I would drive 500 miles, and I would drive 500 more..

 

I would drive 500 miles, and I would drive 500 more...catchy little earwig from the late 80s and a solid theme song for the past couple of days.  The house is on Spring break, and with Grace busy with work, prom dress fittings, and Lax practice and Merrick spending is time at the Y to recertify for summer life guarding Amy and I hit the road.  We set up mid day on Wednesday to meet up with Sophia in LaCrosse for dinner.  It was wonderful.  We ate tapas and had a few specialty drinks, before she gave us a tour of downtown including "Brad's school" where she has been interning and heading back to the Bodega for a few more drinks.  It was a great evening listening to her make her post graduation plans and consider all the impacts of adulting.  Amy and I spent the night at the Charmont and were unknowingly treated to a bit of celebrity conversation at the bar.  We ate at the Breakfast club and then made the beautiful drive through the hills north to meet up with Ella for a late lunch, stopping to watch the eagles gathered at the confluence  The temps were so nice and in the mid 60's with full sun.  Ella suggested lunch at The District and we all had comically large and sloppy sandwiches of some variation.  We wanted to hear all the details about her Civil Rights tour.  It was amazing, and the emotion in her telling was still very raw.  We took a walk around downtown and over the foot bridge...strangely arriving at the local jewelry store before heading back to Ella's Apartment and 80 degree indoor temperatures.  She worked at setting up her new phone and showed us the pictures of her trips and told us more about the experience and intensity of some of the days. It nearly 5 when Ella had to start writing school essays and we had to start our drive back East, feeling like proud parents, feeling blessed, feeling like we could have stayed another night and played in the Eau Claire spring air.

Activity looks different as the family gets older.  I was thinking this morning of everything the kids have going on right now, and essentially how little I am involved in a way that requires direct help.  We raise them to be adults and they become adults, spreading their own proverbial wings, and attacking the world with their own talons as they come into their own.  Merrick was prepping for a summer work season this week with a phone interview to return to life guarding. He had a bunch of online work to complete to recertify and will spend next week (spring break) doing the practical testing in the pool.  Golf starts for him in full swing right after spring break. Grace had made similar plans as well as keeping her barista gig. LaX has officially started and she gave an amazing speech to her teammates a few days before her coach came to the house to tell her that the coaches had voted and even though she is junior that she will be named team captain. Sophia was in town for lunch and is neck deep in planning her next steps after graduation as her plan comes into focus for her, one that the rest of us have pretty much known all along.  Ella is having her heart and mind wrench on a 10 day trip through the south and immersing herself in the pains of America's dark racial past that is highlighted only by current events. I will include an excerpt of her email to us below, and hope she is keeping a journal of some form as well...even though I know she is coming home with so many resources as she is already planning her future classroom....like I said they are all so busy becoming adults that Amy and I are now needed in different ways.  

It is the natural course of things, a course that was emphasized as four generations gathered in Eau Claire to celebrate Grandpa Bob's 71 birthday, unfortunately I didn't think to capture a photo of everyone.  Sophia drove up from Lacrosse, and Ella came over after she finished a 5 k race that morning as she preps for a summer marathon...again busy in new and exciting ways.  Grandma Irene was there when we arrived with Grace from our travels across Hwy 29.  

All of the generations aging, changing, growing and needing each other in different ways.  Such is the beautiful thing about life.

From Ella's Civil Rights Pilgrimage:

Some more updates from my trip! No time to do Wordle, I’m too busy!! The last few days have been very heavy. We did a couple of activities such as a slavery reenactment and “segregated” seating in the Emmett Till Courthouse that have made me very uncomfortable, angry, and overall emotional. I have been to many museums and exhibits, and have spoken with even more people involved in the movement. One of the craziest parts of the south, especially in Alabama, is the large amount of racism still so obvious and present. We visited a confederate solider cemetery, which is well kept and eerily beautiful. It is ran by the “Daughters of the Confederacy”, a white supremacy group. There’s many flags, statues, and monuments representing the confederacy all over the state, including three statues on the capital lawn- no statues of Dr. King though, even though he lived in Montgomery. The KKK is still active and present as well. I still have three days left, but I have done so much already! I have a lot to say that I can’t fit into an email, so I can’t wait to tell you all about it when I get home!!


The first picture is a monument with the last name of every known enslaved person or one of their descendants- it has 10,000 names on it. The next picture is all of the education majors in Selma after walking the bridge where Bloody Sunday took place. Next is the confederate cemetery, and finally, my favorite speaker of the whole trip, Mr. Thomas. He was an activist and protester during bloody Tuesday. I spoke with him after, and he told me that he was proud of me for getting an education and made me promise him that I would never stop learning for him, since he wanted to get a higher education but didn’t have the opportunity:) it was really inspiring, and made me cry! Overall, a lot of emotional and important lessons. I also am really sunburnt.