Blue Nettles

My friend, Jennifer died last week. She has been battling pancreitis for years. Lately, she was doing well. This time her body did not respond to anything. She died minutes after life support was disconnected. She was 33 years old.

She has a six year old son, Noah, in James' class. The week before she died, James spent an afternoon at their house. She spoiled him. Noah is going to the same school as James and Davis next year. She lived with her husband, son, and her elderly mother. This is a family we will grow up with.

Today is the funeral. I am having a real hard time. I try not to ask why. I'm not angry. Just very, very sad. Little boys need their mommas.

So, I kick into organization mode. I'm helping coordinate information to the kindergarten families. I leave messages for Noah's dad like when school gets out early or the next parent meeting.

I have a new guardian angel. I'm going to miss Jennifer.

Very cool, Kay, your fast race. I'm totally impressed.

Well Whitey and I had been feeling realy good about dieting and loosing a bit of weight since leaving Australia. Then yesterday we went into SF and had brunch with an old sailing friend (Cathy Franklin who mom & dad may remember me talking about). She served us pancakes and crisp bacon, etc. etc. Then went back to the East Bay and spent the afternoon and night and Sunday with John & Briana Taylor and girls. Have a great Mexican meal last night then a breakfast of hash browns and eggs, etc. etc. So yummy but I think I'll have soup tonight.

It's great to be back here. Great to catch up with old friends and see some old areas. Have not ventured to Marin County yet as we have plenty of time for that.

Love to all,
Max and Whitey

Okay, I just get to brag for a little bit here...Yesterday, I ran the Salt Lake 5k (big event along with the Salt Lake Marathon). My time was 26:45 (it's just over a 3mile race). I came in 13th of 170 women in my age group-41-44yr. olds, and 880th of 3,822 total runners. I was just about 4 minutes behind Joan Benoit Samuelson- famous woman athlete, gold medalist, Boston Marathon winner, etc.. My time this year was about a 3 minute drop from my time last year. Go figure why I ran so fast- I just felt strong and felt like pushing it. So, that's my thrill for myself- fun to have these little accomplishments just for me. Well, it was great to talk to you Max this week- you feel so much closer! That was interesting to read about your Brigham City experience and memories- Charley. Right now- I don't feel like I could go back- but maybe I'll have something like it someday. Have a good week everyone! Love, Kay

Hello everyone:

We have arrived in California. Spoke to Mom & Dad earlier today. We are feeling a bit disoriented - not sure what time zone we are on and didn't sleep too well last night. But everyone here is incredibly nice and offering assistance. Our 'employers' (friends) are away in Europe for another 2 weeks so we are staying at their houseboat for now. We are supposed to be getting our 'houseboat' ready to move onto but that is another story. It is a bit like 'manana land' here. We are smiling. We will spend the next couple weeks getting a bit oriented, hopefully getting our new home ready and catching up with old friends around the Bay Area. Once Lars & Nancy get back and we get into May we can expect our jobs to be full on, 24/7, at least at first so need to catch up with people now.

That is an amazing story, Charley, about Mrs. Messervy. Sorry to hear of her passing but she did lead a very productive life and such an honor for you to be pall bearer. What a walk down memory lane for you. I don't know what I'd do if I saw some of those people.

Well we are not sure what is cheapest to make phone calls from - our new cell phone or their home number. But our new number is 925-234-1173 We are also trying to figure out how to get our voice mail on it. So please call but I will track everyone down soon as well.

It is great for both of us to be back in the states.

Love you all,
Max

Last Monday morning I awoke at 5:00 and realized I had just had a dream about Ross Reeder, a Palace Playhouse (Box Elder High School) classmate. I had last seen Ross more than two years ago at my 25 year Class Reunion. I don't know what may have triggered my dream about him.

I took the kids to school that morning and when I returned home Lynne said I had received a call...from a guy named Ross Reeder! It made my hair stand up. I called him back immediately. He told me Mrs M. (Messervy) had died, at the age of 85, and she wanted a few of her past Theater students to act as pallbearers. I was honored to be considered and accepted. The funeral was to be held on Saturday in Ogden where Mrs. M had lived for the past 25 years since her retirement.

