Anniversary Tales - Vol 1 of at least 3

BUT FIRST -- just want to tell our readers and our fellow bloggers that we have been overwhelmed in the last several days by the hustle and bustle of anniversary celebration planning and celebrating and family and friends and of course our new great grandson. So, we haven't been doing much posting (the last one was actually written several days ago) and very little blog reading or commenting. We've missed you during that time, and hope you are still with us !

+ + + +

So Friday the family and friends showed up for our anniversary weekend. First to arrive was Ken Krall, my lifetime friend (from before first grade), and now a Jesuit priest teaching at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Ken is very intelligent and a quick wit, yet he has stuck with me all these years.

We had rented the lot next door to ours and installed our motorhome on it as Ken's residence for his five nights here. Everyone else had opted for either the Best Western Motel or Motel 6. (Does anyone besides me remember when Motel 6 actually charged $6 per night? "We'll leave the light on for you!")

Next to arrive was Carol Wells, my first cousin. Actually, there were several cousins before Carol, but she still qualifies as a first cousin. I was off picking up several things at Safeway when Carol arrived. Suzy was so deeply engrossed in her book (James Patterson's Second Chance) that she didn't hear Carol's car hit the gravel out front, she didn't hear Carol climb the porch stairs. Carol was moving into view on the porch when Suzy finally saw her.

Carol had driven all the way from Mountain View, California, her first real driving trip in the last 15 years. She promptly announced that, between the Arizona / California border and Benson, she had been doused by no fewer than five major Monsoon downpours.

Vee Price was next. Vee is Suzy's very good friend from working days, at Transamerica Corporation in San Francisco. Vee proudly proclaims herself an Okie, having grown up in the tiny town of Arnett, Oklahoma.

Daughter Kathie with Grandson Sam and Granddaughter Renee and DARREN KEATON PLAIN (our very first great grandchild) arrived about 6:30 pm. They had flown from Reno into Phoenix rather than Tucson, rented a car and drove the 170 miles to Benson. Kathie and Renee had left their husbands Shawn and Adam at home to keep the home fires burning.
This is Grandma Kathie!

This is Sam - he's 15 these days.

And this is Mommie Renee and Darren.
Just for the time being, here are a few pictures of the most delightful, charming, endearing child ever born into this country.










By about 11:30, everyone had gotten tired and gone to their trundle beds, Ken to the motorhome, the rest to their motels. But we? No, we still had company coming! Daughter Deb and Grandson Jason had a late flight -- it wasn't supposed to be quite as late as it turned out to be, but that's airlines these days -- into Tucson, then a car rental, and the 45 minute trip to Benson.




Deb and Jason arrived at 12:30 Saturday morning. Jason's wife Crystal had stayed behind to keep things orderly in Post Falls, Idaho. We knew they were going to be late, so Suzy had returned to Second Chance, while I had jumped into Lawrence Sanders' Guilty Pleasures. We all caught up on each other's lives for about an hour, and at 1:30, Deb and Jason made their way north to the Best Western. The two of us headed south to our bedroom, setting the clock for 6:00am, and rejoicing that all of our progeny and some friebds had arrived safe and sound to spend the wonderful celebration with us.

Saturday was to be a big day, and we'll write about it soon, in ... Our Life on Wheels