A Rabbit's Tale

Of my four children only one, my youngest, had an attachment to a favorite cuddle.  My daughter's little blue rabbit, pictured with her here, was originally a gift to her older sister.  By the time Hali came along the little rabbit had already been through two previous babyhoods, her sister and brother both loved him for a time and eventually tossed him aside.  But for Hali, Gaga (her name for him) became her constant companion.  

And as her constant companion, Gaga experienced some wear and tear.  In the beginning Gaga had a wind up key music box on his backside that played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.   Eventually I had to remove it and patch it with a calico heart.

Fast forward to present day and my little girl has a little girl of her own.  One day not long ago she asked if I thought I could possibly knit a body cover for Gaga so that Sophie could play with him.  I made no promises but agreed to give it a try.  When she brought me the rabbit I had forgotten what a sad condition he was in.  Over time Hali had loved the fur right off of him in several spots!  

I decided to just start knitting over the top of him, figuring out how to fit him as I went along.  

During the week I spent with Gaga I started reliving Hali's childhood.  I had so many treasured memories of her and her rabbit. There was the time when Hali was younger than she is in the above picture, that he was lost and we left notes on bulletin boards all over town;  the library, dance studio, grocery story, rec-center, only to be found later in a hardly used cabinet. 

I think it was some time in the third grade when she finally stopped carrying him to school every day and leaving him with me at my desk down the hall.  At the end of her day she would collect him and wait for me to finish mine.  When she was just a little older than that her brother kidnapped him and left a clever note cut from magazine pages.  

By the time Gaga went to college he had been loved into a frightening condition.  So much so, her sorority sisters would throw a pillow or blanket over him to cover his creepiness.  After graduation and getting her own place and a new puppy Hannah, Gaga was removed from his spot on the bed to a much safer place, a box in a chest.

As I sat there knitting along I remembered not only what Gaga meant to Hali, but what he meant to me as well.  I had to preserve as much of him as I could.  I decided to knit the body cover to the neck.  I went through my embroidery threads and found one that came close to matching his fur and stitched in his bald spots.  I carefully bleached the whites of his ears and strengthened his seams.  

He was finished in time for Sophie's first birthday party.  I addressed the package to both Mommy and Sophie.  The moment Hali opened him is a moment I will always treasure.  Both of us were in tears.

And now Gaga is fit for another generation of play, with maybe just a little bit of extra care from mom.

This Week Noted

Traveling 3 hours to experience eclipse totality. (See earlier post)

One dress finished, one dress started, and one more dress planned for the 3 smallest granddaughters.

This book, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, for giving glimpses into their lives.

The Honorable Woman, on Netflix, for being the perfect binge show for knitting.

And this article, help for when you find yourself on anxiety's carousel.

Eclipse

Unlike many who planned for weeks, months, or even years, we had always planned to leave our eclipse plans to the last few days.  From our rural home we would have 98.2 % totality.  But then I read an article where an astronomer said even if you have that degree of the moon's coverage, and you don't travel to see full totality, it would be like driving within 15 minutes of the ocean and never driving the rest of the way to see it; nuff said.

Thus ensued the countless hours scouring totality maps of Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.  St Joseph, MO, being in the direct center of totality's path, would have been a logical choice for us.  But news reports said the city was expecting crowds that would rival the Royal's World Series parade two years ago.  We were caught in that traffic jam and were forced to turn back without ever making it to the parade and rally.  I was worried.

We wanted a spot away from light pollution so we made the decision to travel to Indian Cave State Park, NE, a two and half hour drive.  We began checking the weather daily, comparing the park against our weather at home.  And much discussion was given to our route as well.  Our choices being the interstate, which took us right through St. Joe with possible traffic jams, and two other state highways.  Also, who in the family would be able to join our family trek? The night before, our route still wasn't decided. 

We left our home at 7:30 a.m., met up with other family, and decided to drive the interstate.  To our surprise, traffic was normal.  But we were driving through a lot of cloud cover and sporadic rain showers.  When we pulled off the interstate we still had another hour's drive to the park.  But the clouds were starting to thin.  We were seeing patches of blue sky and our hearts were hopeful.

