1. After I wrote about the ghosts of Spokane that haunt, even taunt, me to this day, stirring up guilt and shame for harm I was responsible for causing over forty years ago, I appreciated friends telling me that they, too, experience similar haunting and feel similar regret for things they did or that happened decades ago.
These ghosts remind me on a personal level what I've been writing about on a broader societal level for quite some time. The past lives on. It's present. What was, is. Now this is true for positive deeds as well as negative ones. I used to think, however, that the knowledge and the impact of the good things I've done in my life would outweigh, maybe even cancel out, the reckless and heedless things.
I was wrong.
They all live on.
2. Christy hosted tonight's terrific family dinner.
For an appetizer, Christy made a Benedictine spread to put on crackers and also filled mini philo pie crusts with the spread.
Carol built each of us a remarkable and beautiful looking wedge salad with toppings I'm unable to list because my memory is inconsistent.
Christy baked delicious and tender bbq chicken drumsticks and thighs.
I brought roasted carrots and enhanced them with a butter, garlic, and honey sauce.
For dessert, Christy baked scones and provided whipped cream and fresh strawberries to cover them with.
3. We yakked for quite a while before, while, and after we ate.
It was fun talking about colloquial and idiomatic language along with regional peculiarities, whether in North Idaho or southern Indiana/Northern Kentucky. It was also fun talking about accents.
And, it was interesting talking about prejudices that sometimes come to bear on people simply because they talk differently and rely heavily on words and phrases not considered proper English.
We all know a lot of very intelligent, perceptive people who do this. For all of us, many people with these habits of language were our students who we saw be underestimated because their language use didn't conform to standards of propriety.
We discussed family news and updates and Debbie filled us in more on Samantha's baby shower in Arlington Heights, IL when Misty met for the first time family members she didn't know, until over a year ago, she even had.
We also had an interesting conversation about vacations and how modest and unspectacular ours were when we were kids, but how much we enjoyed them. Our family went to Orofino to see Mom's family every summer and, at least sometimes, came back to Kellogg via Spokane to see Grandma Woolum.
As I look back, I do not remember ever thinking a vacation would be anything else -- I had no thoughts or dreams about Disneyland, going to the Oregon Coast, going back east, or doing any other kind of trip that might involve motels or popular destinations.
I was eager to go to Orofino and swim in the city pool, frolic on the sandy beach at Beaver Dam on the Clearwater River's north fork, hang out with the Stanley kids who lived next door to Grandma, and visit the Johnston's in Peck --- oh, and see our relatives.
Back then, all of that felt to me as exciting as Coney Island or seeing the Grand Canyon!
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