Riding The Wave – Multiple Myeloma

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, California

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” – Bernard Meltzer

When we moved to California from Bangor, Maine I was in the 2nd grade. The weather here was conducive to wonderful long hot summers with loads of lakes and rivers to swim, boat, ski, fish, camp. My father took took advantage of all of it as inexpensive family fun. I didn’t realize at the time how special it was and that not all parents availed themselves of the time with their kids to do these things. One of most fun of course, was snow skiing in beautiful Lake Tahoe, where you have an abundance of top rated ski resorts.

We didn’t go to Tahoe in the summer because the lake is just too darn cold for swimming. We did our summers in lower elevations where the lakes were swimmable and water sports were fun and easy. So getting an invite from a high school friend to spend a week in South Lake Tahoe with her and some other girlfriends seemed like a lovely adventure for me. We also didn’t go to South Lake Tahoe, because we were there to snow ski, so it was always North Lake Tahoe. They are indeed quite different. South Lake Tahoe is much smaller, less developed, one fantastic ski resort known has Heavenly Valley and then because its on the Nevada/California state line, there are several casinos and entertainers who perform there. I was intrigued by the quaintness and smallness, and yet all the wonderful things to do.

Me, Cindy & Sandy

We took a boat cruise on the lake, complete with a Mark Twain impersonator that took your breath away he was so MARK TWAIN! Even his voice was how you would imagine Twain. He wove himself into all the stories of the Gold Rush, Indian Folklore, pioneers of the old west and even Marilyn Monroe and the Rat Pack when talking about how gambling came to Nevada. When asked how it was he could have known Marilyn Monroe, he quipped that his death had been greatly exaggerated in the press. During the school year, he travels around the schools of America telling Twain stories to children, and in the summer he relaxes at Lake Tahoe narrating history on the paddle boat. We went from Zephyr Cove to Emerald Bay. A two hour trip.

Lake Tahoe is the 2nd largest Alpine Lake in the world created by both glaciers and volcanic activity. It is so clear because it has no rivers that feed into it. Just Tahoe snow water. This means it is perfectly clear and so acts like a prism from the sun and reflects the color of the sky. Emerald Bay gets it’s name because as the 1200 ft lake begins to shallow to as little as 4ft of water, it takes on the color of the pine trees and thus the amazing green water sandwiched with the blue.

We stayed in a lovely timeshare facility with pools and spas. One was covered for use during the winter months and I was thinking how much fun kids must have schlepping down there in winter with their boots and coats and then sitting in hot swirly water looking at 2 ft of snow!

Honker sayin’ “hi”

We were visited on the beach by Honkers. Canadian Geese. That is our High School mascot because of the internationally famous duck hunting near where we went to school.

These friends were really acquaintances in HS for me. I was surprised and honored they asked me to come. We had much in common but, while friendly, we didn’t hang out much growing up. One of them’s father flew the C-137 refueling tankers that filled up the SR-71 in the air out at Beale and so I knew his name. But my friend never lived on the base and I met her in Junior High.

We laughed, we cried, they cooked and we went to the casinos. We talked of losing our friends on the YCHS Bus Accident. One of them didn’t go to the dedication last year. Even after 35 years, it is still too hard for her. But she and her friend from Denver did stop and visit it on their way up, together. They lost two of their dearest best friends that day.

One of the gals wanted to see my scarves and my loom. So I took up stuff and she made her own scarf in an afternoon. She did a great job and we had fun doing it.

I hope I have the opportunity to see them all again. It was truly enjoyable.

I knit three hats from some of my hand spun yarn while I was there. It was exciting to see something I had spun on my wheel transform into something so pretty and useful. I will be sending it out to my sister.

This kind of stuff makes me miss Paula (Kilgallon). She was always so encouraging of my fiber art efforts.

When I got home, Dave and I took my VW Passat in for oil change and an A/C check. I wanted to look at the VW EOS, hard top convertible. Just look. We did and I sighed and how wonderful it fit me and what a great California Car it would be. But I said, “I don’t buy new cars.” The salesman said, (who was from Ithaca, NY originally – so we hit it off right away), “Oh we just got a used one in today. It’s in the garage getting the once over.” And he pointed to it for me. I covered my face shaking my head. So we went to lunch and ran our errands. Looked up a couple of things on the internet and discussed if it was something we even wanted to consider. We came back and it was ready for a test drive. Suffice to say. I loved it. Dave did the negotiations and I sat outside reading my Kindle. I don’t enjoy that process with Dave. We have very different approaches. Anyway, the deal was struck and we kept my Passat for Dave since he borrows it all the time for picking up execs and co-workers for dinners and small road trips. His Corolla, while I love Toyotas, was never one I enjoyed. It was just a bit too small for me and not a great traveling car. Since it was much newer we knew we could get a better deal with it. He gets my Passat now and I get the cool CaliCar.

I’m back now, catching up on laundry and getting back to my trainer, etc. I missed working out while I was gone.

Enjoy the photos. (There are upwards of 30 photos so it will take awhile for them to load on your computer to enjoy them all.)

 As I have been tooling around town in my cool convertible, I’ve been thinking a lot of my mother and how much she would love this little car. Shortly before her death she bought a 20 year old “true import” Mercedes convertible coupe. She absolutely loved that car and it was a blast. She would come over and just ask me to go drive around with her with the top down, visors on, music blaring. I got a little misty eyed thinking of her and wishing I could call her and tell her. But I took the time to just enjoy the pleasure moments it brought back to me. Love you Mom.

PS… Dave is having lunch with my trainer on Saturday, just to talk. Light a candle, say a prayer, put out a postulate… whatever you do in the realm of wishing for good things. Dave needs to climb the long hill toward getting his strength and flexibility back and Luis is just the guy to do it. I know Dave is ready.

Tags: friends, Honkers, Lake Tahoe, YCHS