We're just home from a wonderfully long vacation.
Since I work for myself (not that it's all that often) we don't usually get long stretches of vacation because if I don't work, I don't get paid. But, it's a slow time in the building market. There aren't a lot of proposed changes to registered historic buildings in Steilacoom or Lakewood, so we could get away and I wouldn't face a bunch of angry building owners upset about their properties being regulated then not being able to talk to me about it- asap...
First stop for this traveling circus was Leavenworth, where we barged in on my sister-in-law and her family to drop off our travel trailer for the upcoming week we'd spend in Coeur d'Alene and have a sleepover. I know hosting a family of 6 is daunting, but she's always so nice to take us in.
Fortunately, my mom took the oldest off our hands for the drive to Coeur d'Alene so we were only 5 in the truck when it broke down SIX miles outside Cle Elum for our unscheduled stop alongside I-90.
It took 4 hours of logistic wrangling to fix the truck (SO nice to have a handy husband who can do everything from change a diaper to replace the power steering cooler on a truck). This little layover would have been MUCH shorter if that darn NAPA had delivered the part a mere SIX miles down the road to us.
Grrrrr.
Life lessons.
And thankfully we were down from 4 to 3 kiddos to entertain for that 4 hour stretch while poor Mark had to figure out how to repair the truck and navigate the truck and trailer off I-90 without power steering or breaks (good thing he's strong:)
Then on to Coeur d'Alene for a massive family reunion. My grandparents had 3 kids, each of whom had 4 kids, adding up to 12 grandchildren. Those 12 grandchildren blossomed into 29 great-grandchildren ranging in age from 21 to 16 months.
When they were young adults my grandparents purchased lakefront property with two other couples on Mica Bay of Coeur d'Alene Lake. This is where they spent the summers with their children and subsequently us grandchildren, who also had the benefit of spending summers there- on a delightfully neutral territory.
I was really probably there for only a week or so but to me it WAS summer.
I got to spend time with my cousin Jana- who I looked forward to seeing every summer, we'd convince ourselves that our grandpa's snores were a bear coming to get us up in the sleeping loft above our grandparent's room.
All the cousins went water skiing, except Melissa {a big sorry from your selfish big sister}, swimming, piling off the "flatty" boat to climb up then jump off Frog Rock, rowing in the little rowboat, we read books, did puzzles (an awesome banana puzzle that was all yellow except for the dole sticker), had fires in the outdoor fireplace on the bulkhead watching the bats swoop in the fading daylight.
It was perfection.
And all 12 of us were able to feel like we belonged there.
This summer we all went back to Coeur d'Alene and had the amazing gift of watching our children play on the lake together. It's an incredible feeling to watch that many little people zipping around and know that they all share great grandparents. And boy are there some strong family genes.
I wasn't prepared to feel so emotional about going back to Mica Bay.
I'd driven by in a boat in the years since my grandparents sold the cabin and I'd scoffed at how ridiculous the architectural changes are to that once distinctive modern building.
But I hadn't set foot on a dock or the beach until this trip.
We all headed via boat back to Mica Bay to spread some of my grandparent's ashes in the lake that held our family like glue. The moment I stepped onto our (ok mammy and papa's) neighbor's dock (she still lives there) I felt the tears and my throat tightened as I tried not to blubber. During any tearful goodbye my grandpa would tell the story about an Aunt Annie (?) who would cry every time she passed a train station- maybe that's why I try not to cry when I say goodbyes.
Most of us dipped our hands in the ashes and let them flow into the water where so many memories for so many people related to us were made.
To be honest, I didn't think I could do that.
I'm a little weird about touching things (Carl must get it from me- he's the same way).
But it felt right, digging in and holding them in my hands, letting their ashes dance away in the water glittered with the Mica that gives that part of the lake it's name. "Two and silk" they always said about each other, and we watched as most of us blended the "two and silk" for a final dip into the cool, clear, glittery water.
My grandparents were special, special people. Somehow they managed to make each and every one of us 12 grandchildren feel special, capable, and loved beyond imagination. It could be easy to get lost in a crowd that big, but they never let it happen.
I believe that much of who I am as a person stems from them- especially my grandma. Mammy. She had a style that was enviable, could cook anything, and found joy in many, many little things from baby birds in a nest to feeding picky eaters.
My grandparents enriched our lives immensely. And we had the benefit of that enrichment yet another summer.
Thank you Mammy and Papa, I hope you enjoyed watching us all frolic in the lake that you made home for so many of us.
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