Graduation!

My sister graduated from high school!!! 

And my mom gave her the surprise of her life by coming all the way over from England. We all managed to keep the secret :)

I'm such a proud big sister!

God's chauffeur

Apparently even God flies domestic:

The thing is, that car was still waiting after I left with my dad. It probably will be waiting for God for a very long time...

Sunshine state of mind

I'm here in Florida to say good-bye to my granddad. I am not sad. I feel as at peace as he looked in the coffin. He's passed on, but I am not saddened by death. He lived a good life, and was very ill toward the end of it. He went with dignity, and his passing gives a gentle sense of relief. 

I didn't spend much time with Granddad, but I have good memories of him. I loved when he would come up to Michigan for work and stay at the Residence Inn. This was when I was very little. I remember his stiff, gelled black hair, and also how he would make an alligator with his two hands and always "eat" my baby alligator. Then Nana and Granddad moved to Florida. I remember their 40th wedding anniversary at the Yacht Club, and the skits that my cousins and I put on for all the family. We'd see them intermittently at holidays, but it was always nice to see them. I remember when I was learning to drive and Granddad gave me some awkward advice over the phone. That may have been the last time I had a normal conversation with him. (However, he wasn't much of a talker anyways). 

When Hurricane Charlie hit Punta Gorda, Granddad broke his hip when trying to tie up his boat. That was pretty much when his health started to deteriorate. He developed Parkinson's. He continually fell and re-broke his hip. The last time I saw him was last summer, the summer of 2008, and it wasn't pretty. He was confined to a wheelchair--although he threw himself whole-heartedly into physical therapy, eager to get back on his feet. As the Parkinson's affected his mind, he lost his ability to form words. It must have been so frustrating to not be able to articulate what was on his mind. But I could tell that he was so happy to see me, his grandchild. I remember playing solitaire on the floor while he watched, avidly. It was hard for me to see him in that condition, but from his perspective I see the purpose for my visit: he got to see for his own eyes that his grandchild was happy and well. It was hard to watch him struggle, but at the same time his struggle was admirable, because he was a fighter. He refused to lay back and let illness take over. 

My granddad has passed, but life spirals on. His memory stays with all who loved him, and in that way he lives on. In loving memory of Ronald Lee Leonard, my grandfather.

a humble beginning

And so here we have it. Every adventure begins in one's own backyard. What better place to begin the story of me than here in Royal Oak, Michigan!  As I warm up to this "blogging" thing, I might as well start with something easy like that. There's so much that I want to tell, to remember, that I wouldn't know where to start! I'd like to use the blog to keep my friends up to date with my daily happenings, to keep up with current events, but with so many things changing for me at the moment, it's almost easier to talk about the past. 

For me, the past is melding with the present a little bit. I'm back in the house in which I spent most of my life, after three and a half years away. So much has changed in those

 three and a half years that the Annie returning to Vinsetta Boulevard is nearly nothing like the one that left. And the house itself has changed... My loft bed has been replaced by a futon, my sister's old bedroom devoid of any remnant of her having lived there. The living room gathers dust as the piano bench slowly decays. My parents' old bedroom has become my father's den, strewn with vaguely Asian memorabilia and keepsakes from his time working for GM in China, Korea and Thailand. The family room's coffee table is stacked high with TV Guides, burying my scrapbooks and photo albums. My dad lives here alone now, and even then he hardly spends much time here. The house is in need of work, but my dad prefers to spend his weekends away. Basic maintenance is done by maid and lawn services, but a clean house is not a home. With all of the things we used everyday sitting around unused and useless, this house is simply an empty shell of a family grown apart.

So now, coming back to the Royal Oak house after my big China adventure, it's easy for me to slip into nostalgia--dreaming about things as they were, and wistful wishes for what might have been. 

But this is not a bad thing! I'm very happy to be back in Royal Oak for the months of spring. Vinsetta Boulevard is the most lovely place in the world (to me) to watch spring unfold! The flowers are out in bloom, the birds are singing, a breeze is blowing... I appreciate these things more now that I've missed them for several years, and even more since I plan to leave Michigan in the fall, and might not be back to see spring in Royal Oak again for awhile!

A backyard is a good place to start. My backyard is security of the past and potential for the future: filled with both comforting old memories and nature bursting into new life!