A Rare Sight

For a few brief moments, we had this view, which I took with my iPhone, and then it was back to the "madding crowd," although fewer cars on the road than in the workday commute.

Our destination was Anaheim, to spend the afternoon with my niece and her family. And despite saying in yesterday's blip that "There's no way that I could write a journal entry about all that on my phone," needs must.

My father, D, married young (19), and he and his wife had a daughter, A. About 18 years later, that marriage ended, and a couple of years later, he married my mother, who was 13 years younger than him and six years older than his daughter.

Enough math -- A married and had four daughters, of whom S is the youngest, and my parents had three daughters, of whom I am the oldest. We were on good terms with A and her family, but as we lived in New Jersey, and later Ohio, we rarely saw them.

In 1997 I went to Anaheim for A's 50th wedding anniversary party, which was the last time I saw S (and her sisters) until today. S and I had exchanged Christmas cards over the years, and we both enjoy reading and writing, so when I saw how close Anaheim was to Escondido, where Phil and I are vacationing, we made plans to get together.

While S shared old family photos with me and we talked about my father (her grandfather), as well as our sisters, children, and her grandson, Phil and S's husband R bonded over their shared interests of craft beer and woodworking. It was a very special afternoon, one I will long remember, and we look foward to having S and R visit us.

Blip 1493