Barbara J. Hamby

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Part Two - Gathering of the Clan

We arrived at my sister’s house in Lake Forest Park, north of Seattle. She lives in a lovely manufactured home surrounded by trees and flowers on a steep hillside. Another sister lives nearby, and she and her husband and one of her sons joined us for dinner. We had a great visit, then I drove back to my motel.

Exhausted by the drive and the fall at the airport, I slept fairly well. Saturday, after breakfast, I discovered I could get online with wi-fi in my room, and spent some time catching up on email.

Then I found a Target store where I was told there was a grocery section with a deli. I went there and bought supplies to patch up my wounds from the fall. The limited grocery section and deli in that store did not provide what I needed for a fruit salad for Sunday’s barbecue.

I went back to the motel, painted my sore spots with New Skin, and checked out the swimming pool. I asked a small boy in the pool how the water was and he said, “It’s freezing.” His grandmother told me it wasn’t too bad once you got used to it. I decided not to try it and began to think about lunch.

On the way to Federal Way shopping center, I turned on the Des Moines exit, heading for the water, to take a peek. Years ago, I had looked at a mobile home in a park down on that beach. Just off the freeway, I found a Subway and a Safeway, side by side. I had a sandwich, and then shopped for the fruit salad and picked up a TV dinner and a book. The Safeway included a gas station, so I filled the car with a 10-cent a gallon discount I had earned with Safeway purchases.

Back at the motel, I napped for an hour and a half, heated my dinner in the microwave, read, and waited for my daughter and son-in-law to arrive. About 8:00 p.m. they joined me for the evening, we checked ferry schedules for the trip to my cousin’s house on Sunday, and watched TV until we retired for the night.

I’ll continue this in a day or so. Tomorrow morning I will have cataract surgery on my left eye. My right one was done in March. I’m very excited about getting this done and looking forward to greatly improved vision. My neighbor, in his eighties, who’s had both eyes done, claims he could fly with the Air Force. He did get Motor Vehicles to lift the requirement for “adequate lenses” on his driver’s license.

(To be continued)