OK we’re finally all back home in our house in Pasadena. Harrison hadn’t been home since we flew out to Michigan on December 15th. He’s had quite a Christmas vacation. He and I went to stay with my mom and dad in Grand Rapids for 9 days, and on Christmas Eve, we had 37 people (my sisters and brother and their kids) in our basement to celebrate Christmas.
It was beautifully decorated by my mom and dad…noisy ,fun, exciting, exhausting and the very next day Harrison and I flew in an ice storm ,actually Christmas eve night, to Vegas to meet Tim at Stratosphere Hotel to stay overnight than drive 6 and a half hours to Fresno,Ca to be with his family. But the morning of Christmas eve I had the privilege of singing at my friend/director/producer Alan Hartwick ‘s funeral. He died of lung cancer at age 52 and never smoked a day in his life.He would continually bring me back home to make what I thought were homespun children’s tapes on the Rosary, Prayers, Christmas, the Eucharist…and as it turned out ..they sell nationwide and are in every religious bookstore and publication. And little kids have recognized me in the strangest cities around the states. All because of his dreams. May God bless him as I know he has truly blessed me in the way he lived and died. the last song of the funeral was a dulcimer fueled, gospel version of ‘I’ll Fly Away”. It set the whole tone as a celebration.
Leaving Michigan was an event. My sister has the job of security at the airport one of her responsibilities being stopping and braking the truck on the runway. She kept driving up to our plane and I had my phone off, naively thinking we were ready to go in an ice storm. I thought maybe she was warning me to get off..so I turned my phone back on..but she said she had no idea why they de-iced the plane 2 times and took an hour to head to Vegas…When we did finally take off..we had to wear our seat belts for almost 2 hours of bumpy (terrible) weather. I was trying not to appear to Harrison that I was scared to death..but he was pretending to fly the plane and with each bump he’d yell”there’s something wrong with this ship!!” All in fun to him.. just my end I thought..But than peace and smooth riding for the remainder of our flight, and we had been up so early for the funeral and got in our hotel at 3 30 am GR time and Harrison never even napped, let alone flew our ship to safety.
He has grown so much and become so confident ..and having cousins all over sure helps. He still wants a sister he tells me..and I say I want a house on a hill, and to be 5’6..even tho I ‘d love to have a little girl.. He’s suddenly into football?? and thought Tim played for the St Louis Rams as all his shirts, hats ,etc..have the logo… He ‘s earning good behavior/homework points for shoulder pads and a helmet.. He already got a DSI thanks to his points, grandma and grandpa in Florida and Santa.. Anyway that ‘s it for now.
Thank you for everyone I know who sent such lovely greetings, and unexpected and wonderful gifts for me and Harrison. I hope your New Year brings you good health, joy and happiness. and WORK>> and wisdom to know how to live in the moment.