While many parts of the country regularly welcome winter – and snow – with aplomb, we Pacific Northwesterns are ill equipped to function. And when Mother Nature continues to dump 3-5″ on us every day or so…things get really interesting!
Holiday festivities are being altered, reworked or cancelled altogether. The snow, which robbed my household of our annual family reunion/Christmas party, instead gifted us with wonderful stories and memories from men and women who were, before yesterday, strangers. With the cancellation of one party, I found myself able to attend the 101st (!!!) birthday party of Ray Wilson; Grandpa Ray to the “Tribe.”
We celebrated with cake, champagne, sparkling cider and as many of the residents of the retirement living facility as we could fold into our party. Amid the babble, chit chat and reminiscing we met Jean. We were discussing Jim Whittaker’s book A Life on the Edge, memoirs of Everest and beyond (The Mountaineers Books, 1999) when Jean piped up, “I knew Jim.” Jim Whittaker is a legendary NW adventurer. We all grew up hearing of his exploits on mountains near and far. As the book jacket reads “Jim Whittaker has lived a life of high adventure and rare achievement.” Isn’t that what we all strive for?
It turns out Jean and her husband, a mountain naturalist, raised their children throughout many of the West’s National Parks. She had wonderful stories of a sparky 4 yr old keeping bears out of the kitchen by holding the door closed; sleeping under the stars in Death Valley, and family adventures that involved snakes, lizards and beautiful forests.
As is often the case, once you begin to ask questions the stories just get better and better. Jean, an author, was educated at Mt. Holyoke, a prestigious women’s college in Massachusetts; her brother attended Amherst College nearby. Jean told us of meeting Robert Frost, her brother’s English professor, which got some of the more learned of our gathering reciting Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening, Frost’s famous poem that ends with:
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.”
Jean, Jim Whittaker, Robert Frost and Grandpa Ray – collective years of adventure, family stories and lives lived fully. While the snow has many of us wondering how and if we’ll get around for our many planned celebrations this week, Christmas came early – I’ve already received my first gift!
