Day 111: A Loss, A Celebration

I heard some sad news today. My friend Megan's Papa (her grandfather, Bill Wisell) passed away from cancer. Megan and I have been friends since elementary school, so I have known her Papa since then, and I've been thinking about her family and how much this loss must hurt. He was always kind to us kids, and I have a particular memory of him that never fails to makes me smile. He and Megan's grandma Liz took us to Lake Placid once on a day trip sometime in elementary school or junior high - I don't remember exactly what age we were. I'm pretty sure Megan's younger sisters were there too. Anyway, at some point on this outing, I told them our family's favorite joke. It goes like this: "There were two guys walking down the road, and it started to rain. One guy pulled out his umbrella, but it was full of holes. The other guy said, Why'd you bring an umbrella full of holes? And he said, I didn't know it was going to rain." When I told this joke, Megan's Papa laughed SO hard. Like, much harder than anyone else, and much harder than the joke justifies. It's a joke that usually results in a snort or a sort of puzzled look. He laughed long and hard at it and kept chuckling throughout the day. Later that day, he made a comment about an umbrella full of oats. We were all confused, and he was like, "you know, from your joke!" And then we all realized he thought I had said the guy had an umbrella full of oats rather than holes, which makes absolutely no sense. And then we realized that he had been laughing SO hard over a completely weird nonsensical joke about an umbrella full of oats. That ended up being funnier than the initial joke, and we all laughed even more. For years after, even the last time I saw him at Megan's wedding five years ago, he always called me Nina M. Oats (a modification of my maiden name, Moats). Thinking about this story makes me remember his hearty laugh and his kindness. He was a wonderful human, and he will be missed. He has left a legacy to be proud of, though: all of his children and grandchildren that I am lucky enough to know carry on his warmth, humor, intelligence, and kindness. 

This news made my gratitude for what we were able to do today even more powerful: visit with family. Today was the first time since early March that we had an in-person visit with Jeremy's mom and step-dad, Cyndy and Conaly, also known as Gammie and Poppie. Normally we spend a day with them every couple of weeks, so a 111 day hiatus was really tough on all of us. We had worked out all the logistics so it would be safe - we were staying outside on their patio, sitting over six feet apart, and we brought our own food and drinks so we wouldn't be co-mingling germs over a buffet or anything. We did let the kids hug them, and it made me so happy to have someone else who loves my kids able to give them affection. Since we all have been super careful in our social distancing measures, we hoped it would be safe enough. 

It was so nice to sit around chatting with them for a few hours! Since we hadn't seen anyone in so long, we all had so much to talk about, and I don't think there was a pause in conversation the whole time. The kids were excited just to have pavement to roller skate and tricycle on. William went up and down their driveway, up and down, up and down. Taiya roller skated around and around. They also got to pet their very friendly cat Dennis, and again are lobbying for us to get a cat. Cyndy and Conaly offered to keep the kids for a couple days and all of us, kids included, said a resounding YES PLEASE! So we have a little break to look forward to. 

In the evening, we had dinner at home and then went for a late swim to pass the time until we were able to shoot off fireworks. It wasn't a struggle to get the kids out of the pool this time, since it meant we could finally do our 4th of July celebration. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

 

Happy 4th, everyone!