dogs outnumbered people). Another collie, Kelty, traveled with the New Hampshire relatives and barked everytime I tip-toed into the bathroom in the middle of the night. (Susie and Bob had the couch in Grandma Joanne’s den until we left. They are staying until May. Bob is done splitting wood and shoveling snow, he says.) A three dog night would be down right lonely for the Lende clan. ( I married in, and I have to say, up. I ride a bike. They ride horses.) We brought our bikes. It was beautiful country for cycling, with quiet back roads, rolling hills, big oaks and horse farms.
All those dogs under the table and on the couches may explain why Jeff came home with us from Juneau for an extended vacation. What’s one more? (It seemed like a good idea until last night when a moose in the yard kept them all pacing and barking until about four in the morning when she finally wandered off.) Jeff was lonely at home by himself now that everyone in his house is back at school and work, and my daughter and her husband are training for the Ironman in Juneau this summer. (Yes, that’s correct, a full Ironman in Alaska.) Jeff’s not an athlete.
In Florida we also met up with old friends from Haines who live there now too. It was like no time had passed in the years since we’d last seen them, since we were in our twenties in Haines, or at their wedding, which makes them just like family- the kind you pick. It was great to pedal in the sunshine too (I only fell once and the emergency room staff were very kind. After two days off I was back in the saddle), watch the Olympics with Grandma Joanne who loves them ( although we agreed that we could have seen less curling), and visit with more family back in Juneau on our way home. Emilia will be two next month and is already a downhill skier.
Mostly, I’m feeling light of heart and rich in love, as one poet said– and very happy to be home. I won’t have much time to miss everyone, as Grandma Joanne and Bob and Susie (and their dogs) are coming to Haines in July, and our Florida friends have aleady booked a yoga retreat here in June, which feels close. The snow is almost gone, the wild iris on the beach are sending up green shoots and the days are longer than they were two weeks ago.
So, in the spirit of Grandma Joanne, here’s a toast: Cheers to right now, and to family, friends, dogs and goodness.
Sure, Florida has its issues, but I’m tired of complaining and being horrified or terrified by politics and dopes. It was easy to find the good on this trip, even on the plane home. I sat next to a young Army veteran turned barber and musician (he’s in a band in Seattle). “I’m Kenny” he said, introducing himself before I heard his story. His eyes were all smiles above the mask. During the flight the woman seated behind us was struck with a bad migraine. She was traveling with a three year-old and was not feeling well at all when it came time to de-plane. They had a lot of stuff. So Kenny hoisted the backpacks, collected the stroller at the plane door, and the last time I saw him, was pushing the kiddo in it up the jetway for her.
