Laura Bruno Lilly

The road ends, but the journey continues...

Tag: Dad (Page 4 of 4)

Here's to the Nines!

October 30, 2014 /

Here’s to the Nines:
Entering
and
Exiting


2014: my year for exiting the Nines.
Of course, by interpolation, 2013 was my year for entering into the Nines.

Joe and Michelle with GranPa (9/14)

Joe and Michelle with Dad/GranPa (9/14)


Dad turned 90 in April 2013 and I turned X9 last October 2013.  We got to share life in the Nines for an entire year.  As well, I’m blessed to have visited Dadland for a goodly portion of these past 12 months.
My times in the Nines have tended to be fraught with trepidation.  Starting with the one where I joined Jack Benny in declaring to be eternally 39, my journey through the Nines can be a bit rocky.
Okay so it’s not like Dad where he’ll be in his version of the Nines till he reaches his 100th b-day.  But still…
My Decade Cake

Count the layers on my decade cake*!


Once flipped over to the other side and into a new decade, I usually find it’s not such a bad age progression.  Ah, but those Nines…both entering and exiting…are a perilous roller coaster of highs and lows; ohs and nos.
Ironically, the number 9 itself has been loads of fun for me.  Perhaps I should focus on that…number 9, number 9, number 9…anything’s easier to tolerate when George, John, Paul and Ringo (my personal order of preference) sing about it.
That said; I am an October baby. Continue reading

Story of a Kitty & Remembering Tripod

December 7, 2013 /

Once again I find myself in Colorado visiting Dad while in the midst of record breaking weather.  The Deep Freeze temps that usually occur during the National Western Stock Show in January have arrived earlier this year.  Family and friends are beginning to joke about my visits bringing crazy weather; first the 1000 year flood and now this.  If this keeps up, those same friends and family might not be so happy to hear of any further visits I’ll be making!

The unseasonably bitter cold has brought out concerns for the neighborhood stray cat where my brother and sister-in-law live.  It seems there is this kitty who was once a beloved house cat, living an indoor life in a home just kitty corner (!) from my brother and sister-in-law.  This lovely feline had an adoring owner who passed on about three years ago.  Kitty’s inherited owner took no interest in claiming her, causing Kitty to become an unwilling outdoor cat.

As with most strays, she makes her daily rounds; surviving better than most because of her winning personality and because her territory is within a nice neighborhood.  According to my brother, she is the perfect stray to take in and call your own.  Kitty has tried to adopt various humans, but with little success.  Mostly because she is technically someone else’s pet.  In the case of my brother and sister-in-law, they accepted Kitty’s offer at one time, trying to incorporate her into the family.  Unfortunately, the household’s menagerie of permanent and semi-permanent pets didn’t accept Kitty into their gang.

So adopting Kitty was not an option. Continue reading

Dad's Got His Groove On

October 1, 2013 /

Right now, this very moment, something normal, something comfortable, something so very ‘Family’ is happening: Dad is blowing his horn. After weeks of fooling around with re-organizing his music, the bane of us musicians which can become more procrastination than need, Dad’s got his groove on.  He is blowing long tones on the mouth piece, testing out his own custom hand-shaved reeds, adjusting tension on the ligature; just about all the stuff a sax-man needs to get ready to start in on a serious practice session.  Ahh, the riffs, the scales, the bits of favorite tunes, with squeaks here and there as attempts are made to blow those flashy odd harmonics, reachable only by a select and sacred few like my dad.

Dad in his new digs

Dad in his new digs

Even with those super sax-man lungs he’s developed over the years, at age 90 Dad’s biggest hurdle at the moment is more with the stamina required to play a full set.  And yet, I’d give it a couple weeks at the most for him to break through that temporary barrier.

Dad is my inspiration as a musician.  Dealing with skin cancer on the top of his bald head, he loves to recount the story of how he got it in the first place…all my friends had to work days, but I got to lay out on the beach along Lake Michigan and sunbathe since I worked the clubs and joints at night.  It’s almost a badge of professionalism for him, though he advises this generation to stay out of the sun.

Dad at cemetery

A private moment

For the six years since Ma passed away, he put his sax down.  While he kept up a semi-regular practice routine, his (he)art just wasn’t in it.  In this difficult stage of his life, he laced up his dance shoes and began stepping to the music of others. An odd juxtaposition as the pull to play the music was ever nipping at his cha-cha heels.

Just two days moved into this Independent Living apartment and I get to listen to the sounds of my childhood, the background noises of everyday living in our home, the ever present music.  Not from some recording or old radio  show, but coming from the (he)art of our Family’s home: Dad’s horn.

On the icebox door

September 29, 2013 /

Today the movers come to begin the transport of Dad’s things to his new Independent Living apartment.  I pulled this quote that’s been behind a magnet on the icebox door for quite sometime, judging from its yellowed appearance.  For me it is in keeping with the theme of this blog: The Road Ends, but the Journey Continues. Perhaps it’s message will speak to you. Peace, all.

“We are all pilgrims in this life, and as we trek further down the road, we also become philosophers, so as I retire, here are some of my thoughts – God Bless – Gordon R. Darnell, D.D.S.

It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

Happiness is not a destination – it’s a way of traveling.

Don’t take life too seriously – it’s only temporary.

Life is difficult, Life is not fair, Life is wonderful.

Life is 10% what you make of it, and 90% how you take it.

He who dies with the most expensive toys – still dies.

The world is full of givers and takers – the takers eat better, but the givers sleep better.”

The Biggest, Most Widespread Flooding in Colorado History & Dadland

September 16, 2013 /

During natural disasters, life gets interrupted; rudely and profoundly interrupted.  The current flooding that is occurring along the entire Front Range of Colorado is no exception to this rule.

Except in Dadland.

Experts are beginning to call the flooding here in Colorado the ‘thousand year flood’ and I tend to believe them. While flash flooding tends to be a normal component to living in the West, this one has many elements which are unique.  Not the least of which is getting half the total annual moisture in a mere 24-48 hours; then doing a rerun scenario after a 12 hour respite. Western land and soilscape is simply unable to absorb such massive rainfall.

In addition, this flooding is not isolated to any one canyon, or stream, or floodplain.  It is occurring in multiple places throughout the entire Front Range simultaneously.  It is like having the 1969 Boulder Basin Flood, the Big Thompson Canyon Flood of 1976 and any other epic floods you can recall, occurring all at once, and then some.  And of course, once the waters recede, huge boulders, tons of mud and assorted debris will be left behind along with the devastation of individual households, vehicles and lives.

I get it, this is serious business.

And then there’s Dad. Continue reading

Newer posts »

© 2024 Laura Bruno Lilly

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