The Best!

I have said this before and I will say it again: I have been blessed with wonderful friends in my life.  I have been blessed to be able to keep in contact with these friends over many years as well.  My only hope is that I may be as good a friend in return.  Not going to lie, sometimes this thought of me not being a good friend weighs heavily in my mind.

Last Friday, I left Houston and headed north and west.  Just outside Amarillo, TX, I entered a fantastic storm.  The wind was rocking my little car all over the road, the sky was dark and flashing, it was beautiful and scary all at the same time.

Saturday evening I found myself in Moab, Utah where I was able to meet up with friends I met at Scotty's Castle.  It was wonderful seeing them again and getting caught up on their adventures.  Good friends!  (You'll notice my camera didn't make it out of my bag this whole trip...what was I thinking?!)

After Moab, I headed up to Provo where I spent not enough time with my brother.  Sister is a title I am proud of and a role I don't take lightly.  My brother is amazing and our time together was much too short.  (Notice he is starting to grow a beard.  I don't think I like it.)

Then I headed south to Glen Canyon to see a friend I met at Great Basin.  It had been a long time since we'd seen each other but picked up right where we left off.  Good friend!

From there I headed west to Zion to see a friend I met in Death Valley.  It had been forever since I'd been in Zion and had forgotten how absolutely beautiful that park is.  My friend was a wonderful hostess and we stayed up much too late talking and laughing and simply enjoying each other's company.  Good friend!

Early Tuesday morning I headed to Lake Mead to see a friend also from my Great Basin days.  It had been a while since I'd seen her and her family.  What a wonderful woman she is.  I admire her a lot.  I met her newest addition (adorable little boy) and sipped lemonade and chatted under the shade of a tree in her backyard with the desert and the lake as our backdrop.  Good friends!

That afternoon I met with a friend from Las Vegas and we hiked a bit around Lake Mead.  It was an enjoyable afternoon with beautiful views and, and, and (!!!) my first bighorn sheep sighting!!  Good friend!

Then I pressed on to Death Valley.  When I arrived it was 104 degrees.  I was able to see a lot of familiar faces and meet some new ones and share stories and adventures and enjoy the beauty of that park.  Good friends! 

In a few hours I'll be moving into housing in preparation for my third summer season in Yosemite National Park.  I'm excited to be back in a place I love.  To all my many and wonderful friends everywhere, know you are welcome whenever, wherever I am!

"Are you ready?"

On Thursday, March 31st, Casey passed away.

My grandmother was an angel.  Truly.  She was only able to give birth to one child, my dad.  A few years later my grandfather passed away.  My grandmother, a single woman in the 1950s, somehow was able to adopt two more children.  When she remarried, she and my grandpa began to foster special needs children, the children no one else wanted.  Angel.

My grandma and grandpa with two of their foster children, Robert (standing) and Casey (wheel chair).  She eventually adopted both of these children.  Though technically Casey is my uncle, he's always simply been Casey.

 Me and Casey in 1984.  In his prime, he was fast.  He would give any eight-month old crawler a run for his money.  He only had full use of one arm and boy did he use it to get himself around.

 In the mid-nineties, my grandmother and Casey moved to Houston.  

My grandma was told when she took Casey that he would be lucky to last a year.  Then twelve years.  He made it to 43.

  Though his vocabulary was extremely limited, he knew what was going on around him and he would let you know what he wanted.  He loved to eat and he loved to play and he loved to laugh.  Once, a member of the family (not me) hadn't positioned Casey properly in his chair and the whole thing tipped backwards and he landed on his head.  This family member was horrified and rushed over to see if he was ok.  Casey's face was turning red because he was laughing so hard.  He thought it was hilarious.

One of my most favorite Casey memories is from Thanksgiving 2007.  I had invited a friend from grad school to spend the holiday with us.  She got in the spirit of things when we had our traditional poetry hour.  She choose The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes.  She was standing up, really getting into the reading.  

RC: ...Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there...

Casey: Me

We laughed for a solid ten minutes, but none laughed more heartily than Casey.

To the most cheerful person I have ever known, "goo' luck"!