Weekend Warriors

On Friday, June 25th, we welcomed my parents, sisters and their families to Tahoe for the weekend.  The 25th also happened to be Brian and my 5th anniversary and we were set to celebrate it with everyone at the Rustic Cottages in Tahoe Vista where my sisters were staying for the weekend. 

To back-track a little...late May and early June had been a roller-coaster ride for my parents following my dad's cataract surgery.  To make a very long story short my dad had gone in to have cataracts removed in mid-May.  Whether it was because of his congenital glaucoma or other unknown reasons, the recovery did not proceed as his doctor would have liked and despite doing everything he was instructed to do, Dad's vision remained very cloudy.  After a visit to a cornea specialist it was determined that he would need a cornea transplant.  Unfortunately the surgeon was leaving the country and would be unavailable until July 19th to get Dad back to normal.  To complicate things even more, my mother does not drive, so getting to and from the various appointments, etc. had been taking a toll on family and friends.  Thank goodness for my parents' amazing friends, Bill and Sylvia, who were there to help whenever needed.  With all of this going on my sisters and I and our husbands were all quite concerned about Dad.  We could all tell that being homebound with little vision was really affecting Dad who could no longer see to read, go fishing, golfing or even drive.  He was a prisoner stuck behind what the doctor described as a steamed up shower door.

We all agreed that no matter what, we were all going to keep Mom and Dad on their summer schedule starting off with the trip to Tahoe and the Golf Fore Education tournament.  Thanks to my brother-in-law, Pete, for driving all the way to Happy Camp to pick up Mom and Dad and take them to Benicia for a couple of days before coming the rest of the way to Tahoe.

So, by the time we all met up on the Friday evening for a barbecue we were all feeling like we had come a long way since May. It was great to get all the cousins together and watch them play together despite the age range from 13 years to 9 months.

Early on Saturday the 26th, I headed to the Mountain Golf Course with Mom and Dad for a full morning of tournament play. I personally wasn't going to play but as the lead organizer of the Saturday tournament I had to be on hand for questions, and general support.  Pete and Howie soon joined Mom and Dad to round out their foursome and I looked on as they headed out to the 1st tee to get the best-ball tourney rolling. Though they didn't golf well enough or poorly enough to earn the best or worse foursome prizes, they all seemed to have a pretty good time. Dad was actually pretty impressed with some of his tee shots and his putting.

As tournament play wound down I headed home to see Brian and Ben off to a birthday party for one of Ben's preschool friends, Hannah.  They had a great time going to the theater (owned by Hannah's parents) to see "Toy Story 3."  It was Ben's first movie theather experience and he loved it!!  I was quite happy to rest at home with Sam in preparation for our evening out at the Golf Fore Education community barbecue and auction.

Though the barbecue attendance was down from last year, we all had a good time.  But the highlight was when an overly-made-up older woman was hitting on Brian at the barbecue.  I knew exactly who she was and even knew how she is involved in volunteering within the community.  I knew that she hasn't always been the most gracious person in the non-profit loop so seeing her reaction when I walked up and introduced myself as Brian's wife was hysterical.  Even funnier was seeing the look on her face when she figured out who I was because of my major involvement in the evening's event.  Small towns never disappoint for drama! 

As the weekend finished up we all had a Sunday morning breakfast cooked by Howie at their rental cabin and said goodbye to Beth, Pete and Kayla as they headed back to the Bay Area.  Mom and Dad returned home with us to stay for a few more days before heading back north with us.  Pauline, Howie, Olivia and Isaac joined us later in the day on Sunday for dinner before leaving early the next morning to get back to Redding.