Book Club at Runnymede

 Barely back from Michigan, I was whisked off to a three day Book Club Retreat at Runnymede Sculpture Farm in Woodside which is in the family of one of our members.  The organization for the days was loose and free-flowing.  Nothing tense.  No one up-tight.  Somehow it all worked out perfectly.  Meals and food prep were signed up for in advance.  I didn’t know how it all worked, never having been on a retreat with the Book Club before, so I signed up for snacks.  The meals felt like a slow moving choreographed dance.  Different people did the preparation, others cleaned up.  There was ample time for long conversations and lots of long walks on sculpture lined trails over the beautiful oak woodlands.  There was a big elegant swimming pool with sparkling turquoise water and the swimmers among us hightailed it up there.  I followed and sat in the sunshine on chaises set in an area of beach sand with yellow umbrellas.  One day I got into the perfect temperature water and did water aerobics.  I couldn’t believe how refreshed I felt afterwards. We tended to rise early and sit in the kitchen sipping coffee before a late breakfast.  One day some of us went to nearby Filoli Gardens.  We celebrated the birthday of the little dachshund one of the ladies brought with her.  We laughed.  We listened.  We napped.  We walked.  The time there was relaxed and relaxing.  So I was surprised how tired I was when I got home.  I loved our time there and the connections made.  

One Last Celebration

 Yesterday was Erika’s 18th birthday.  We extended our visit in order to be here to celebrate this with the family.   I am a bit celebrated out, but I pulled it together for her.  She had a day to choose whatever she wanted to do, whatever she wanted to eat.  She and Sonja went out to get fresh donuts while I was at my Water Aerobics class for one last time.  It was great to find the left over donuts when I got back though everyone was off doing their own thing.  I found Liam and Elsa lounging over at the White House on their IPads.  Later, Erika came over to work on a craft kit she got from one of her girlfriends.  I enticed her to walk with me to the Mad Eagle to find a new pair of earrings.  When we returned, she went out with Paul, Arne and Elsa to get lunch downtown.  It was a lazy afternoon for me.  We all went out to dinner to Bapp’s, the local Korean restaurant and Paula ordered for us all.  It was nice to see all the girls really enjoy the Korean barbecue.  Afterwards, we wandered around downtown while Paul and Erika went to get an ice cream cake to celebrate her big day.  Back home, the candles went on the cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to Erika.  Cutting the cake was the challenge.  Erika was happy ensconced in the bosom of her family.  It was a special time to all be together.   I wondered when it would be that the family would be all in person together next?  

Erika’s Big Graduation Party

Saturday June 8th had finally come,, the day of Erika’s Graduation Party.  The invitations had been sent out months ago.  Paula had been planning it for months!  Our whole family had come to E. Lansing for it.   Paula ordered a really big tent which fit five big round tables seating 8-10 people under it.  She’d gotten yard games:  Spike Ball, CornHole throws, Croquet, and even Badminton.  She and Erika arranged the food to be catered by the local Vietnamese restaurant.  And they collected Erika Memorabilia for a couple of display tables.  There were lots of wonderful pictures of Erika, some pasted on a photo board, in albums and loose photos all around.  The morning of the party Paula baked fancy rolled sugar cookies with a college outline and painted the word Smith on them.  Erika was busy writing thank-you notes.  Blue and yellow balloons adorned it all. 

Everything was all under control.  Paul was cleaning up the patios and clipping low branches off.   We weren’t needed for anything.  So Sonja finally painted my fingernails.  She’s a budding nail artist with a growing clientele.  She moved her station from their basement to our sunny porch and began.  She has all the gadgets - a tiny Dremel like grinder, bottles of potions and polish all to be painted on and a tiny globe of UV light that sets the gel at first and then a UV box for the hand to rest in while the blue uv lights set the nail gel.  I found it amazing and felt very pampered.

Arne took orders for lunch and barbecued hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch.  We took off the white table cloth and all ate under the big-top.  In a quiet moment, I asked Erika how she was.  She said she wasn’t nervous for the party, but her biggest fear was that it would rain.  There was a 60% chance of rain predicted for 6 PM.  The party was scheduled from 4 - 8.  At 3:30, the first person, a neighbor, arrived with her two sons.  Neighbors, colleagues, friends and of course Erika’s friends and the tennis team had been invited.  Having such a big party for the high school graduate is a mid-western tradition.  Erika was invited to many parties of her friends.  Paula is the consummate party-person.  She loves to create parties and this was her masterpiece.  

But the weather was the wild card.  The party was well underway, when at 6 pm, a mighty cold wind blew in announcing the cold front and rain that came next.  We all just moved closer under the tent.  The rain couldn’t dampen the joy of the celebration.  Maybe that is the lesson, when the worst you imagine happens, just keep going and look for the positive.  People kept coming and the celebrating continued.  Bob loved it that the neighborhood kids climbed in the tree house.   I loved talking to old friends and making new ones.  I loved the whole big party celebrating Erika’s Graduation.    Everyone loved Erika!!!!

