Up, Down and Around Our Town

Advice comes cheap. Sometimes too cheap. But, the advice to find the "blue highways" certainly did us well. And we did.

As opposed to previous years, we decided to bypass the long lines and the crappy service within the airline industry and opt for the security of the family vehicle. Since that allowed us to somewhat customize our route and include some other ideas, we jumped at the idea. Plus, when we hit the quote button on airline tickets, we were motivated to go another mode. We didn't regret it.

A brisk 400 miles brought us to the mini-reunion of a great bunch of fraternity brothers in Plymouth, Indiana. Surrounded by lakes, cool breezes and wonderful company, the boys from the 60's, now all equipped with bi-focals and other toys of the trade, enjoyed 3 days of company, golf and remembering things that had now happened 40 years ago. The natural beauty, coupled with the friendship and outgoing personalities of the other three, was both refreshing and rewarding. Plus, the wonderful story of Marilee McClintock is something out of a Lifetime Movie. It was all worth it. As are they.

The Blue Highways called on the following day and we headed east to be part of our family reunion. Central Indiana, complete with the Amish Country and the farmland is spectacular. In Western Ohio, we saw the joy of town festivals and finally migrated past Cleveland to the seaport town of Geneva, Ohio. Right on Lake Erie. Lovely evening, tremendous sunset and a comfortable night's sleep in the B&B that overlooked what used to be a very dirty Great Lake. But not anymore.

Since my wife and I decided that another advantage of the vehicle was the fact that we could take our golf equipment, we found a wonderful little course in Geneva, wandered in and inquired about play availability and proceeded to enjoy the morning in the mist and the frustration of losing the occasional Pinnacle. But, it was vacation golf; it counts, but it really doesn't. Plus, the Interstate was calling.

On to the lovely Genesee Valley community of LeRoy where my brother Bill and his wife Sue have resided for the past 35 years. Plus, since it is within earshot of shopping malls, the brothers were free to travel on their own real estate. 3 days. 3 courses. A lovely tournament on Day 2 on a pretty mountain course near Nunda, New York. Even better that the siblings played well enough to win the tourney. (some of our relatives were sure we were competing against the traveling team from the local nursing home, but in reality, we did play well.). Most of all, having time with my only brother and counting on seeing him about once a year was the real payoff. Plus, there was lots more to come.

Down the superhighway to the State Capitol where we reunited with my sister, her husband and their son Paul. We also had time to include our mother in the mix and our Friday activities included seeing him perform in a Summer Concert. Talented and sincere and an electronics whiz (in the absence of my son-in-law, Paul was a fine replacement).

On to the Catskills to our family hideaway and the reunion of the 3 families of the 3 Bostwick sisters. Now all almost in their 80's and doing fine, 21 members of the "cousin clan" descended upon Stissing Lake and while it rained in the AM, it cleared the rest of the day. Raucous laughter, wonderful stories and enough cameras to put Casio out of business, the day flew by (the good ones always do) and amidst the hugs, kisses and tears of the farewell, we considered ourselves very lucky to have stayed close. It meant so much to the elder generation as we have done this for years, but not in six years have we all been together at this pastoral setting that my grandfather envisioned some 50 years ago.

The distance of the Midwest with family in the east has never been a big problem and still isn't. However, being that close to kin does make you long to do it again and with retirements and other changes in our life schedule, perhaps we can cut down on the number of months and years that separate us from each others. These are the finest people in my life from the Greatest Generation and my hats are off to my mother, Aunt Harriet and Aunt Emily for being the most gracious hostesses that one could ask. While golf didn't appear, lots of swimming, eating and remembering did. Perhaps that's why we have these things so that all of the memories can be in one place at one time.

A sidebar story stared both my brother and I in the face. Way back in the early 60's, while fishing with our grandfather, we were instructed to drop the anchor on the boat so we could be closer to the cove where the bass were hiding. Only one problem. This brand new anchor wasn't tied to anything and since gravity didn't give out, the anchor resided on the bottom of Stissing Lake until this year when it was snagged on a dragging operation. I think Grandpa would have been proud. I know that he was upset when it happened and with good reason. His first response was to remind us that anchors aren't designed to float. We never forgot. But it was nice to see it again.

We got to tell our stories of our life, our world and our joys. My wife's career that came to an end in June and my enjoyment of being with the young people at the Harvard on the Hill. But most of our conversation turned to our hero Sasha, who progresses daily and is missed on the same schedule. We took pictures of Sasha, Wilson, Annie, Mark, Sara and Tim and Meredith and counted the days till our real reunion would be held.

Then we realized how fortunate we had been. And that we were truly home. Thomas Wolfe was right; but for a long weekend, we put his thoughts to the test. We met great people, exchanged many stories and added a richness to our lives that only comes with great family. Our goal is continue to add to its value.

Advice is always good. Trying something new is exciting. Seeing loved ones is great. But it all gets back to those in the backyard. Quincy never looked better. Till next week and as always, I remain....