Driving those winding roads through NE we saw so many people who had claimed their spots on pull-offs along the roadside.  How could I not think of all those science fiction movies I've watched with Paul and the kids through the years!  All these people hoping to see the same thing we were hoping to see.

Once in the park and settled, the clouds were thin enough for us to watch the  beginning of the moon's journey.  As we ate our picnic and the grandchildren played, thicker clouds started moving in.  Seeing intermittent glimpses we were still hopeful to see the moment of totality.  

Well those clouds hung tight.  The seconds before totality we knew we would not be able to see the sun's corona.  And yet still, there was no doubt totality was happening.  Complete darkness fell.  Dad scooped up the running children into his arms and we sat there and watched, listened.  In that moment I felt what I read others had reported feeling, awe, small, and a connection to all the other human beings sharing the experience.  Then moment's afterwards secretly happy that none of those science fiction movie plots had panned out.  No zombies that I could see.  As soon as totality passed and the moon began to move away, so did the clouds.  We were able to watch the rest of the event without any cloud cover.

We drove back in bumper to bumper traffic, finally arriving home at 7:00 p.m.  We knew whatever plans we made for the day it was always going to be a gamble.  We did our best to make the most of our once in a life time experience.  I view it as a success.

Sophie's Birthday Book

Book number thirteen is for Sophia.  

After 11 books for eight grandchildren it's hard to come up with a different birthday poem for each book.  I've resorted to rewriting songs for the narrative of the books, Quinn's being the easiest, Quinn the Eskimo.  Amelia's Here Comes the Sun was a logical choice as well.  But Paul was not a fan of my using Cecilia (Simon and Garfunkel) for Sophie.  But what can I say?  It was stuck in my head.  

Vacation Horror Story

The other day I was reading A Cup Of Jo's blog post: An Ode To Bad Family Vacations, sharing readers' bad vacation experiences.  I started to comment about one that we took in 2009 but quickly realized this story was too long for a common comment post......

My father-in-law used to live in Salisbury on Maryland's eastern shore, home to Assateague Island, one of our favorite vacation spots.  That year we planned a one week vacation trip out with our two daughters and their two boyfriends at the time.  (One eventually became a son-in-law.)  We had tickets to fly out on Saturday with a connecting flight in Charlotte on a puddle jumper into Salisbury.  On Saturday when we arrived at the airport we found our flight had been cancelled due to a mechanical problem with the  airplane.  They told us to come back the next day, Sunday, for the same flight.  So, okay.  Our vacation has been shortened by one day.  Disappointing but really not a big deal.

The next day we arrive at the airport and once again find our flight has been cancelled.  But this time it was due to weather in Charlotte.  Try as they might, the airline could not find a flight with the needed connection to accommodate six people flying into Salisbury MD.  The best they could do would have us arriving on Wednesday!  Most of us had jobs and only had one week off.  On top of that they tried to tell us we would be out the money, (a substantial amount given it was airfare for six), because the cancellation was due to weather.  But indeed, the original problem on Saturday was mechanical.  So we got our refund, thanks to our daughter brilliantly arguing our case.  We walked out of the terminal and caught the shuttle to the car rental facility where we proceeded to rent a vehicle big enough to fit six adults comfortably while driving halfway across the country; a 27 hour drive.   We rushed home to tweak our luggage for a road trip and headed out about dinner time.  We drove straight through.

Our first two days on the island there was constant rain.  Assateague's official bird is considered to be the mosquito.  (I have a magnet that says so.) Their size is phenomenal.  But I had no idea they flew in such torrential rain.  We could hear them beating  themselves into the windows trying to get in.  It felt like a horror film, Attack of the Killer Mosquitos.

Finally on the third day, Thursday, the clouds parted and we had glorious sunshine.  After two days of trying to squeeze in beach time between down pours on Assateague, we decided on this day we would drive to the Virginia side of the island, Chincoteague.