   

A Week of Saturdays

 The past week has flown by.  Strangely, each day seemed like Saturday, a relaxed happy day with just fun things to do.  It’s hard to believe that it was a week ago Paul, Paula, Bob and I were on our way to the Girls State Tennis Championships.  The team left the night before an hour after Graduation.  According to the published schedule, Erika and Elsa had a bye in the first match and wouldn’t be playing until 11:30, but we left early because Paula wanted to be sure in case they got bumped up and Paul wanted to see the other girls play.  We found a great place to put our chairs up on a grassy knoll under some trees.  It was chilly.  The tennis was good.  Erika and Elsa smashed their opponents from Wyandot.  And then we waited more until their next match where unfortunately they were the ones who lost to the team that won their entire division.  If you’re going to lose that’s the one to lose to. The team stayed in Grand Rapids for another night so they could watch the final matches the next morning. We drove back and I was surprised how exhausted I was since all I’d been doing all day was sitting in a lawn chair watching tennis.  

Saturday night was the Tennis Banquet at the High School.  Cossete, the team’s coach, set a most positive tone, affirming and celebrating every member of the team.  Sonja was first and the words she said about Sonja were so positive about how she supported the team and encouraged and helped all the players.  Sadly Sonja couldn’t play after the first match at the beginning of the season because of serious shin splints.  It was very hard for her to by sidelined, but she rose to the occasion and showed her true character helping the others out.  She was to be placed as Number 2 Singles before her injuries.  The Captains of the Team gave out the “Paper Plate Awards” (humorous awards for each member).   Sonja’s was “The Secret Weapon” Award.  The feeling of the evening was lovely and showed how much the girls liked and supported each other.  

By Sunday, I’d restored my energy which was a good thing because I had three things to do!  First we went to church where it was “Pride” Sunday.  The church was full and it was clear this congregation really believes in the value of all people and is very happy to celebrate their 2SLGBTQIAplus members.   Then I had signed up for an Indigo Dyeing Workshop at the local yarn store.  There were only 4 of us so the dyeing went quickly.  I was thrilled to dye the pound of my light gray hand spun wool.  It came out a beautiful Norwegian blue gray. The day was topped off by hike with girl friends from church and then a dinner at the Blue Gill Diner in Haslett, a nearby town.

The final impression is the strawberry-rhubarb pie I made for a dinner party on Tuesday night.  It is the first pie I’ve made in years and years, so I was nervous especially about the crust.  But it turned out well and added to the wonderful ambiance of the table at our dinner partyout on our big grassy backyard.  It was a beautiful garden party.  And then the next day, I invited over our neighbors to finish the pie off.  

Wednesday, Erika had her birthday party for 14 of her friends.  She had a plan and got Paul to hand make mugs that they painted at the party. It was sweet to take a peek at the gaggle of  girls set up at a huge table in their basement happily creating.  It was surprisingly loud with the wonderful positive happy energy of all the girls enjoying each other’s company and celebrating Erika’s 18th birthday.  

There seems to always be something happening here.  Now there is a big tent set up for Erika’s big Graduation party Saturday.  All the family has gathered and we look forward to tomorrow with all their friends and neighbors invited.

Graduations!

 Thursday night Erika graduated from E. Lansing High School at the Breslin Center, the huge MSU basketball facility.  We got front row seats just above the floor where the graduates sat.  As the graduates began to process in to “Pomp and Circumstance” I found I had tears in my eyes.  Three hundred and fifty or so students marched by us all  in alphabetical order.  When Erika finally came around, she spotted us and smiled and even gave a little wave.  It was 65 years ago I graduated from high school and I was flooded with memories of that day but also with reflections of how high school graduation marks the end of childhood and teens and the beginning of adulthood.  So many memories flooded my mind as I saw students I recognized, memories of Halloween marches around Marble Elementary School, memories of the many birthday parties of Erika’s we were able to attend, memories of our many visits here as we walked Erika and Sonja to school and picked them up at the end of the day.  As is always said, the years have flown by.  And there she was three rows from the back in her cap painted with SC for Smith College looking forward to a bright future.  She has had quite a senior year: being a section leader in the Marching Band; being selected for Homecoming Court; being a section leader in the Orchestra; being a team captain on the Tennis team and making Summa Cum Laude.  She most humbly and gracefully carried all her achievements to this day.  As she resolutely walked up to get her diploma, we cheered.  When all students had received their diplomas, on the count of three, they move the tassel on their cap from the right side to the left signifying their graduation.  And then their all cheered and threw their caps into the air!  I’d never seen that before and it was an impressive moment.   As they gathered back their caps, the music began and in order they began to recess to commence the rest of their life. We found the graduates outside in a great crowd of happy people congratulating the graduates and taking many many pictures.  It was truly a gift to be able to share in this exciting event and be able to hug Erika in person.

But Erika was not the only grandchild to graduate this week.  Back in Palo Alto, Elsa graduated from 8th grade on Wednesday late afternoon.  As Arne described it to me on the phone later, I felt sad that I wasn’t there to support her.  All 461 Middle schoolers marched in and sat on the stage.  As he described the ceremony, it sounded very much like Erika’s, except the students weren’t wearing cap and gowns and they didn’t walk up to get their diplomas as their names were read.  Then the next morning, Liam graduated from 5th grade at Addison Elementary School.  It was a smaller more personal ceremony because there were only 60 graduates from the two 5th grade classes.  Arne told me that each teacher said a few words about each student.  Liam was described as a whiz who loved everything about woodworking.  Next time either of them graduate, I hope to be there for them.  It was quite a confluence to have three of our four grandchildren graduate in one week!  They are all growing up as life marches on.  I am so very proud of each of them!!