May 19, Monday – The re-uniting

I belong to an extended family. I do not have aunts, uncles or cousins that live down the road nor siblings that live in the next town. Through the miracle of time and place I have daughters and friends that form the nucleus of this sense of tribe. I live and die for these unions. Coming home to my beloved Skagit Valley is like taking communion; there is a cleansing and acceptance of who I am. To re-unite is an affirmation of self.
This extended family moves beyond people and into the community as well. I contributor to my town and it gives back to me in so many ways.
Upon returning to La Conner there were two happenings: the graduation of Hannah, the youngest, from the University of Puget Sound, which was six years in the making. The other was attending the Skagit Valley Poetry Festival, a nationally recognized assembly of poets. It was being held just a five-minute walk from where I was staying.
Because I had rented my place out in Shelter Bay, I had to find lodging elsewhere. Joan offered me the now empty “mother-in-law” apartment out back of her place. (I constructed it twenty years ago when we were married.) The festival was being held in Maple Hall and to open the three-day event the acclaimed poet Jane Hirshfield read from her marvelous creations. As she said; she was a searcher, not a poet. Her search was transcribed into words.
The next day was filled with more readings of which La Conner’s Georgia Johnson shown bright among the national notables. I am in love with this person’s work. She is of our community.
The love of words spread to the love of family as Joan, Pera and Laurel and I packed to drive to Tacoma to support and participate with Hannah in her glory of graduation. Caitlin, our other daughter, and her fiancé Will, joined us as well from Portland. Hannah’s long time friend and fellow student, Marcos and his Venezuelan mom, Carolina, made up our extended family. I brought twenty-five pounds of oysters from Blau’s from Sammish Bay at Hannah’s request . We eat well, very, very well. As the food disappeared the mood swung to honoring Hannah. Sitting in her quiet backyard we recalled, laughed and cried and so deeply loved her in this time and place.
On graduation day, Geraldine, who represents the base fabric of our community of friends, also joined us to celebrate this watershed event.
True to family form nothing is done standard fare: We had three bells representing her graduation. The first was the bell made by her uncle in Michigan at Harmony Hollow Bells. This represented her grandfather whose trust enabled her to attend this fine school; the next, also of Harmony Hollow Bell, represented her family’s love and the last bell was a ship’s bell representing her journey into the world. When appropriate at her graduation, eight of us stood and cheered and rang these wonderful bells for Hannah.
I am so blessed.