There and back again

There being Phoenix, Arizona, to which my dad and I have been there and back. Tomorrow I'm going to Illinois and back for the second time in a week and on Saturday my best friend is coming to town (from Illinois, just for good measure) with her 6-week old daughter so that we can have more voices together to cheer the University of Michigan to a victory over The Ohio State University on Saturday in the big rivalry football game. So much geography. So little time.

In Arizona, my grandma was witty and funny. I got to see my roommate and we stayed up talking for hours and hours just like at home (you really miss someone when you're used to talking to them for an hour a day and then you don't see them for a few weeks!). And I got to see my adored great Uncle Neal and great Aunt Mary. I was mistaken in my last post....Neal is 94, still drives (they have two 2007 vehicles), JUST got hearing aids, still passed his sharpshooter test for the volunteer police posse in his community which means he can PACK HEAT--like CARRY a GUN! He's 94!!!!!! And he knows everyone in town and they know him and he gives waitresses a hard time in a way that they love it. My Aunt Mary will be 89 on Christmas Eve and does beautiful china painting and makes jewelry. They live in a retirement community where you must be 55 or older to own property, so they've stayed young by being around active old people. And they've been married 66 years. When remarking on this to Aunt Mary, she said, "You know, it really doesn't seem like it's been that long." They are amazing and I'm related to them.

Today was Old Newsboys Day, which is a St. Louis tradition of over 50 years. The Old Newsboys organization makes one paper a year and volunteers stand on streetcorners and sell the papers for a donation to St. Louis children's charities. For as long as I can remember, my mom has sold papers at the end of our subdivision. Before I was in school, I would go in the mornings and help her and we would make a thermos of hot chocolate and bundle up and bring blankets. Everyone knows about Old Newsboys, unless, of course, you're new to town, and then I'm sure it's absolutely befuddling. And frankly, St. Louis is so elitist and traditional, in that many who grow up here stay here and so we expect that everyone know our traditions.

Back in July, the letter came from Old Newsboys asking for volunteers. Mom turned to Dad and asked, "Will you do this for me this year?" He said he would and they both started crying. So dad and I did it together this morning. Many drove by expressing their condolences. We notified others when they asked where mom was. One lady, not knowing us personally asked, "Are there new people at this spot this year?" Mom was an Old Newsboys icon in our neighborhood. More than a few tears were shed as people pulled up. I saw neighborhood moms and dads I haven't seen in years. It was a really beautiful morning. Dad already has an expansion planned for next year that we take over the subdivision next to ours, which means, I guess I'm coming back.

Clarification point: I think I confused a lot of people into thinking that when I left LA I wasn't returning....I was always planning on going back and just being in St. Louis temporarily. So I'll be in St. Louis until about December 4th when I'll go to LA. I'll leave LA for St. Louis on the 17th, making it back in time for another annual Scharnhorst tradition--Christmas caroling. I'll be back in LA for good sometime in January.
For my Michigan friends--I'll be in Ann Arbor from the 24th to the 28th of November--yippee! Many places to go there and back.