MAHY FAMILY
Three years ago I visited Lisa and Jim in Bellingham, Washington and got to ride out to Lopez Island on Jim’s new motorboat to visit his mother and father on the 4th of July. I was with Jim and Lisa for about a week after traveling across the country on Amtrak by way of Glacier National Park. I then went on to San Francisco and Los Angeles and back by way of Texas on a month long train trip. His parent were warm and friendly. I attended a Lopez Island 4th of July parade with them and saw his father’s vintage car. Since then his father has been losing his memory and is in a memory care institution on the mainland near Jim and Lisa. Lisa showed me the large building that they owned jointly with Jim’s father where Lisa had her counselor’s office with restaurants on the bottom floor. A year ago the building burned down. So everything has changed since my visit. Their children, Kalifa and Lulu, didn’t come to the gathering this year.
Mary and Craig, her husband still live in GEX. She is about to retire in June, which she looks forward to doing after all the turmoil in the World Health Organization where she works caused by general political turmoil in the United States and Europe. They are going to live in Gex for the next ten years and then return to the USA for their old age. Sara has recently separated from her husband, Doug. Her children, Lyle and Kiah, came with her. Kiah came with her partner, Danny Koch, who has written over a half dozen fantasy novels. I bought an ebook version of one and briefly entered his fantasy world.
So everyone in the Mahy family is dealing with dislocation. But it was very good just to be in their presence and to listen to them and to go for a walk on the beach.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 