Welcome To Surviving With Panache!
Lessons in survival for inspiration and hope in an unsteady world. We have lived through every hard day so far! Carpe’diem! 🌻🌻🌻
First Time Reader? CLICK HERE To Read Chapter 1
<Chapter 11, Part 2 | Table of Contents | Chapter 13
It turned out summer was not as dismal as I had imagined it would be. It’s always nice when our worst fears evaporate, isn’t it? Far from dismal as you will see, dear reader.
One evening mother sat me down and casually stated that she had been corresponding with her first husband, Leon, and my brother. I knew the name Leon and that he was her first husband. But, My whaaatt??
Yes, them. They wanted me to visit. I had no idea there was “my brother”.
They wanted me to visit them, in South Dakota. Was I interested in going out there for a visit? I knew of two sure things in this conversation:
1) South Dakota was across the country.
2) Mount Rushmore was there. Anything else, miry quicksand.
What I didn’t know were these new “relatives”. I was almost eleven years old and had just found out that I had a brother.
Bright yellow flashing lights appeared in my head. What now?
Automatically I replied, “Sure, I will go. How will I get there?”
Oh, Leon has a plane, she stated. They could pick me up next week.
Suddenly, I was no longer grounded. Life became intensely focused on shopping. (You don’t say?)
Of course, I needed new outfits for the trip. Corduroy pants, shoes and sandals, shorts and blouses. We also went house hunting, again. Our neighborhood was going “downhill”. It was time to get out at the height of market prices, according to mother and her boss, who was also a real estate tycoon in the county.
Just before it was time to leave for my trip, we found a lovely ranch style house across the street from Chula Vista High School on 4th Avenue. Oh, what a house! I still long for that place. Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, family room, living room with a fireplace, dining room, kitchen. Beautiful yard and front porch. The best things, however, were the pool and patio. Heated pool. A Private patio with night blooming jasmine growing by the fence. The scent was intoxicating. A little slice of heaven in the heart of the city. My parents put in an offer. They were advised to offer less than the asking price because the place was at the heart of a divorce settlement.
Next, it was time to fly. We drove to the private aircraft location, Brown Field. Waiting for us on the tarmac was Leon and his entire family. His wife, stepdaughter, their two small children and my brother. They were running around or lounging on the twin engine Cessna that I was to travel in. The introductions were made smoothly enough. It felt almost otherworldly as if it was not the least bit strange to be meeting these people, one of whom was my real brother, for the first time and about to go very far away in their small plane. David, mother’s husband, took tons of photos of everyone as if we had been fast friends for years.
Leon began asking everyone to get into the plane and strap in. He said that we needed to get airborne. Hugging my mother briefly without shedding a tear, I climbed in. Once secured in the seatbelts, Leon powered up the engines. It was loud. Conversation would be nearly impossible during the flight. I asked how long it would take for us to arrive in South Dakota when Leon turned to look at me with a reassuring smile. Five and a half hours, if the wind was in our favor. I didn’t even have a book with me.
I decided during the trip that I did not enjoy private aircraft and avoid them to this day. It was too much like a tin can. Not at all like the comfortable Boeing 747 I had been in when we flew to an uncle’s funeral when I was 5 years old.
The visit with these strangers and my brother went well enough. As a bonus, I was introduced to my current faith and vegetarian cooking. Leon’s wife was a fabulous cook. Getting to know my brother, Jon, was interesting. He talked about the same subjects any other 14-year-old guy talked about: cars, planes, engines. I learned a lot more about these things and loved it. The most fascinating thing about him at that time was that he would be graduating from high school the next spring. Done. Boom. How cool was that? I correctly assumed he was super smart.
Leon and his wife took us all to the skating rink and I got to skate with Jon a lot. We liked the same songs, and he was impressed with how well I skated. I kept up with him in speed, fancy turns and swiggles. It was fun.
Mother called one evening to see how I was doing and to to say that we got the house. They were already starting to clean it and move in. I was so excited to hear it. I asked her when I was going to go home. She was a little surprised. She said she would make the arrangements quickly for my return and they were taking me to Disneyland for my birthday!
When it was time to leave my brother, we promised to write to each other and Leon added they would see me soon. Ok. Cool. Bye, now.
I mean, Mount Rushmore and Jeannie’s cooking were ok. But they ain’t nothing compared to Disneyland!
To Disneyland we went! We stayed in the newly built Disneyland Hotel. The monorail stopped right at the lobby to take us swiftly into the park in one breathtaking whoosh. Mother got us two packets of tickets. The rides were connected to the ticket. Abe Lincoln’s America was an “A” ticket, Alice’s Wonderland was a “B”, the Riverboat Bayou a “C”, etc. The best rides, The Matterhorn, The Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion- these were “E” ticket rides. The booklets had less E tickets in them, which is why we needed two packets of tickets. One for each day. It was the Happiest place on Earth for me. Just like the advertisements said.
Once home from the Magic Kingdom, we got busy prepping the house for habitation. Mother wanted fresh paint on all the walls, new floor tile in the kitchen and bathrooms, window treatments for the bedrooms. We did all the painting ourselves. David did the tile work. I chose pale yellow paint for the walls in my room and bright yellow carpeting. I painted as high as I could reach, then David finished the top by the ceiling. It was fun. I still enjoy painting in many forms. Unfortunately, there was something in the paint that I was allergic to. My face, hands and arms broke out in a kind of plaque. When mother took me to the doctor, I needed a prescription for it to go away! The start of the school year was two weeks away and I used that prescription cream faithfully until it was gone.
The school I was enrolled in was none other than Lillian J. Rice. Vincent territory once again. I was excited and hesitant at the same time. Mother drove me to the campus for the first day. I knew right where I was going for class. I wondered if Vince and I would have the same teacher. There were two 6th grade classrooms. Alas, we were not in the same one.
Word had spread quickly: Melanie was back. At the first recess, I was surrounded by half the old posse. Michelle hugged me and welcomed me back. Everyone was asking where I had been, how did I return. I was laughing with them and feeling good, when Michelle asked quietly, “Are you going to get back with Vince?”
Whoa. Everyone became silent. My heart began to pound out of my chest. Caught off guard, I didn’t know what to say. I was hoping to talk with Vince myself and see what was up, you know? But oddly, he had gone straight to the ball field that recess. I didn’t know why. Then I remembered that it wasn’t so odd. He would come to me when he was ready. Then Michelle hit me with a doozy: Vince is with Rochelle now. That revelation silently stole my composure. I couldn’t quite hide my surprise. Even after all this time, she read me like a book. On top of that she was in Vince’s class, along with Rochelle. Obviously and naturally, her loyalties had shifted. Now I understood why Michelle was there and Vince was not.
Rochelle was sick that first day, so Vincent walked me home from school. How fortuitous. He told me how cute I was and hoped that all was well for me. He still felt like he knew me and had missed me something awful when I left. He confirmed that she was his girlfriend, since 5th grade. Straight up said that he wasn’t going to break up with her. He explained it wouldn’t be fair to dump her because I just showed up again. I told him I completely understood, and he was right. We agreed to be friends, but it could not be the same. See you around. How grown up we were now!
Ah, that was my Vincent. Honorable. I was not sad. I was proud. I also knew that Rochelle would have to see my face every day for the school year and wondered how she would behave. Was she worthy?
I felt the loss all over again, though. It felt like a piece of my soul had evaporated.
Thank you for reading my story. I am glad you are here.
awww 🥹🥹🥹🤗🤗🤗
Oh no! I'mso sorry to hear that. My mother was a dialysis for 1.5 years when she died. I pray he finds a match.