Basically Betty

Yes, I'm going to teach.  Yes, I'm going to work every day.  So, when I tell you that I'm going to be in Italy and Switzerland for the next 4-1/2 weeks, I don't want you to think it's going to be ALL play and no work.

I've got a long list of things I've been aching to do for myself - long walks, long runs, hours of stretching, catching up on my reading and writing - and this long trip to Europe will be the perfect time to make great progress in all of that.

It was always Mom and Dad's plan for their ashes to be mixed and spread.  I've already spread some of Daddy's in Italy; in Milan in the grass under a tree on the grounds of the cathedral and in Florence on the stone steps of the church by the Central Market.  I have pictures of that but I don't seem to be in the good graces of the technology Gods right now so I'm unable, after 3 attempts, to upload them into this piece for you.  

Last December around the time of Mom's funeral in St. Pete, I sprinkled some of her ashes in the breaking waves at Pass-a-grille beach, where we went for years, with Mom sitting on a blanket while Joann & I played the day away.  I also sprinkled some of Mom's ashes in the stream at the Chattaway, a restaurant we grew up visiting, where we've known the owners for decades, where Mom was treated like the most important customer they'd ever had and where Mom absolutely loved their grouper sandwich.  It was poetic justice that the night I sprinkled her ashes there, with owner Greg Kitto at my side, they had a Rays logo painted on their roof, it covered the whole thing, you could have seen it from SPACE!  Well, maybe not from space, but you could have seen it from Delta to Miami, that's for sure.

So now I'm off to sprinkle the bulk of the mix of Mom and Dad's ashes, and both of wanted and knew I'd be carting them onboard airplanes and making little ceremonies all around the world, in their honor.  For people who didn't travel often, they're sure getting around now.  

Next year, I go around the world, starting in Australia, then the Seychelles, Greece, Switzerland and ending in Italy before returning to Seattle.  I'll save a little bit of the M\D mix for that trip, too.

I'm not ready to sprinkle all their ashes quite yet.  I'm so comforted by having them here, with me in my Seattle office, where I spend the majority of my time when I'm in the States.  Daddy used to say we should put his ashes in the hub cap of our car so we could hear him clanging and banging as we went through our days.  He wanted to stick around, at least in that way, and I'm happy that he's still with me, at least in that way.

So, internet connectivity is still a huge problem in Italy - they've got us beat in fashion, transportation, design, preservation of heritage, social services, and many other categories like that but they are light years behind us and other first world countries when it comes to internet access.  I hope to post from there but if I don't, I'll be back in the US at the end of September and will put up what I've written while gone.  Thanks for your patience.

Love and Prayers from Here to There.  

Tomorrow I end a 5 day workshop at noon and by 1 pm, I'll be joining John, Jimmy, Heidi and a dear friend and visiting teacher named Kim at Safeco Field where Mom's Rays will play the Mariners in the last of a 3 game visit.  I've checked online for the scores of the past two games and it appears as tho the Rays lost last night and won in extra innings tonight.  We'll be sitting behind home plate with a sign that says "Baseball Betty: The Rays #1 Fan in Heaven."  Watch for us and I'll be back soon to tell you about my next trip.