Dan and Marilyn stayed home and sheltered in place three months and she'd always say to me, "we don't really want to go anywhere, we just want to be with our family." Karlee and Grafton cancelled their trip to Spokane in late March and the grandparents just could not take not seeing him any longer. They invited me to join them on a 10 day road trip to Denver and I thought to myself, "well, yes, I'll go, I have nothing else to do." Dan drove every single mile as Marilyn and I read, played games on the IPAD, listened to books on tape, and just enjoyed the beauty of Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho. They agreed to take a risk and stay in an AirBnb basement apartment in Billings. We had separate rooms and showers, quiet and cool for sleeping. My dear friend, Marcia, hosted us in Pocatello on our way home. We actually had minimal contact with strangers and precious time with our families. Thank you Montana for your clean, modern, and safe rest areas!
I enjoyed precious time with the Gaeke's - lots of walks and hikes, sewing, playing Yatzy on the IPAD. They make the most wonderful meals and we ate outside several times. They learned the squeaking coming from the chimney was a family of racoons! Of course we enjoyed the baby who cried for the Mama and tentatively stepped out on a tree limb, but never made it away from the chimney.
Grace and I made face masks and she used the leftover strips of fabric to make scrunchies for her friends and all the girls in her girl scout troop!
I noticed a huge bag of garbanzo beans compliments of the Essers in Maureen's pantry. Paul roasted red and yellow pepper and we made hummus one day while she was working. It totally disappeared by the end of the week. I think she's convinced it's a great snack! I experienced the challenges preparing meals presents for Maureen. Two kids have allergies, Paul has Celiac disease and Maureen prefers not to eat wheat products. Every label must be studied! Grace can eat everything, but Ryan cannot eat dairy products and PJ can't eat eggs. I had no idea how many prepared foods include those ingredients...salad dressings, pasta, ice cream! They rarely go out to dinner or treat themselves at Baskin Robbins. I cleaned up the kitchen one morning and Paul noticed later in the day that the frying pan had a bit of pancake in it. he said, "who put a dirty frying pan in the drawer?" Well I owned up to it, not realizing that it would contaminate the sausage he planned to cook! They have two toasters for the same reason. My goodness my cooking life is so easy compared to theirs.
Thursday we drove to Boulder, parked at Chautauqua Historical Park and hiked a bit up to the Flatirons! Hiking Trails recently opened up in Colorado so we felt rather fortunate to find a place to park and an empty picnic table for lunch.
We finished off the day at the Ice cream store, Ryan was happy with a soda and although I'd planned to buy the treats, they would only accept a credit card! Ahh, the joys of the Pandemic.
The three kids have been home for three months, doing homework, completing chores, and choosing a favorite Bible verse. One evening I felt privileged to listen to their Bible verse of the day and why they chose it. Next day Grace asked me about my favorite verse. She looked it up on some app and pasted it onto a lovely background and sent it to me via text message!
Impressive for a 12 year old!
Marilyn loaded their car with all kinds of toys for Grafton - he loved riding to the park in this wagon!
The car was much lighter coming back home.
Even though Marilyn and I admitted to being lonesome today it is good to be home. I had a brand new furnace and A/C unit installed today. Thank God because it's 94 degrees in Lewiston right now. I have lovely AirBnb guests, new grandparents here to visit their 21st Grandchild.
And, I received a great gift in the mail today from my cousin, Lucy Hewing. It's a letter written by my mother to her sister, Celia, just two weeks after I was born. Mom wrote thousands of letters, but rarely dated them, so this is quite the treasure. Gratefully, Mom's sisters in Illinois saved some of her letters and our cousins have sent them back to us. But, we've often commented that most of Mom's letters were full of facts only, she shared very little emotion. But this one is much different and I'm touched by her words...even admitting that she's tired of sitting around. And, I'm delighted to know how the Kopczynski's celebrated my birth!
Also, the thoughtful gift of a Bendix automatic washing machine for their first wedding anniversary. I'd never heard the story of how they acquired their bedroom furniture - my goodness there is a lot of information in this letter. And, sisters, Celia and Bertha, sharing how cute their babies are! That would be me and my cousin Lucy!
Never again will I despair at having saved letters, cards, and anything handwritten. I wish one of my siblings had saved a letter I wrote after Duane or Karen was born. Back in those days we did not talk much on the phone - long distance calls were really expensive. We just did not know which letters to save so we saved all of them for awhile and finally had no room to store them all, so most of them got thrown away. Sad!!!
