Mom and Dad loved the water, and as many of you know lived on a boat for their last 5-6 years of their working life and well into retirement. Bob & Betty Currie, who those who attended our reunion here last year will remember, provided the Andante and we cruised out to a quiet spot of the Patuxent River, just shy of the Bay. My son Henry floated a box of ashes from the swimming platform of the Andante and other family members sprinkled ashes into the water.
Jessie’s daughter Miranda sprinkles ashes into the Patuxent.
My granddaughter Alice and brother Doug’s granddaughter Lacy meet for the first time.
We were particularly pleased that Brent, my youngest brother, was able to make the gathering. Brent was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer that had metastasized to the liver in late February. His tumors were too large (and on the liver too plentiful) to be operable. But he has responded very well to various chemo therapies and has led an amazingly normal life since his diagnoses. HIs latest CEA test (a measure of cancer in the body) had a 5.3 value – down from 200 earlier. A normal, cancer-free body measures 5 or below, so the hope is that the tumors will soon be small enough to be surgically removed.
I am blessed by a close family and this weekend was an emotional high for all of us; a wonderful celebration of the lives of our parents and of each other, and a chance for my generation’s grandchildren to get acquainted.
