Just got back from a family vacation that started off with my 20 year high school reunion and ended with a mini family reunion in Lake Tahoe. I guess a 20 year reunion can be a weird thing to go to, but since Myspace and Facebook, it only takes a couple of minutes to see what people look like and know what they've been doing for the last 20 years. None the less if was a fun evening out with my wife and seeing friends that I haven't had face to face time with in a long time. I ended up messing up my knee a little doing some break-dancing! Anyway it was a wild, fun time. The next day there was a BBQ for the grads and their families. So all the kids got to run around and have a good time. Thanks to Ali and Erin for putting on a great time.
Sonoma was a quick trip, just a day. Sunday afternoon we left the picnic and made our way to Lake Tahoe. My grandparents had a cabin in Tahoe for many years. After my grandmother died, he decided to sell it. He does things that only make seance to him. He's remarried and moved to the desert. I don't see him very often, he and my mother and he don't speak to each other any longer, and he has great-grand children he has never met. You kind of get the idea of what he's all about. Anyway, Tahoe was kind of bitter sweet. A few weeks ago my dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer, due to smoking which he quit twenty some odd years ago. He has to have his bladder removed tomorrow. The overall outcome is unknown, so the possibility of my fathers death has been a topic of late between my family and I. Some days are very sad, and other days are very optimistic. When you don't know what's going to happen, those are really the only two roads to travel down. My dad is a strong, hard ass guy, who feels like what ever happens, happens. His only sadness comes when thinking what will happen to my mom. He said to me with tears in his eyes, "She's a pain in the ass, but she's my pain in the ass". I try to reassure him that his kids with do the right thing if it comes to that. All of this makes me think of a time when I was much younger and worried about when the time came when my parents would be gone and how sad that would be. I don't feel old, but I am at an age now where the ones I love are becoming older and life is changing.
Having said all that, my father is optimistic about the future. Besides all this cancer stuff, Tahoe was a chance for the family to be together. My mom has rented a cabin in Tahoe for the last five years in order to do what my grandfather had not cared about doing, keeping the family together and creating memories for the children that were not around in the hayday of the family cabin. The kids loved the lake, and memories were made. Job well done Mom! I love you. Dad, good luck tomorrow. I love you!
