Regret
I made the ultimate marriage faux pas. I called Colleen, Lisa (former wife) by mistake. There can be no excuse, but, I believe I was overtired. Colleen was gracious enough to wait to scold me. I am mortified. (I think I am still alive to tell the tale?) Susan took this group pic 9 years ago. (Shutterfly sometimes sends past memories that…) Four couples were friends together for more than a quarter century. I don’t quite remember when Bob and Kathy split. They aren’t pictured. And I (unofficially officially) split from the group in 2014. I’m forced to look back on my subconscious mistake that seems only to have been caught by Colleen. She will forgive me. She always does. It’s not enough for me to accept her forgiveness. I have committed myself to following a new path for us. Some things can’t be unsaid. But, I can go forward different than I was yesterday. Regret? Yup, I got a big one.
Colleen says, “Where are four couples?” Ok, my bad? A remote control and one tripod later, voila!
While we’re talking forgiveness…
Throwback. Here’s an interesting piece of history. Historical? It dates back a few decades. Lisa was drunk. Rare to say, but, she’s not driving either. MA – Maryanne – no longer speaks to me. She chose Lisa in the divorce. Bob, stopped talking with me. He perceived some insult when he got divorced (to Kathy, not me). Susan, I apologize. Last time we emailed, I insulted her Republican values and support for T(rump) – would that be asshole? – in this time of corona. I never remember the date of her birthday. Sorry. Both. I never remember your birthday and I never should question your beliefs. My bad. It’s been on my mind lately. And, when I did a search on my hard drive, this photo popped at the top of my search.
Travelogue
I’ve mentioned the Tyler Place. It was idyllic. At least my pictures say so. I hope that the memory my kids have is similar to the photos. As J told me when she was old enough for me to query. “I have seen the photos and the videos. So I know I was there. I just don’t know if it is my memory or whether it is the media show I remember. Sometimes I think that Photoshop and some generic background pasting would have cost me less. But a kid with a stick… priceless.
Since early memories are sketchy until around four years of age, maybe I should have kept them hidden away. Ah, but they did learn to ski before that. So even if you don’t remember how you learned, isn’t it wonderful to feel like you’ve been doing it all your life?
For Susan
What do grown-ups do at night after the kids are sent to bed? It’s a family resort, the Tyler Place in Vermont. Lisa and Kevin (Susan’s husband) are playing a game called ‘spit.’ I’ve never played it. We also played spoons, a game that Kathy taught us. It was competitive, very, and there were a lot of laughs because in the end everyone is a winner. We had to play in a room far away from the kids. It’s kind of like the secret life of grown-ups acting like kids. And now all of our kids are grown-ups with kids of their own, which makes this a young picture of a bunch of old grandparents.
photobackstory 