Silver Valley Girl gave the sibling assignments for January. Here is first one:
"Recall a memory from 2010 about each of your siblings and share the memory.It can be one memory or two separate memories."
I am going to share a memory about each of my siblings. Silver Valley Girl's memory was way back in Janurary in 2010. SVG and her husband did a two person performance of "I Do! I Do" for the Sixth Street Theater in Wallace Idaho. I first wrote about it
here under the title "Best Community Theater I've Seen: Bravo to Agnes and Michael". SVG was Agnes and I think the most remarkable thing about the performance was watching her age before our eyes on stage. It was like putting our lives into rewind in some respects.
I can remember her wedding, when she was pregnant with her first child (who was sitting behind me all grown up), and the many times she has sang with her husband. At the end of the play as I watched her age even more it made me wonder what all of us have to look forward to.
She will one day be the mother of the bride and a grandmother. She will also age gracefully like my mother has. The picture at the top was a favorite as my sister did finally look a bit older than Mom. A year later I can still say Bravo Agnes... a performance that earned two thumbs up... way up!!
The silver lining was that all proceeds were given to charity in the Silver Valley.
In July the West/Woolum/Baugh/Coomer/ Mullikin/Roberts/Officer/Smith/and more gathered in Orofino Idaho for the Last Cousin Standing Hootenanny Reunion. This is where the memory of my brother Raymond Pert occured. Before we even got out of Moscow Friday my memories began with my brother giving a moving workshop to our writing project on "being lenient".
I think the writing I did set the tone for a week-end of family, fun, fantastic food, coolers,laughs, Bloody Marys,Kalura, Derek's Potatoes, smoked turkey, late nights, hot weather, lots of dogs, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandkids, friends, and cool drinks.
Raymond Pert and I did it. We were part of the last cousins standing on Sunday evening as the week-end began to wind down. JEJ had left earlier to get home while it was cool. SVG and family had departed earlier with Mom.
It was hard to leave everyone. RP and I knew we had to head back down the Clearwater River, take a last look at Dworshak,get a whiff of the pulp mill, meander up the Lewiston Hill and eventually land in Moscow as he needed to prepare to be the guest writer at the NIWP writing retreat and I had to get back into teacher mode to instruct the current NIWP summer group the next day.
The reunion was significant because we were surrounded by the love and acceptance of Mom's family that had been so much a part of our growing up. We loved visiting this family every summer. All week-end whether it was remembering our cousin John, Beaver Dam, Grandma's glads, Lila's roses, cousin Mark's trip on his tricycle, Norm, the Glenwood Market, Andy Godwin, or Lindy Carr... it was all good. My cousins helped me remember stories I had forgotten about my deceased dad. My brother traded fast break wit with cousin Lura while I shed a few tears with cousin Judy.
When the day ended we did it. The last standing cousins were RP, myself, Lura,Judy,and Derek. I shared this week-end with the whole family, but RP and I began the journey and ended the journey together. We loaded up his collection of paper products at the beginning and cleaned out the empty cooler at the end.
My only hope is the next one will be sooner rather than later.
