TheBanyanTree: A Good Visit

[Margaret R. Kramer]

It’s cool and sunny this morning.  I’m glad I closed the windows before
going to bed last night.  We’re getting our first taste of fall, I think.
It’s funny how summer takes so long to get going, it finally gets a
foothold, and then all of a sudden the cooler days of autumn begin to take
over.

Our visit with Ray’s son went very well.  They were, and the “they” are
Jimmy, the son, Cathy, the girlfriend, Jerry, Cathy’s son, and Alyssa, Jerry
’s eight year old daughter, on a stopover in the Cities before heading out
to Hawaii this morning.  Jerry is a baggage handler with Northwest Airlines,
so they got a good deal on their airline tickets.

We met them at the shrine for materialism, the Mall of America.  We took
them back to our house, which is only a few miles from the shrine, since
they didn’t have a car.  They loved our house, although Jimmy kept making
comments that it was too big for just two people.  But actually, it’s much
smaller than our old house, it’s just that this house uses its space much
better.

I got Alyssa going with my old Barbie dolls and the adults kept up a good
conversation.  Jimmy brought up his mother’s surprise birthday party from a
week ago and how his ex-wife was invited and how he got mad about that and
on and on.  Ray and I looked at each other and smiled.  That’s the one thing
Ray is glad about, he’s not caught up in the sniping that goes on between
his children.  A lot of that sniping is because they spend so much time
together.  Cathy told me that she’s never seen a family spend as much time
together as they do.  Well, negativity clings to negativity, and if one
violates the pact and leaves the group, like Ray did, then the group
ostracizes that person forever.  That’s one of the best advantages of being
socially isolated – we’re not part of that crap.

We ordered BBQ from a place around the corner.  There was nothing but bones
when we were through.  Before long there were lots of yawns, so we took them
to their hotel, made jokes about the Packers and the Vikings, hugged and
said good-bye, have a good trip, and went back to our “big” house.  It was
an enjoyable visit.  I’m glad for Ray that it went well.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
~Bertrand Russell