Day Four of my admitting that
I really do have the head cold of the decade.
(Not the century because I haven’t lived that long, at least not in this
incarnation. ) I have been held hostage to not keeping up with my usual regimen
of supplements. This summer I was
lauding myself all over the place because of how incredibly healthy I had
been.
Then September arrived, - a
month in which I worked only four days! – and the regimen went to the
dogs. Lilah came to visit in SF for a week.
We played in the city, discovered the mosaic wonder of the Moraga and 17th
St steps, slid down a wondrous concrete slide in the Castro district then ran
off to SLO and Morro Bay. We both have wonderful friends and memories of the
Central Coast. On return, I worked three
of those four days, then left for two
and a half weeks to play Grammy with my fourth grandchild, Penelope Joyce. (PJ’s name and nickname both play tribute to
my sis and bro.)
How sweet a newborn is. And it is such a blessing. There was a truce that seemed to have been
called between all the siblings. The
usual quarreling was there, but lessened as each one gathered around to kiss
the baby’s head, ask if they could hold her.
And a new concerted effort came to quiet the household. “Shh the baby’s sleeping.”
Grammy arrived on PJ’s sixth
day of life. I jumped right in, buying groceries, planning meals, cooking,
washing dishes, getting the kids to school and picking them up. The ten minute walk up the hill to school was
a great opportunity to quiz Eddy on his multiplication tables. Sometimes we would do a competition of
subtraction so Ava could join in. She is
such a student already. At seven I
suspected she picked up on 70% of the times tables just by osmosis.
Eddy began ‘fall ball’. At
eleven, and only in his second season of baseball, he has found a calling with
pitching and I got to watch him strike out eight to nine players per game of
the three I attended. At last he has
found a talent; that so cheers me. All
of the Shanks found their passions early on – PJ with his sports, Joyce with
her arts, and I with the musical theatre jones – and it was such a deciding
factor for all of us. It seems that for
this new generation the passion is only for material things – video games,
ipods, things. So Eddy doesn’t have a
great passion yet for baseball, but how terrific to watch him smile as he hits
the ball, makes it to first and flashes a real smile of “Wow, I did it well!” It’s a rarity for me to see. Hallelujah, there’s hope! And I am so partial
to my firstborn grandson.
Being the domestic for my
daughter and her kids is fulfilling. For two weeks anyway. Hopefully,
Nicole picked up some new and easy cooking ideas. We found the fresh produce stand right next
to Eddy’s baseball field. The Silver Queen corn from Ventura almost rivals the
Ohio corn of my youth. (It’s missing the worms, which maybe isn’t such a good
thing.) Nicole discovered the wonder of
melted cheese and tomato sandwiches. All
of us had gourmet pizzas concocted with the help of Trader Joe’s. Easy pot roast, chicken pot pie, chicken
soup, stir fried zucchini with tomatoes and garlic and onion. September is a wonderful time to cook. There
is so much bounty from the good earth.
During four days of Grammy
time, I flew back to Illinois to be with my best friend from college days.
Birdie had just lost her husband and I knew I had to be there for her. Although
I was stretching the finances, the older
I become the more I recognize the value of these dearest old friends. To honor the heart of those we love, as each of us moves to transition. And/or as
my mom used to say “It’s hell getting’ old, Dee Dee.” Or was it her musings on becoming a widow
and how she no longer had friends like before?
. . . Ah, that’s another blog-
On my drive back to SF and my
work life – absolutely amazing my supervisor let me take off this time - there was a stop in San Luis for the wedding
of my wild and wonderful acting/improv comedy queen LC. (However was I able to have such an abundance
of life in one month – from new birth to death to weddings, etc, etc,
etc?)LC’s wedding processional was a song she wrote for her husband Rhys
when she first met him and knew that he was the one. There were half a dozen
of my theatre buddies there – all 30ish – and that was a sweet reunion. I
probably need to throw myself back into that world for the infusion of youth
and fun. I am the ‘grande dame’ in that
group. (“How long have you been doing this?” one young director queried me in
SLO. “Hunh?? What?”) Anyway, LC wore a traditional white gown with
her cowboy boots. All the ladies in
waiting donned boots too. This was a joyous celebration.And of course I sang "La Vie en Rose" to a standing ovation. Love those theatre types!
It was during this whirlwind
of being ‘Mom’ again, I lost track of doing my vitamins, juicing, green food
supplements. I returned back to work for
one week, then flew down to LA the following weekend to watch my younger
daughter in “The Last Five Years.” I was
sneezing prior; I attributed that to allergies.
Keep on pushin!
I rented a car and drove to the
5100 feet of Lake Arrowhead, the performance site, which was exquisite. I hadn’t really been so high since Boulder
days. Another world, as Lilah put it. “Things are just different up here, “ she
told me, “that’s why I haven’t been
calling you. No fastfood, one Stater
Brothers store. That’s it.” Lots of towering pines, circuitous roads, a
lack of road signs, changing signs, to get lost in. Lilah had one day of snow the previous
week. Yeow, what a drive. I was cursing
my daughter all the way through the brown, brown, brown and more brown from LAX
to Redlands and then up this mountain.
This better be worth it, I groused.
And it was!
The younger Lilah was so very
luminous in this two person musical.
However, this was Lilah’s
show. She opens with “I’m still hurting” and it was all I could do to stop from
running to the stage to hug her. The
truth, the vulnerability, the emotions and the singing were stunning. Every
other song, there she was, capturing our hearts. I watched my girl, Steve’s girl (She is the synthesis
of both) and said, “Yes, she’s got it.” And I was not the only one who was
riveted. - We will see what tomorrow
brings.
And now I am in San Francisco
enveloped in thick pea soup early morning fog.
I won’t attempt a swim today – Geez it’s been eight days since my last
watery stretch. I feel cheated, but
don’t dare to chance it, too pooped. It
is a wondrous thing to have a life so full – And I didn’t even mention the job,
which IS a whole other blog itself.
Xoxoxo Delilah
