Hello!
This has been the winter of travel with each trip farther away than it's predecessor. It's been a wild ride for sure and I know that none of my inadequate descriptions will do any of the destinations justice. After the trip to Hawaii in January where we recovered from the Christmas sub-zero camping adventures and frost bite, I left Alaska and frigid north again, this time to Albuquerque, New Mexico and then to Israel. Israel was the primary focus of the trip, but since getting anywhere outside Alaska is indeed an expedition of sorts, it only made sense to squeeze in a detour to Albuquerque to visit with family and friends. This update will be in two parts- one for Albuquerque and the next for Israel. There's just too much to jam into a single post and I wouldn't want to weigh anyone down with that much reading.
Beginning in the late afternoon of February 24th, I boarded Continental Airlines for the first leg of the trip to Albuquerque arriving the morning of the 25th after brief stops in Seattle and Houston. Bright, 80 degree, warm, sunny, blue skies greeted me when I walked out of the airport. It has been more than 4 years since I had last been in Albuquerque and the sunshine was a very nice welcoming gift from mother nature. Aside from working on my tan and getting caught up with my family, I had planned on getting a new dress for my mother's wedding in Israel and had a host of other errands to run to get ready for the big trip. Admittedly, I had anticipated my time being filled with errands or other personal matters, but when my schedule cleared a little, I found myself just enjoying the moment. This was a short trip of only 3 days, and I needed to make the most of it. After eating a fantastic home cooked dinner with my step brother Chris, Carolyn and my father, I made plans to meet up with an old and very near and dear friend, Chehreh.
This was a reunion of epic proportions, and nervous doesn't even begin to describe what I was feeling! I hadn't seen Chehreh very much since elementary school, and in the new age of Facebook, we managed to reconnect. We opted to hook up at a central location in the Nob Hill area of Albuquerque at the Montivista Fire Station. I think it's safe to say that despite the 20+ year gap in seeing each other, we not only recognized one another instantly but were mutually surprised at both how much and yet, how very little we each had changed over the years. I'm still short and stocky and she's still tall and lanky.
As kids, Chehreh and I were quite influential on each other, not always for forces of good, but always entertaining as hell, if not a little frightening for our unsuspecting parents. I'm sure my father was just a little nervous at the thought of me going out for a drink with my childhood cohort seeing as how the last time she and I had anything to do with alcohol, I ended up in the hospital pissed drunk from consuming a half bottle of Southern Comfort... But that's another story for another day. Needless to say, we've grown up. She has a child of her own now, and we're both at least a little more educated and seem to lead otherwise productive lives. Our adult versions of ourselves are not that much different from the childhood versions, save a few pounds, a little graying hair and some extra added height (at least for Chehreh). I stopped growing vertically promptly at age 10. Our mannerisms, facial expressions, voices and even our life paths have mimicked each other. We've had similar jobs in the bar business, similar experiences with family and school and we've both missed each other greatly over the years. I could write a mini-novel just about our elementary school experience, but that too will have to wait for another day. In short, it was an absolute pleasure catching up and I know we'll remain in contact.
The morning after my reunion with Chehreh, I was treated to a home made breakfast of eggs and gourmet bread with home made Meyer Lemon Marmalade. Carolyn who shares a name with this special fruit, has a "thing" for the Meyer Lemon and has been known to accuse my father of murdering the precious fruit in the past when he inadvertently used one for garnish in a drink. This is apparently quite a sin. I felt very lucky to be treated to the home made marmalade! After breakfast, I spent the day with my father and a poet/musician friend of his, Nathan Brown who joined us for an afternoon beer and glass or two of Scotch. Carolyn was working away on a new book project while the three of us talked about poetry for people who hate poetry, music and other things poet related. When Nathan left, Carolyn made another fine family dinner! I was being spoiled. Did I mention there's a family dog now???
I can't talk about my father and Carolyn without mentioning Jake. They inherited Jake from Carolyn's oldest son Allen who is currently living in Spain. The real story in all of this is that Carolyn has never, and I mean NEVER wanted to be a dog mommy. When I had my old mutt, Mokie, Carolyn couldn't stand him. I honestly thought she was capable of dispatching him to a freeway at one point. He rewarded her love of dogs in kind by peeing on her grass rug regularly. My father on the other hand who loves animals, at least the fun part, is quite allergic to them. So you can imagine my surprise that they were willingly taking in a new muttley shepherd/husky/something mix. In a most curious turn of events, Carolyn has become a very good dog mom, walking Jake every morning and tending to the maintenance of said dog. In the mean time, my allergic father has taken to the fun side of Jake, playing fetch with him and encouraging bad digging behavior in Jake which drives Carolyn nuts. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of it. Jake and I became good buddies during my short trip and he even climbed into bed with me while I slept (I did not invite him into bed- he just crept in while I slept). Anyhow, my trip was hi-lighted by little Jake.
On Friday night after another great meal at a bowling alley on North 4th Street (Ezra's), I went to the Press Club with step brother Chris. Chris, the youngest of all my step brothers is a darned entertaining individual. Our initial intent was to go out and shoot some pool, but instead we ended up talking non-stop for nearly 3 hours and completely forgot about pool. Looking back, I'm pretty sure I did most of the talking, not so surprisingly. It was a good night and a great way to wind down the first part of my trip.
I left Albuquerque without stopping at my mother's house. I had intended on stopping by, but it just didn't pan out that way. Honestly, I felt a little awkward back at home and felt myself swimming in old memories- good, not so good and a little nostalgic. I know that I will be moving to Albuquerque before too long, perhaps in 5 or so years. For now, though, Albuquerque is really not home to me and feels more foreign than familiar. It has grown immensely and many of my old friends have moved away or I have lost touch with them. When the time is right, like a salmon returning to spawn, I will return to Albuquerque again and make it my home once more.
It wouldn't be fair to have an update with out any mention of Chris, my husband that is. Chris was unable to take the time to travel with me on this trip, but I'm sure he enjoyed the peace and quiet I left behind. I had a few updates from him, one in particular that made me giggle. He went for a rather lengthy bike ride which is not unusual, but found himself stranded when a critical part broke. Ordinarily, he would have called me to come pick him up, but in my absence was forced to walk nearly 10 miles home. Ouch! In addition, he informed me that both dogs were happily destroying at least one item per day in protest to my lunch-time absence. Chris is unable to make it home during lunch to let the dogs out, so with me being gone, they felt a little angry, I guess.
One thing Chris was able to do that I was very jealous of, was to see the Iditarod and World Champion Sled Dog Races in downtown Anchorage. The Fur-Rondy leading up to the Iditarod and the ceremonial start of the Iditarod are two of my favorite late winter events. Fur-Rondy added the Running of the Reindeer last year which was likely the icing on the proverbial cake. He was able to snap a few pictures of a few of the races from his office window... an "only in Alaska" type picture. Zev became his own attraction at Fur Rondy demanding smiles and pets wherever he went. Tourists still think he is an anomaly and ask if he's and arctic-specific breed. I don't know what Chris's story was this year, but last year I just told people he was either and Arctic Bird Dog or a Polar Dog, bread to hunt polar bears that were no doubt hiding behind the 4th Avenue bridge near my igloo. It's fun to mess with people sometimes. I wish I was able to be in multiple places at once, but then again, that's just not possible. I'll finish this part of The Update for now and in a few days I'll post the Israeli portion.
Cheers!
Vered
(...and Zev, too)
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