first summer trip, 2005

Last weekend, I flew down to Washington to see family. I spent the first part of the trip with my mother. We had a lot of business to transact, and we get along well in that mode. She's working on projects for the next stage of life -- fine-tuning her estate plan, moving my step-father, and moving herself -- lots of big and important thoughts. I'm pleased that she has decoupled the two moves; she and my step-father have different needs. When she was thinking of moving together, I wasn't sure she was solving any long-term issues. I'm also pleased that she's making decisions while she's of sound mind and fairly active; I would hate to make any of these decisions for her.

I briefly saw my step-father, though I'm not sure he saw me or registered that it was me. He looks even more frail than he did the last time. He doesn't speak much, so it's hard to know how much he's taking in. The word that popped to mind was "transparent." He does get good and loving care, and I'm expecting that any decisions made will try to match what he has now.

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The second part of the trip was a visit with my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew. They're in Washington for a few weeks to see grandparents, to allow the kids to revisit their home base, and for my brother to run a three-week theater camp, something he's done every year for over a decade.

I got to stay with them at the Annapolis house. The tenant graciously moved out for a few days, though he did drop by one evening to chat. He was really there so he could get in an evening boat ride with his girl friend and their three dogs.

One of my favorite activities is to sit on the deck by myself and watch the water. The little cove at the bottom of their cliff is now teeming with life; we saw an otter and a great blue heron within just a few minutes of each other. Boats sail by, the light changes. It's one of the most peaceful places I know.



And the kids are great. Paloma, who is nearly four, loves to dress up. This is the outfit she wore to dinner one night -- and she wore all her accessories through dinner. Strangers came up to pay her homage and to announce that there was a princess in our midst.

Santiago, seven and a half, is suddenly fascinated by ancient cultures, foreign languages, and alphabets. He soaks up information about the Egyptians, loves Mayan ruins, and has been printing a notebook worth of information he's found over the web this summer. He built a temple and talked to me about Stonehenge, specifically about how the sun shines through the pillars at specified times of the year. He also talked to me about Saturn (how far away it is, what the rings are made of, the differences between a meteorite and a moon), and apparently he's interested in dinosaurs, too. His mom called him a "mini-Robert."





It was a good trip, but an exhausting one. I was up past midnight every night, and continued that pattern when I got home. (My return flight was three hours late, which turned the last evening from one with plenty of time to get a good night's sleep to a bit of a nightmare with almost no time to sleep.) Fortunately, this weekend includes some extra days, so I have some time to recover. Next weekend, we're off again, this time to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts for a weekend of culture and more relaxation.