Friday,
April 18 (Good Friday) – The day of our trip to Boise had finally arrived, and
somehow the dogs knew. The dogs weren’t going, and somehow they knew that, too.
Mike took them to the boarding facility where Nellie seemed to accept her lot
and the uninitiated Bess questioned that he would leave her there.
As
we traveled, I remarked to Mike that I’m glad to be out of the celebration of
Easter through the whole Easter egg thing -- though I admit that I enjoyed some
jelly bean eggs during the season.
Our
time in Boise – just a few hours, really – was spent with son Milo and our
grandsons Mason and Gage. Milo’s time with the boys had been set with their
mother, so we picked them up at the appointed hour Saturday morning with the
idea of spending time at a park. They chose Kleiner Memorial Park, which
actually lies in Meridian. 
Kleiner
Park is a large, well-planned facility for family activities, BUT – what we
failed to take into account was that Saturday was the day before Easter and a huge
event, an Easter egg hunt and family day, was in progress. That wasn’t the
atmosphere we needed, so we opted instead for the quietude of Ann Morrison Park
in Boise proper. 
Grandpa
Mike and Gage tossed a baseball back and forth, then kicked the football for a
while, and then rolled the balls on the bocce ball court. (Too bad we didn’t
have bocce balls.) Meanwhile, I set out the snacks and made sandwiches. Mason
is recuperating after surgery to repair his left foot and ankle, so he gets
around on a scooter. He and Milo went for a quiet walk.
Ann
Morrison is a mature, well-established park now, and Mike reminisced about
moving to Idaho those 45 years ago and taking his two little boys to a Boise city
park – perhaps this one – and pushing them on the swings.
With
the aid of this new-fangled technology, I included Aunt Hallie in our gathering
by means of a text message. She sent a “selfie” of herself making a face and
challenged the boys to do the same for the phone camera. They obliged. Those photos
will lie forever in the privacy of the family photo archives – at least until
my cell phone fails.
Our
few short hours were over all too soon. Or were they? I think Grandpa Mike got
pretty tired – and maybe Mason as well.
2 comments:
So glad you got to see the boys. They are growing! (Actually, I got a little teary looking at the photos. Sometimes this grammy business is heartbreaking.)
I have been teary but not this time. This was a good visit, and at the end of our time together, we were all ready to move on to the next thing. That felt right.
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