A bit from the personal side…
I had a great 11 day vacation to a family reunion Thanksgiving near Boston. My middle daughter was with me half that time before celebrating Thanksgiving with her sister and other family in Wisconsin.
Two of my sisters flew up from Florida, a niece and her family drove up from Maryland, a nephew’s son drove down from Maine, plus most of the Massachusetts relatives were there. For most, it had been 8 years since I’d seen them in person.
I returned Saturday afternoon, intending to write about this today, but Sunday morning changed that completely. I received news that my sister-in-law, Leah, had passed away in her sleep in Northern California. She was more like a sister than sister-in-law to me.
I met her 50 years ago when I was a journalism major in a junior college north of Sacramento. She and her partner had just moved there from New Jersey. Within a couple of years, I recall waiting with him in the hospital lobby while Leah delivered her first child, Carl, along with other shared events like the Bozo Flats Festival that my older brother Tom and others in his film class organized. They put on a mini rock concert out in the boonies so they could submit a documentary for college credit.
Leah was making lost wax silver jewelry then, plus she danced. She’s always loved music and dance and even worked as a belly dancer for several years.
Eight years after we first met she broke up with Carl’s dad and began a relationship with my brother, who by then had a daughter from a previous partnership. They’d go on to add two more daughters to the world. Alanna and Alicia are RNs, Carl is a musician who also has worked planning the layout of cell phone towers and more. Rebekah, the youngest, is an osteopathic physician. These nieces and my nephew are all very talented and fun people.
Leah would also join the medical field, beginning as a CNA, then phlebotomist and more before retiring a few years ago. We lost my brother, Tom, 17 years ago. A few years after that, she married a nice guy, Rick, but a few years later, he passed away, too. Dealing with the losses of Tom and Rick were tough on her and she then had a major health issue of her own to overcome.
But she bounced back well, retired, sold her home and moved from East Coast to West to spend more time with kids and grandkids. She came up from Northern California to visit me last summer. She looked healthier and happier than she’d been in years, was taking classes to become a herbalist and was involved with a dance crew because, as noted, she just loved to dance.
Some think 68 is pretty old but it was way too young to depart for someone still so full of life.
(Back row, Carl and Alanna. Front row, Rebekah and Alicia. Many years ago.)
Mostly assorted nieces and nephews nearly 30 years ago. Alicia is in back, on the left with a red flower print blouse on. In the middle in a khaki shirt is Rob, my oldest sister’s son, who had recently finished a stint in the military in Kuwait during the first Gulf War. Robert passed away suddenly last year at age 54.
I won’t identify most of the others for now, except my Mom, who passed on in 2014, and Rebekah, the doctor, in front with the curly red hair.
All 3 medical sisters here at Alanna’s wedding.
Here’s Graduation Day for Dr. Rebekah. Left to right in front are Leah, Alicia, Rebekah and Carl, plus Carl’s 2 kids. The pair in back is Ryan - Rebekah’s husband - along with Carl’s then-partner and mom of the two kids.
Below is Leah and Rick at their wedding.
A more recent pic of Nurse Alicia and Doctor Rebekah. The Doc added a new baby girl to the family who turned one earlier this month.
Leah and Alicia more recently (below).
Another more recent photo of Leah, Carl, and his two kids. (Note: I typically don’t name minors online for their safety).
And here’s Leah during her mid-July visit last summer with her new puppy, Lucy (below).
I know this isn’t standard fare for my newsletter. And I wish I could find one of my brother Tom in my FB archives, as I know I have several there.
I’m just still processing this sudden and deep loss and that’s all I have for now. I hope your holiday weekend ended better than ours did.