Part 4 of 7 … Saying Hello & Goodbye

Part 4… My Summer Vacation

The family gathers throughout the week and in spite of having a four-story Victorian home, we still experience elastic walls. Five grandchildren and two dogs in the attic, our daughter’s family of five plus their dog in the basement apartment, our son camped out in my art room, and another granddaughter on an air mattress in my husband’s office. Another daughter who lives locally in a three-bedroom home experiences the same elasticity. She has a husband and three children and a live-in niece but makes room for eight cousins. More family and friends take up residence in hotels and some will only come down for the Celebration of Life on Saturday.

Off to Costco to get bouquets of cut flowers and ten pineapples for the centerpieces.

Friends and family have visited over the past six weeks. They have gone fishing and shooting, hosted dinners and barbeques, while another has come to tape interviews for a proposed book chronicling CTE, a result of Michael’s many years of concussive football injuries.

Friday afternoon is clear, and Michael’s friends begin to gather once again.

Michael, “Who wants to go shooting with me?”

I am stunned when my 70-year-young sister says, “Me. I want to go.” She turns to me, “You want to go too. Right?” Well, shooting was the last thing on my mind but why turn down an adventure when it is presented, and my sister is so excited to be able to do something new. Michael and company take the challenge with excitement and acceptance as they troop off to the mountains with assorted family for a day of shooting.

Michael has the best friends. My sister has never held any kind of gun before in her life but proves to be a crack shot. I do well. We have the best instructors who patiently teach two seventy-year-olds to shoot a magnum, a carbine, and an Uzi. Yes. That’s right, an Uzi. The result is that we should have taken up marksmanship years ago. We hit the targets again and again. Ping, ping, ping. My sister is ecstatic. I’m proud. The Uzi was a bit more difficult as I was unaware there were two sights to line up. Oh, well, I’ll get it next time.

Friday night approaches…