We're back from Walla Walla and we really must have an angel watching out for us because no luggage was lost, no flights were canceled, and we made it to Nana's funeral on time. All the weird stuff happened to us once we were safely on the ground.
The cemetery where Nana and Poppa Dave (our grandfather) are buried is absolutely beautiful. Their graves are beneath colorful trees and next to the graves of everyone they'd want to have lunch and play Gin Rummy with.
While the ceremony was going on, I could not help but keep looking up at the canopy of yellow leaves. When the ceremony was over, Karen, Tod, and I stayed behind and walked around the grounds so we could just be there for a while, enjoying the peaceful gardens. It was really sunny about 40 degrees and we were bundled up in our coats and sunglasses. I am never without my sunglasses. I have had the same pair of polarized sunglasses for two years. While we were walking, Karen and I were taking pictures while teasing Tod that he'd totally wish he had a camera with him (why do I need a camera? You'll send me YOUR pictures!) and I looked down at the ground covered with red leaves. I wanted to see the color without the polarization of my glasses so I took my glasses off and put one of the arms through a button hole on my coat, as I have done many times. I kept walking and taking pictures and when I got in a sunny spot, I went to put my glasses back on. THEY WERE GONE! We backtracked our steps looking for my glasses and they were no where to be found.
In sympathy, Karen and Tod tossed their glasses into the leaves to see if they'd be noticeable or not. They were easy to spot! I even looked at all the photos in my camera to see if maybe I could see my glasses falling off my coat and landing on the ground. There was no sign of my glasses! A GHOST STOLE MY GLASSES! Perhaps this was a sign from Nana and Poppa Dave. I like to think it was.
We made our way to dinner with our family at the Whitman Hotel then drove to our hotel to get some much needed sleep. Being the good sister that I am, and after already spending one night not sleeping near Tod's snoring, I brought enough Ambien for everyone! By ten o'clock, we were all in our beds dozing off. By 3 AM, Tod was still asleep and Karen and I were awake trying to invent ways to not hear him snore. Kleenex in the ears did not work. I remembered Tod once saying that his lovely wife would always turn the tv on to get to sleep. So, we tried that. We dozed in and out of sleep while watching a Paula Deen marathon and listening to Tod's sleep apnea. We woke up really wanting some praline pie, y'all!
We had only a few hours before we had to catch our multiple flights back to So Cal so we quickly visited all the places we'd loved being with our Nana.
Nana always took us for picnics at Pioneer Park and growing up, we'd always wanted to get married in the gazebo there. It looks just like we remembered it.
We went back to the cemetery to do some grave rubbings and collect some leaves (a post on that will come later). While we were doing the rubbings, Tod told us that when Poppa Dave died, the tombstone engraver just copied the Hebrew part on Dave's brother's tombstone and repeated it on Dave's without checking to see if the names and dates were the same. I don't know why we never heard this story before because this would explain many things. Nobody noticed the error until years later and the tombstone was corrected.
The They Got Our Names Wrong curse is genetic! Or, maybe like with my missing sunglasses, every time our names are wrong it is (or has been) a sign from Poppa Dave! It would be fun to think that is it!
We made it to the Pasco airport and spent 6 hours making our way back home. Imagine my surprise when we got off the plane in Salt Lake City and saw a nice place to buy a new pair of sunglasses! I could not go back to Sunny So Cal without my eyes protected. As is always the case when we are on a plane, train, or in a car together for more than ten minutes, we have made plans, made changes, outlined 2 new books we want to write and illustrate, and made bets and predictions about who will say what and who we will see again. On the plane to the funeral, we also made predictions and bets on things that would be said to us at the funeral. We planned really good responses that we practiced over and over on the plane. Unfortunately, we didn't get to use any of our good lines. I'll post on that later, too.
Thanks again for all your well wishes and support!