Beneath the Wraps

            Roland has to take his vacation days or lose them.  He keeps on asking when and where we shall go.  He has a desire to go to North Carolina to see his mom who was supposed to come see us in May of last year – but because of the pandemic wasn ’ t sent.           There ’ s still a pandemic.   We are not in the clear.   It was announced this morning that while some counties have advanced from extreme to high risk, other counties have been set back – ours for example.   We were at extreme and went to high risk but have been told that we are entering extreme again.           I remember when we were told that the state would reopen in phases.   There would be four phases.   I don ’ t know of any county in the state who has gone beyond phase two.   I don ’ t wish for it to sound like I ’ m living in fear.   I thin...

       Roland and I decided that we needed to replace our disappearing salt and pepper shakers for something that would be easier to fill and easier to spot.   I think the ones we ended up with will get lost in the shuffle as the ones we have currently, but they will be easier to fill.        I was reminded of how many sets of salt and pepper shakers my brother and I had given to my mom over the years.   So many times her birthday would fall during our family vacation - or shortly thereafter.   Patrick and I would pick out gifts from the souvenir shop of wherever we happened to be.   I don't recall all the sets we gave her except for ones that were shaped like feet.   I don't recall ever having used them.   Mom said she did not need the constant reminder of how out of shape she felt.

         For spring break this year, we decided that we would go to Oregon.   I was excited to get away from Utah and to a state where I could breathe.   Jenna was sad not to be in Utah for her birthday, but built up an excitement to go. Roland has needed a vacation and was happy just to get away.   But none of us were as excited about going to Oregon as Beth.          Beth Goldberg and Roland were in their high school band together.   Roland was interested in dating Beth, but the feeling was not mutual.   She liked Roland as a friend, but didn’t wish for anything more.   (I personally think she may have just had higher standards) After forty years they had reconnected through facebook.            Beth travels a lot – or so it seems.   She had remarried and was looking to move from West Virginia to Oregon. ...

On Christmas Eve, I opened a gift presented by my granddaughter.   The name of the book is “Grandmothers Are Like Snowflakes . . . No Two Are Alike” by Janet Lanese (who I believe refers to herself as “Grandma Jan”) and had started reading it before I went to bed and continued after I got up and after we opened presents.    It’s got a bunch of great thoughts and little proverbs and I started reminiscing with many quotes that I read – starting with myself. Some quotes come with full names.   Some are quotes taken from children in which first name and age of child are given.   One of my favorite quotes came from an eight year old named Tammy.   It says, “ I love my grandma’s wrinkles.  Every one tells a story ” – which is where I got the title of this post.      I don’t feel much like a grandma.   I haven’t been with Ester much to make a connection in which we are both comfortable in our roles.   She’ll be three in...

There was one year when Roland seemed to make more money than in previous years or even the ones that followed. He had managed to find a package deal through a travel agency and took us all to California just right after Christmas.   The boys were out of high school for the holidays.   Jenna was two. I have heard that between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the best time to visit Disneyland.   From personal experience, I know that between Christmas and New Years is the absolutely worse time to go. I remember riding the tram the first day we went to the park.   Jenna’s enthusiasm at riding the tram from the parking lot to the park was awesome.   All four of them were excited and enjoyed every moment. I’m not exactly certain why we had driven or taken the tram.   We spent two days at the park.   As I recall we just walked to the park the second day.  I know Richard and I went back to the hotel about four hours before...