My Aunt Cynthia Dies

Written on 11-17-22.

        I am at Newcomb, and I have no plans with teachers as of this moment.  They have an assembly at the high school at 10:30 and 1:00, so three of the plans I had set up got postponed until next time.  I have found other things to do, though, and I feel I can write until noon when I meet with one of the Navajo Language teachers.  I am making this little break my writing and lunch break.

Yesterday, we learned that my Aunt Cynthia died.  She had a heart attack a few days before, so I wasn’t surprised.  It hurt to see Dad cry during our chat.  Mom cries, but Dad hardly does.  My eyes got watery, and my throat felt warm and full, too.  Many of her friends had died, and her social network fell away, too, after Covid.  Mentally she declined, also.  Her mail was stacking up I heard.  Sadly, Dad said that is what has happened to them as well.  I reminded him that they still have family, and he agreed, but I could see something has changed in Dad now.  It was like a resignation.

I said that it was a great thing to outlive your friends and to have a good, long life, but he didn’t sound too convinced.  Is it better to outlive your friends like Mom and Dad have?  I think so, but it must get discouraging at times.  

B and I will go visit them tomorrow for her first weekend of Thanksgiving break.  We plan to leave before 3:00.  Hopefully, the weather won’t be too bad, and we’ll make it.  We talked about staying at the new Hampton in Salida if we get too tired.  

We will have the usual Swoperton Thanksgiving Dinner next week on Friday, and all of the kids are coming.  This weekend and next week will be bountiful for us.  We have much to be thankful for.

On to golf…

The last time I played was with Troy (Casey’s stepdad) at Hillcrest.  I arranged for us to play nine holes at 10:30.  I couldn’t get a tee time before 2:00 at Riverview, but it worked out for the best.  We arrived just before our tee time, because I thought we might have a frost delay, but everything was running on schedule.  We took a few swings for our warm-up and we were off.

We both had a rough start.  I got a double, and he had problems getting out of a fairway bunker and some short game miscues on the first hole, hole #10.  He got a bogey on the next, though, and then I got the first par on hole #12.  

Things got even better for him after hole #15.  He got a double on that hole, but he said that would be his mulligan hole, so it would be a par instead.  He had a misfire on his tee shot there, but he recovered nicely.  After that misstep, however, he went par, par, par on the final holes.  It was great to watch, and he said I was his favorite playing partner now.  He consistently outdrove me, landing his ball an average of 20 yards ahead of mine.  I was impressed!  For the last three holes, he would play golf the way it’s mostly supposed to be played: a long drive on the fairway, an approach that hit the green, and then two putts.  He was so happy that, even though we could have stuck around to play nine more holes, he thought it should be left alone.  I said he was going to have a satisfied feeling driving home thinking about how it had gone at Hillcrest.

He shot a 46 with the mulligan, and I shot a 46 without using any, so we agreed that he tied me.  I agreed to let him have the mulligan when he asked me, but I bet he will be able to beat me without using any mulligans the way it’s going for him.  He was so encouraged to continue playing golf, and I was just thrilled that he had had a fun time.  Despite the two doubles I started with, it turned out to be an okay round for me, too.  I earned two pars.  

Okay, my lunch break is over.  I am off to meet that teacher.

Until next time...