Making New Memories

I tried to write this post a few minutes ago, but it just didn’t work in my head.  It’s rare that I erase two whole paragraphs, but I did.  Maybe making new memories is more work than I thought.  I’ve laughed so hard since Lea and Karma arrived, and we’ve talked almost non-stop.  Remembering together, crying together, and acting like little kids and old women at the same time  - downright hard work.  Good work, though.

Dave was out of town on Friday, taking care of some of his mom’s business and checking on her house.  No one’s looking to buy, the real estate market being in such bad shape right now.  He drove back home the same day.  By the time he got here, I think we were just as tired as he was, and we’d only left the house for about an hour.

Lea has taken lots of great photos, some beautiful closeups of raindrops hanging from the blooming trees outside our kitchen door, and some at the carnival last night.  Yes, we actually went - for about a half hour.  Just long enough for her to get some good shots, and for Karma and I to ride The Scrambler.  It’s one of those rides that spins and uses centrifugal force to push you all over the tin can in which you sit, only a metal bar between you and the parking lot.  Karma and I laughed and bounced around seat number 11 for all of two or three minutes, and it was over.  $3.00 each.  Wow, I’ve always hated hearing older people say, “I remember when that used to cost…” but I remember when those rides cost a quarter. 

Besides the three of us being the only people seeming to enjoy anything about the carnival, the next odd thing about being there, was that the goldfish game has no real goldfish anymore, just big stuffed-animal goldfish.  I’m sure this is less trouble with the constant travel, and who knows, maybe the animal rights activisits made a stink about the live ones some time in the past 10 years when I wasn’t listening.  Then there were all the flashbacks of my last trip there with Nat and Owen - good memories, really, but it made me sad that no other families last night looked as happy as we’d been back then.  No one but us, that is.  And, Lea, Karma, and I were about the last people on earth I would have imagined having any fun at a carnival, at this time in our lives.  Lea’s pictures from our little adventure are fun and funny. 

Today, Karma went to visit her cousin.  Lea and I drove to San Francisco for what we thought would be a few hours.  She wanted to take more photos, and we called Laura to see if she was up for a visit.  She was, so we drove south, talking mostly about Nat and Owen, and Lea’s brothers.  We talked about how strange it is when we meet someone our age who hasn’t experienced the death of a close friend or family member - like, how can that be, when we’ve lost so many?  She said she thinks “all us broken people make for better company, so we’re in it together”.  I had a hard time driving or completing a sentence, but we got through the rough patches, and drove on.

When we got to Laura’s house, we laughed more with her, talked about our old days together, and went to a local coffeehouse.  She was going to see a play tonight, and after over 20 years of planning to go see the ballet together, Lea and I finally did it.  Tonight, we saw Giselle, performed by the San Francisco Ballet. 

No planning, no deciding what to wear, no idea what to do with the 5 hours between dropping Laura off at home, and 8:00, when the performance began - that’s the only way it was ever going to happen, I guess.  Oh, and the 20+ years we spent talking about it. 

Before we reached the Golden Gate Bridge, Lea mentioned that, well, here we are right smack in the middle of her birthday and mine, another year we wouldn’t make it to the ballet.  I said, “Well, why not?  We don’t have to be anywhere tonight, except wherever we end up, right?”  She said, “You know, Linda Kay, we’ve got to make new memories.” 

That’s what we’re doing.  I think that’s our secret.  We keep our old memories alive and living in our conversations.  We love our friends and family whether they’re here with us or not.  We carve out stories with signs and symbols to explain the unexplainable.  And, we don’t stay too long at the fair…or the carnival. 

Song for the night: Too Long at the Fair, Bonnie Raitt

http://youtube.com/watch?v=O2Kf-BZw1eI

~ by Linda on February 24, 2008.