When we pull on to the beach we immediately read that in Virginia no alcohol is allowed on the beach.  Hence, the cooler stays in the car.  We proceed to stake our place in the sand and settle in.  Paul and the kids head to the water.  I am a beach person with a healthy fear of the ocean.  I never go in beyond my knees.  So Paul's dad and I make ourselves comfortable on the blankets.

After their swim the kids take off for a stroll down the beach.  Paul tells me he's going to head up to the restroom and asks me to give him a few minutes then meet him at the car so we can share a beer.  His dad is peacefully napping on the blanket.  Great!  

While waiting I decide to stand up and survey my fellow beach goers.  That's when I notice a woman and a gentleman standing in the surf.  The woman is the largest human being I have ever seen.  So much so, I wonder what kind of vehicle would accommodate her size. The pair are walking out deeper into the water, the gentleman is farther out than she is, about hip level.  She's not quite got her knees wet.  He is turned to look back at her.  And then she sits down in the surf where the waves begin to smash into her face.  

I stand there and watch for a second.  Neither one of them make a move.  And the surf continues to batter her face.  I take off running down into the water.  I get to the woman and the man is just standing there looking at me.  I start screaming at him to help me.  I grab one of her arms, pulling with all my strength.  I can't budge her.  I'm screaming at the guy, who now has her other arm, to pull with the next wave hoping we can use the force of the water to help move her.  But with each wave she sinks farther into the sand.

Within a couple of minutes my father-in-law is there.  At the time he was 74 years old and about 120 pounds.  In other words, not a lot of muscle.  I glance over my shoulder and at last here comes Paul running down towards us.  He takes my place and tells me to call for help.  Our phones are in the car.  

The first person I encounter on my way to the car is a woman and her daughter.  She asks me what's going on.  When I tell her she springs into action.  She throws her phone at me and shouts, "call 911".  She turns to her daughter and says, "get my kit from the car".  She's an off duty EMT.

I dial 911 and tell them what's happening.  The dispatcher asks me which beach I'm on.  Here I learn a life lesson.  Always know where you are.  Also, apparently at that time, they couldn't tell from the call where I was located.  I have no idea which beach I'm on, but I do know I'm in Virginia.  The dispatcher asks me to go out and stand by the road and tell her what I'm wearing so the ambulance can spot me.

Meanwhile, Paul tells me later the EMT woman has totally taken charge.  Thank God.  She takes a beach towel and wraps it under the woman's arms, across her back, and yells, "Well come on men!  Pull!"  They get the woman up onto the sand out of the surf.

The ambulance arrives and we get to where the woman is lying.  They expose her chest and use a defibrillator.  It takes 12 men to get her on the gurney and into the ambulance.  The ambulance pulls out leaving the police to question us.  While giving our statements to the police I see the kids walking towards us.  But they do not stop.  They continue walking right by us as if they didn't know us.  They assume we have been caught with alcohol on the beach.

After the police leave the children return and we tell them what happened.  Their reply- of course mom was the first one on the scene.  Apparently I've appointed myself lifeguard too many times, without any qualifications for the job.  Just a loud nagging mouth telling them they're too far out in the water.

That evening we go out to dinner in one of the nicest restaurants on the island, justifying the expense after the day we had.  After dinner we decide to hit the ice cream parlor next door which is also next door to the island fire station.  Paul takes our leftovers out to the car and sees one of the EMTs who was at the beach with us out in the station's parking lot.  He asks about the woman.  The EMT tells Paul she died on the way to the hospital.  

This is hard for us to get over.  It still is for that matter.  After much thought I still don't know what to think about what happened.  What was this woman doing there?  No one in her condition would be out for a day on the beach.  Why did she just sit down and not try to help us to help her out of the water?  Why was her companion so slow to help?  Was the final outcome their original intention?

We had two days left before our long drive home.  The rest of the trip was uneventful.  But hell, we deserved what little bit of vacation we had left to be enjoyable.  Since this trip we've been back to Assateague several times.  But we've never gone back to the Virginia side of the island.

If you would like to read more bad vacation stories, you can find Cup of Jo's blog post here.