7/19/2009: Montana trip

We made the bi-annual trip to Montana for the weekend. We stopped in Spokane to see g’ma (great-g’ma for the kids) and had lunch with her. That was really nice. Then moseyed over to the bustling metropolis of Plains, Montana for the family reunion. As usual, it was very hot, but everyone finds ways to manage. The kids love the riverfront near the fairgrounds. It has a small, sandy beach and the water is very cold, so it’s great for a hot day. My older brother David and I took the opportunity to jump off some high rocks into the river, then we (David, brother-in-law Andy and his two teenage daughters) were able to secure some innertubes and float the river for about an hour. It was great. However, I ended up on an air mattress (plastic kind for a pool). It was just fine, except I found that my limbs were in the c-c-cold water most of the time and they started going numb. My legs started cramping and I also found that I couldn’t move my hands like normal. Even on a blazing hot day, I was VERY cold riding along the water’s surface. I can definitely see how even the strongest swimmers can get in trouble in cold, fast-flowing water. But I made it back to the beach without incident. It reminded me of how much I enjoy floating on rivers during the summertime. There’s something therapeutic about it for me.

It’s interesting, some of the things you can learn at a family reunion. You hear lots of fragmented stories…and sometimes the right person is present to pull the whole story into view. It’s fun to hang with folks in general, but especially family. One revealing moment goes something like this: As background, my maternal grandmother died of cancer in 1985. She was a chain smoker (so was grandpa) and my mom has always detested smoking because of the strong presence of smoke in her childhood home. So, the fact that it eventually took her mother’s life prematurely, my mother has been a crusader for clean air and banishing smoking. So, my cousin is an MD and he found occasion to pull grandma’s file to see what the true cause of death was. Turns out it was cancer, but not lung cancer as we have been told all these years. Now, she DID have lung cancer, but the report shows that she actually died of COLON cancer. As far as we knew, none of the family had ever heard that she had any other type of cancer. It’s still not clear to us whether she even knew that she had colon cancer. But man…when my cousin told us about the report, my mom had a look of amazement on her face. Of course, lung cancer is terrible and would likely have taken her life prematurely anyway, but it’s interesting to be reminded that life will throw curve balls. Even during difficult times, something more challenging may be lurking – sometimes unbeknownst to us. The challenge is to make the best of what we’ve been given and not lose sight of eternal perspective. Easy for me to say, right? But man, family reunions can be enlightening.