I went to Brigham City on Friday to spend a little extra time and maybe see some old friends, if possible. I was talking to Dave Layton on the way to BC and asked about Rhonda Bickmore, my buddy from the Palace and Jackson Hole Playhouse. He said she was a teacher at the same Junior High we all went to and that his daughter had her as a teacher.

I drove to the school as soon as I got to town and went to the office to ask if they would call Rhonda and tell her an old friend wanted to see her. She didn't know who I was at first. The whole scene seemed so out of place. We last saw each other in August 1977. She and I visited for an hour in her classroom.

Later, Dave and I drove to Ogden for the viewing. We ran into Alesa Hobson and then Ross Reeder. We went in to see Mrs. M together and meet her family. They had three giant scrapbooks documenting her unbelieveably productive, 38 year career. Of course, we mostly looked at the pictures and stories about us. Then we spent an hour or so reminiscing and catching up. Everybody wanted a report on Max.

Later that night, at the Laytons, Mark Poleman happened to show up on his way home (N. Ogden) and we got to catch up, as well. He wanted to know about Ellie and the folks.

On Saturday, we did the funeral. Ross, Alesha, John Bigler, Nanette Perry, Julie Maddox, Cheryl Keller and Chad Carr all showed. Several of us spoke at the graveside (ad lib, of course) and we went to Denny's afterward to catch up and tell stories. It was terrific fun!

The Palace Playhouse was such an intense and all consuming experience for everyone involved. It set a direction and a foundation for me. And after seeing these folks I believe it did the same for them, as well. We decided to hold an informal Palace Reunion during Peach Days to gather more folks. Maybe sometimes you can go home again.

One additional observation: When I got home and told Luke about seeing my old friends he asked if they had changed, if their personalities were different. I told him no. Not that I could see. Although, we may have many experiences, tradgedies, successes and travels it seems to me we are essentially who we always were. To me there is great comfort in that. Charley

Aloha everyone:

Arrived in Hawaii yesterday. After a 12 hour sleep - yes 12 hours which we have not done since we met, I think - had a nice relax on the beach. The water is perfect temperature here.

Love you all,
Max and Whitey

Hunting Island SC

I got back from visiting Dave and Pam in South Carolina on Sunday. Lots of hayfever down there since they are getting into thier spring already. One day we went to Hunting Island, a jungley barrier island in the southern corner of South Carolina (see picture above) that is slowly being eroded by the Atlantic. I'll add more pictures later.

I spent all of yesterday and part of this morning getting my computer running again. I had a corruption on one of my operating systems but I backed up most of my stuff before it went completely bad. Now it's back to 99% operations. I just can't get the sound to work. I'll probably just have to buy a new sound card since the old one is six years old and there is no software on the internet to support it. I can just think of the new sound card as my first step in building a new computer - which I was planning to put off for another year.

This morning, when I went out to run my erands, my car's battery was dead (new battery six months ago) so I have another project for the week. I'm off this week also and I was worried that I wouldn't have anything to do. But the deus ex machina provides.

On my time off, I've been thinking how I could participate more on this blog. My day-to-day work is either deathly boring (just admit how little you care how the Commerce Dept. pays for its travel services) or is sooo interesting it is inappropriate for me to discuss publicly.

But I do live in this strange parrellel universe of Washington DC. And I do follow International and National politics very closely (I even have some silly degrees in that stuff, for what it's worth) ... so I might as well share my views and opinions (oh so insightful they are) with you all.

Here is a blog on what is happening in Lebanon. An interesting quote:

Later, inside a different tent, a young woman took me aside. And she said: "I must tell you something. If we didn't think we had American support we would never have done this. They would kill us. We need you. It is just a fact."

Hello everyone:

We left Perth early Friday morning and are in Melbourne now. We completed the house with no time left. At 6 pm on Thursday I was putting the final coat of varnish on the floors. The last month was so non-stop, 10 hour days/7 day weeks. We were determined that we would have the last week of doing nothing, chilling at the beach, etc. But alas that didn't happen. We had alot of assistance which we were very happy for. And the good news is the house looks fabulous and we have tenants moving in on Thursday for the highest rate we could get. We will get $350/week as opposed to the $220 we got 4 years ago. Also got an appraisal and it is $650 - 680,000 (we bought for $250,000 5 years ago) So the hard work has paid off and we will have something to show for our time in Perth.

