Ellen, I’m Marching on

Dear Ellen,

Well, I haven’t written lately because there has been a heckuva lot going on. I noticed yesterday’s theme was “red” and “love” and “music”. The day was about groups of people coming together to celebrate, all day long, in different ways….

Last night I went to a party at the Broken Spoke, and it turned out to be a surprise wedding! Not for me, since I’m already married, but for two friends who have been dating for 33 1/3 years. Kathy, the bride, dressed in a red, fifties era sweetheart neckline poof dress, and she turned in a spectacular surprise performance of “Johnny’s Girl” with four women touting vinyl record hats, singing backups. The groom, John, smiled with utter glee and complete love. The whole room was swooning and laughing for joy. A wonderful way to end the week: watching love continue.

This was nice closure because the day started at a small Lutheran church in Georgetown, nestled among cedar trees, where sadness was released over the loss of our father, Ron. He passed away on Thursday after a terrible disease claimed his body and his life. It was the first time Gert has been to church alone after fifty one years of marriage. You can imagine how empty that would feel.

We headed from the church, which had lots of wonderful sing-a-long songs, and drove to the Red Poppy Festival. There, in my hot pink swing skirt (not red, really, but…you know, the tawdry side of red!) and full band, up on a giant platform stage with kick-ass sound system, we sang to a street full of folks sitting in lawn chairs in front of 1800s buildings with signs shouting ANTIQUES and JEWELRY and COME ON IN! Towards the end of our show, I asked the children to come up and we all sang “We Are Each Others’ Angels” and ended with one little girl, perhaps 6, singing how we ARE each others’ angels, alone, right on the mic. She summed it up perfectly.

From there we came home, and Lily and I hosted the last Mother/Daughter book club meeting for the year. Our book was “Escaping the Giant Wave” about a fire, an earthquake AND a tsunami that a brother and sister must outsmart. The girls arrived and I made homemade vanilla and chocolate milkshakes in our glass blender (brrrr!!!); we ate pineapple pizza; we painted wooden frames and glued on seashells; the moms chatted and caught up while we gathered in a circle and the girls reached in a bag and pulled out the questions they had written to start the dialogue about what they had read. They were all seated on blue and red and green pillows on the floor, munching on popcorn. Everyone was inspired and laughing and it was brought to the attention of the group that certain boys in third grade would not be joyfully removed from a burning building, but the girls all agreed it would be the right thing to do if the situation became a reality.