Magic in Minneapolis

Stillwater selfie

The trip to Minnesota has been fabulous, full of the expected good things (spending time with Katie) and the unexpected interesting ones, and now that Katie has gone to school and I have time to kill before my afternoon flight, I have time to write a little about it.

First of all, I am so in love with the Minneapolis area that I could stay another week. There is water, water, everywhere, and so many places to see it. We went around Lake Harriet and walked along the Mississippi near the Guthrie Theater and also along the St. Croix River in our day trip to Stillwater, the birthplace of Minnesota, where we spent a good part of the afternoon taking a trolley tour of the fantastic homes and browsing in the stores and at stalls in an arts fair while a jazz concert took place, which we would not have done if our hosts, Lonny and Andy, had not had a book called "100 Things to do in the Twin Cities Before You Die."  For exercise, we climbed up a lot of steep stairs to get this view of Stillwater.

View of Stillwater

This was my best Airbnb ever, a historic house, recently on a home tour, filled with art and antiques, with two cute little dogs, and a modern kitchen that makes me want everything in it, and a bed so comfortable that, thanks to the comfort and the cool Midwest air, allowed me to sleep past that dreaded 4 a.m. hour and sleep until the more respectable 7 a.m.

A semi-retired couple had the other room. They had driven over from Dubuque, Iowa, just to explore the area, and we became instant friends. In talking to the couple, and to Lonny, one of the hosts, we discovered a big commonality in addition to our shared political values: three of us had had cancer. We played "can you top this," and I am happy to say that I have enough distance to be able to do it with a sense of humor, as the others were able to do also.

They gave me the prize, but after hearing the other stories, I said I wasn't sure.

Last night, I stayed up until midnight talking to Lonny about his large extended modern family, and by the time we were done, I wanted to move in...or at least come back in May for the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre Annual May Day Parade.

But, back to my regular reality, which is a little complicated.

I fly in to Boston tonight, sleep at Diane and David's, then head out early in the morning to get to at least part of the Tuesday class at The Literacy Project in Northampton, then do some writing, then hopefully get in another outside clinic in the waning days of our Wednesdays at The Canoe Club, then go home to get picked up to go back to Boston for my ECP at the Kraft Blood Donor Center.

You might wonder, why not stay in Boston, but then I would not get to do those other things. And also, it will be nice to see my dog...if I can tear her away from Jim and Jane's.

Close encounters of varying kinds

The graduate, Lily, center, with Diane, to her right, and

aunts, Suzanne, left, and at right, Mel and me.

I had a wonderful though rainy weekend in St. Paul, Minneapolis, for my niece Lily's graduation from Macalester College.

Lily is Diane and David's daughter and the same age as Joe, who graduates in two weeks from Bates. So there is a whole lot of celebrating going on this month, alongside musings about where all the time went.

It is so nice when family gathers for happy occassions. I sat near Lily and her friend at dinner one night and got a chance to talk to them about their interesting plans as geography majors. We saw some of the sights in the Twin Cities and ate a lot of good food (it seemed like we were always planning our next meal!) Found some good coffee places, too.

I also met some very nice people whom I'll never see again...strangers coming together for brief connections.

The first "encounter" was on my flight from Hartford. I used to like flying, then I got afraid of flying, and now I think I'm OK again, not that I do it very much.

During my scared days, just a little bit of Ativan helped. I had brought some with me this past weekend just in case, but I didn't take it in the airport. As I sat on the plane waiting for takeoff, I thought maybe I should reconsider. (It doesn't work right away, but including a layover in Philadelphia, it was a five-hour trip.)

I called a friend who has a similar problem.

"Take it," she said.

A woman sitting across the aisle had heard my question, and she leaned over towards me and said, "Don't take it. Just breathe. You can do it."

The man in front of me turned around and gave me a thumbs up in agreement with the woman across the aisle.

The woman next to me, who told me later that she is a medical librarian at Yale, said maybe I should take it but that if I didn't and I got nervous, she would hold my hand.

I joked that maybe I should ask the whole plane.

I didn't take it. My new friends asked me a couple of times if I was OK. The librarian and I chatted a lot It was a smooth flight, and indeed I was OK.

I had another brief friendship Saturday morning at the hotel, where a free breakfast is included. The coffee, no surprise, was pretty bad. I drank a cup and then was sorry I had.

I asked a woman at the front desk if a Starbucks was nearby, and learned that there is one, but not in walking distance. The woman said I could wait for the van driver to return from an airport run and then he would take me there.

The driver was a man who looked to be in his late 20s or early 30s. He told me that he is from Ethiopa but doesn't mind the winters in Minnesota. He just bundles up and then looks forward to spring and summer, which are beautiful.

He works part-time at the hotel; his main job is as a collector for the phone company. "I'm the bad guy," he laughed. He is also pursuing a college degree in fine arts from the University of Minnesota.

When we pulled up in front of Starbucks, he said, "Tell them Amby says hello."

I did, and the two young women behind the counter smiled and said to say hi back. I was all set to go with my capuccino, but they said to wait a minute, they had one more drink.

It was Amby's usual, a skim vanilla latte (or something like that).

He broke into a big smile when I gave it to him.

"I am blessed, blessed, blessed," he said.

I feel blessed by the major events this weekend and by the anticipated ones in the coming weeks and by the small ones too.