Because that’s what [some] Yoopers do. But some of the daughters sing. Yes. And that’s how I figured out who *this* particular moved-to-Fla-and-died person was.

Today. I took my usual walk. I think my fav-o-rite regulars on my walk ever are the women who run with their headlamps on. The skunks? Not so much. Coffee at Barry’s with MMCB. Work. For a few hours. It was the yearly “fun” day today. Lunch and whirly-ball and a raffle and more. Sigh. I think it’s wonderful that my company can set aside a day (or two or three) to honor its employees. In fact last fall, I participated in a kayak outing. I had a wonderful time doing that. Whirly-ball? Not my fave. But a lot of other people were excited about it and that’s cool.

Me? I bailed. I haven’t been in the Yooperland since New Year’s Day. That means I haven’t seen The Commander since then. That’s a bit too long. I weighed my position as a loyal employee to an employer that has been good to me against my position as a member of the sandwich generation. I weighed spending five hours having “fun” with the people I have fun working with every day against spending five hours driving north to have a much-needed long weekend at The Commander’s. I am pretty quiet (I think) about my private life at work. I mean, my co-workers have an idea of what goes on but I don’t spout all of the details. What details there are. Boring is the name of the game here, knock on wood! My boss was cool with my plan to trade the fun day in for time with my moom and everyone else who asked why I wasn’t participating kind of took a step back… Ohhh… Yes, you should do that. Have a good trip. Be careful.

Good trip? Yes. We had a wonderful trip up. Dinner at the Palace Saloon and then a drive down by the locks and river. The locks are supposed to open for the year at midnight tonight and we saw two boats below the locks sitting, waiting to go up. And there was a coast guard vessel above the locks looking for baggy old kayak women jumping out of their vee-hickles to take iPhone photoos. Yes, they even got their binoculars out. This is a brave new world folks.

And maybe because The Comm and I have *not* seen each other for a while, we got to talking a bit over there at the Palace. About stuff. Her family. My family. The Fins. What I thought when I was a kid. What she thought when she was a kid. This kind of stuff is what makes the world go ’round. It is a gift to have a moom who is the age of mine who is still with it, even if she can’t always pull exactly the right word (or name) out of the hat at the precise moment she needs it (er, not that I can always do that either). The Comm’s moom died suddenly [in a car accident] when The Comm was 15 so The Comm never had the kind of experience I am having now, nor did she know the other end, that of being a teenager rebelling against her parents. She had to grow up fast. Me? I am finally starting to feel like an adult!

And we even found The Commander’s gloves tonight. Right where she left them. Between the passenger’s seat and the Dogha door. And tomorrow, when she’s looking for them again, I’ll tell her they’re on top of the liq-wire cabinet. Because there was the teensiest bit o’ B&B after we got home. Anyway, I moved them to the top of the dishwasher.

Good night. The north shall rise again! –Kayak Woman

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