April 24, 2008. Harper, Texas. Moving.

Some families move and some families do not. Now in the Washington area, there are families who have lived there for many generations. I have friends at work who are very upset if their children move to another city for work. It is clear in my Family that we are a family that moves to new places. My aunts and uncles on both my Mother and Father;s sides lived in different cities. We never lived with family close by. It seemed perfectly normal to us. Ken's family was the same. Ken tracked his family back several generations, and one thing he realized early in his search. These people were always on the go. We decided that there must be something in the genes that makes people pick up and move. I know. My parents were ordered to move for their jobs, but if they found the moving unbearable, they could have always quit and stayed put. Maybe they chose the job because they knew they were going to be moved. And in our generation, Ken's two brothers live in different cities, and I have never lived in the same city as my brother or sister. Oops. My brother and sister lives in Hamilton for several years. But not now.

I think it is very nice to have families living close by. Only once did we live in the same city as an Uncle. That was in Vancouver. Dad's younger brother was a chef who worked on the boats. Unfortunately Uncle Stan also was a binge drinker, so even tho we all lived in the same city, being close together was a trial, not a pleasure. But I am sure his wife, Auntie Mollie who was also a chef, was happy to have Norman close by to help out. So I guess there are disadvantages living close by family. My cousin Ernest, son of Molly and Stan are coming to our 50th celebration. He lives now on Vancouver Island. I am three years younger than Ernest, so when we all lived in Vancouver we were never friends. I am sure I was the pesty little kid. But he always was a friend of my sister Carol, who is older than me. I will try to talk to him in Nova Scotia about growing up with Uncle Stan and Aunt Molly. But maybe he won't want to talk about it.

Just about every one who has been important to us in our lives has been invited to our celebration in Nova Scotia. Of course, not every one will be able to come, but that was how we made up our guest list. Some folks I know will be unable to come. Starr and Victor Crouch can not attend. Victor is not well enough to travel. They are firmly connected with Ken's Family from Parry Sound days. Vic lived there, and Starr's parents were the officers. Her Mother was ill, just when they were getting married, so Ken's Mother took over the role of Mother, with all that is involved. And Lillian Parent is unable to travel. Lillian was an Occupational Therapist, working in physical Disibilities when we lived in Galveston. I was a Recreational Therapist in the same department. Lillian really did put me in my place once. I loved it. Now you must know that I am very energetic, and fairly difficult to keep under control. This was how Lillian was able to shut me up. The whole department were meeting at lunch to assemble decorations for the hospital. Now O.T's are very clever with their hands. I am not. I burst into the room. All the fixings were set on the the table and every one was quietly working. I asked a reasonable question. "What do you want me to work on?" Lillian looked up and said "Start with sitting down and shutting up." Everyone laughed, including me. And I did sit down and shut up. But not for long.