I probably won’t be posting for the next couple of days; I picked my sister up at the airport yesterday. She flew in from Albuquerque and will be here for several days, staying with my Mom. So I’m getting ready to zoom down the mountain again to spend the weekend with them. Today will be spent shopping (my sister loves to shop). And tomorrow we’ll head south to Monterey to visit Dad’s grave. Tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of his passing.

Throughout my life, he never spoke much about the time he served in the Marines,

Dad at 17, a proud Marine. He dropped out of high school to join up, but went on to get his degree in accounting with the GI Bill after the Korean War.

much of it during the Korean War. Yet when he was dying, it was in that military cemetery he wanted his remains interred, rather than in one closer to home. After he passed, we found a short biography he’d written. In it, he described some of the places he went and the things he did and saw during his time in Korea. It was a new story to us. Though he was proud to be a Marine, Dad had always shrugged off his service, saying that he’d spent most of his time in the rear, doing office work. But in his bio he wrote about the places he went and the battles he took part in, and about the young men he knew who’d been killed or maimed in combat. It was a revelation. His bio brought home to us how much that gentle, genial, humble man’s service meant to him. We honored his wishes.

The cemetery is a nearly five-hour drive (on freeways crowded with hurtling semis) from Mom’s house, which makes it really difficult (read “impossible) for her to get down there on her own. She’s 78 now

Dad and me in 1957, San Francisco, CA

and is a very nervous driver. So Jami and I, along with my Dad’s younger sister, will make the trip with her, as we do each year. Mom and Dad were, from the moment they met in San Francisco in the ’50s, very much in love with each other, and that never changed during their 49 years of marriage.

My hand has nearly healed, though it’s still a bit swollen. The wound on the back is puffy and sore-ish, but it’s closing up slowly but surely. The one in my palm has closed completely. Amazing how quickly the body repairs itself after injury, isn’t it? I don’t even need the band-aids; the wounds don’t look scary anymore, so there’s not even any need to hide them.

I hope this finds all of you, my friends, feeling well and getting ready for a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend. Enjoy the gifts it brings.