It�s been fascinating for me to read Tamar�s account of their travels across country. I made the (more or less) same trip two times (in the summer before air conditioning was common in cars): once with my cousins (one of whom Tamar & Co. visited in Minneapolis on her trip; and I went to the Science Museum with the same cousins when they lived in Chicago when we were young) when I was sixteen, the next time (when I was, maybe, twenty-one) with my parents and sister. What I remember most of the first trip was traveling through New Mexico and seeing the strange (to me) landscape of dry red uprisings, the mesas and plateaus. And also the Beaver Dam in Colorado. I also remember enjoying the company of my cousins, looking for and following the alphabet on road signs and eating chocolate covered donuts for breakfast in the desert.
That summer, when I was about sixteen, I stayed with my cousin Deedee in Van Nuys. We were about the same age, both played the piano, and both loved my uncle (my father�s brother) very much. He had died in January, a young, handsome, loving and lonely man of thirty-seven. It was a deep loss for me. It colored my life for many years. Deedee and I spent the summer playing gin rummy often. She was excellent at math and almost always could figure out what cards I had in my hand by what I picked up and what I discarded. I was amazed that she could do this. But I played by intuition, sensing what might happen, and usually won. And this totally confused and irritated her.
On the return trip, after my LA cousin�s wedding several years later, I remember visiting San Francisco with my parents and sister, eating fish soup at a communal table in some restaurant (my mother complaining, as usual, about the food, as she could always, really, do it better) and the steep hills. I don�t remember much more, other than that I was probably brooding most of the time and probably not happy to be with my family.
And now I am so happy to have my family, both Aaron and Tamar, on the East Coast, almost in the same time zone, just a hop away, and we plan to all be together for the winter holiday!
Posted by leya at September 22, 2005 10:44 AM