Papa 100 years young!

 

Matching red vests; shared my hat on the Midway

Papa - Happy to see me!

Michael; Me; Peter; Caroline; Steve; Heather; Scott

Obviously I have not mastered photos and placement! 

What a special weekend. Activities and conversations too many to recount, hopefully I’ll remember most of them (not necessarily to write about)! While the emphasis was on Papa/Bob who turned 100 on Monday, the absence of David and his older brother, Chris was felt. However, they were there in spirit and in some of the story telling that went on over the weekend. You’d think at this point everyone knew all the stories but I think we all managed to pull out a few that had not been told before. It made for some great laughter and few other emotions but that’s all part of the game of life.

The weekend almost ended on very sour note. Pete (my chauffer for the weekend 😊) and Caroline were driving south from Del Mar/Solana beach after catching one of Mia’s soccer games. Suddenly from the on ramp came about 50 motorcycles (street/dirt bikes not highway machines – I know from my motorcycle days). They were going fast and pulling wheelies! They coerced two autos off to the right hand side, they began coming our way and attempting to get us to pull over into the fast lane, which was already occupied with autos. Pete remained calm and drove carefully in and around these fools. Caroline and I were making loud comments (ok, maybe it was just me). They got off at the next exit. They all had “go-pros” for filming. We suspect they were doing some kind of U-tube video. Idiots. (was I not supposed to tell this? I think that was discussed)

I call them idiots because, guess what I came home to. A fatal shooting in the park near the house. I’m alarmed and saddened by it. I have since found out; it was during a “memorial” for a high school boy who was killed in an auto accident. Guess what. He was speeding and has several videos on you tube of him speeding and zipping in and out of traffic. At the park some got into an altercation with shots fired. Sad.

Back to the weekend, told backwards. Dinner Saturday night outside at a marina. Beautiful location. Seemed to be a bit of a learning curve going on with the restaurant. Normally, I get as frustrated as the next guy when waiting overly long for food. There were 12 of us; 3 generations. Enjoying the view, taking photos and more conversation made the time go. We ended up being there 4 or 5 hours and it felt like minutes. Not all of us had been together during the day so lots to talk about and catch up on. It’s been a while since we had an Anderson gathering, this seems like the smallest one but certainly no lack of caring and sharing.

It was also very sweet when I presented Steve with a mini purple urn of David’s ashes and everyone passed the urn around the table. Really felt like recognizing and including David in the gathering. Purple in recognition of Pan Can (pancreatic cancer). A bit of a bonding moment as my two earlier plans for celebration were cancelled by covid shutdown. Thankful I had a brief bit of time before the shutdown.

My very first Anderson gathering was December 1980 at Disneyland. There must have been 14 of us. David and I got “assigned” Byron and the dog, Jasper as our ride alongs from San Diego to Anaheim.  I should have paid better attention to see what I was getting myself into! Just kidding. A good blogger would post the picture of all of us posing with our red kerchiefs so we could find each other during the day. But I’m not sure if it’s a hard copy of digital picture or where to look. (see comment above about me and photos!)

My favorite gathering was May 1998, Mexican Riviera cruise. 22 of us on that trip; 4 generations. My favorite because that’s what introduced me the life of cruises. I had no idea I would so fall in love with that mode of vacation. It was only 7 days and we gave up an RV rally to attend but am I glad we went. Oh, that’s when David and I won the dance contest, best Twisters. Got a plastic ship on a stick for the prize, which I unfortunately no longer have (well it was only plastic – maiden voyage of the Elation). One of the nephews reminded me about this; even remembered the song, I Will Survive! And isn’t that appropriate.

Well It feels like I’ve gone on enough so I will end here. However, this is only a tiny bit of the weekend. Maybe more later, maybe more pictures, maybe not. Thanks for reading.

Remember, what you do or say today may become a family story in later years!