INDEPENDENCE DAY

No, this is not really about July 4th. It's about Aunt Helen, Dad's 87-year-old elder sister who's been living up in the San Bernardino mountains on teachers' disability since the 1960s.

I got a call from Cam (Ann's husband) the morning of the 4th saying her mountain nurse Cathy had discovered her dead leaning against the sink in her bathroom that morning. She had gone quickly, the coroner thought, with enough time to reach out to brace herself against the sink with her good arm, the right one before she died. Cathy had just been there the night before, tucking her into bed at 9:30 pm, saying a quick "Love you" and promising to return at 9:30 the next morning. (Thank God she was scheduled to be there on the 4th! We've been doubly fortunate now to have people find Helen within 12 hours both times recently.)

She had gotten what she wanted: she never had to leave the mountains, where her anemia was cured so miraculously as a 15-year-old teen-ager up in the mountains with her parents. (She swore she couldn't be healthy anywhere else.) And she successfully resisted all our attempts to get her down off the mountain into a more "sane" situation in a retirement home. Her "independence" lasted to the very end. She was never even on assisted living.

Ann and I are meeting with the funeral coordinator at Forest-Lawn Cemetery in Glendale this Friday to decide what formal arrangements we want. Her two parents are already buried there (since 1958 and 1963 respectively) and one plot has been reserved for her all along. We also have a current will, power of attorney, etc. that she managed to do last year, so there are no loose ends at this point, just the longer effort to assimilate this latest family death into our emotions and lives.

The Sundberg side never had many relatives, and now only Dad's and Helen's cousin Lois is left of that generation born in the 1920s. (Lois's branch has the largest on-going bunch - her two daughters, their children, and now one great-grandchild in Georgia.)

JUNE WEDDINGS

June 30, one of my "younger crop" of cousins on Mom's side was married in Holland, Michigan. Kirsten Walvoord is Mom's brother Mark's daughter, born after they were convinced they could only ever adopt. (Kirsten's older adopted sister, Alison, was bridesmaid!) I flew out June 28 to Chicago's Midway airport and was picked up by Uncle Jack and Aunt Joan on their way east from Iowa and flew back Monday, July 2 from Detroit! (strange ticket - long story - not very interesting)

It was really more of a family reunion: two of Mom's brothers and their family attended, as well as the Michigan Walvoords (descendents of my grandfather's brother Dick Walvoord). The wedding reception was more about catching up on family news than the cake (tasty as it was)!

Cousin Julie (in Detroit area) went in for her regular chemo treatment the morning after we arrived, but the prognosis looks promising. The doc may stop her treatments this November if all the signs are good! Her daugther, Beth, is also slated to be married in August (several days after I reach Oman, unfortunately), and another uncle's son is getting married in October in Wisconsin, so it's been an unusually busy year for the bridal racket, I mean, industry.

Today, I am off for a farewell lunch/party at West Semitic Research, where I worked from December through June. I needed the time this month to get all the errands done I have getting ready to leave for Oman for 3 years, but a good closure is always worth the extra time.

More later ...