We left a bit sad from Perth but knowing we are going on to something better and that will make us happier. It was very special to spend time with Whitey's parents and family. We also made some (and reconnected) with some great people.

We are having a good relax with Gus and gang for a couple days. We are then having 5 days in Hawaii. There we will definately collapse. We need a break. We will get a mobile (cell) set up as soon as we are in SF and let you all know. I think the first 2 weeks we will have a flexible schedule as our 'employers' are in europe until end of month. Then we will be completely full-on with work. We will be ready for it by then.

Looking forward to being on the water (or near it) again.

Lots of love to all,
Max

Max and Whitey left Australia on Friday, April 8.
Has anyone heard from them??
Ellie

Dad-thanks for always enriching us with your thoughts on so many things. It really is great. You give me perspectives to ponder. The prayers you posted on the Pope gave us some additional prayers during this past week. We were consumed with following the news about him as we drove back from Arizona and the week of preparation for his funeral and the coverage of his funeral. Duane commented that he learned more about the Catholic Church in the past week than ever. He was touched by the ongoing chant of the Litany of the Saints-especially in Italian. We went to a memorial at St. Ambrose Monday evening and then Marisa's 5th grade led the school in a special mass for the Pope on Friday. We've talked all week about what a great man he was and the example he gave of himself. He was controversial at times but how many lives in so many countries he impacted. Duane kept saying to the girls to try to remember all of this and the history they have witnessed. And then there is the Terry Schiavo that got tucked away once the Pope died... but that as well gave this family much to discuss. We considered both sides of the case and tried to sort out why her family felt one way, the husband felt the opposite and why so many people got involved! Megan found some info on a website and took it to school as part of a class discussion they had. She said that most of her class felt that it was good to pull the feeding tube (from a Catholic school?). It had so many different angles to it- if so many doctors had declared her brain dead- why did her parents believe differently? Is a feeding tube different than other means of support? We know there are many disabled people in our country being supported by feeding tubes. And what about the husband - we questioned his sincerity and motives at times. The living wills, of course, are the solution and conclusion to all of this. We fully agree with this- and through all of this- more people are stepping up to making sure these things are in place. Things happen for a reason. Lastly, thanks Dad, for more info on Lewis and Clark- I printed it for Marisa to share with her class. Her class was very interested when she explained our family's connection with the Lewis&Clark Expedition a while back. This will provide more to share. Maybe it's the ages of Megan and Marisa- and media all around us of course- but we feel there is so much discuss and think about in our world. The girls are thinking about everything...and we just keep trying to be an open forum around them. Love, Kay

Here we go- tomorrow back to school and our routine. It's kind of scary. We had a great getaway to Phoenix and enjoyed being in a different climate. We enjoyed all of the time we had with Ellie, George, Davis, James. We stayed at Aunt D.D.'s and Mel's winter home (they live in Syracuse, NY in the summer). Duane has two cousins that we visited with them and their families; Lisa and Allison live in Scottsdale area. Also, Aunt D.D.'s daughter, Laurie (lives in Portland) came to visit with her 10month old daughter, Sophia. We tried our best to get time in with everyone. Duane, I, Megan and Marisa loved all of the family togetherness with everyone. We enjoyed visits to The Heard Museum (Native American Museum), Science Museum, played at the park, visited a prayer garden, Easter Mass, Easter brunch, Easter dinner, dinner out with Ellie & George (Megan babysat the kids), bike rides and visiting with everyone. Duane and I did a few great mountain trail rides- we completed an 8-mile Sunrise Trail- it was great. We relaxed, renewed our energy and loved the time with family. Happy Spring to everyone! Love, Kay

What a wonderful spring break and Easter!

We have been busy every day. The weather has been beautiful and sunny. The boys have loved spending time with relatives.

It was nice to see George Sr. and Hazel. They stayed a short four days. Hazel is not doing well and George is the primary caregiver on everything. They give true meaning to "in sickness and in health." This is probably their last trip together. They will be selling their home in Mississippi soon. They currently live with Melva (George Junior's sister) in Colorado Springs.

The boys have loved being busy with older cousins. They have been out on bikes and we were at the park a long time. It was a nice week.