RECENTLY

JULY 09, 2012

I had family from San Juan Capistrano looking in on me to see if the

Warden is doing a good job keeping the grass growing under my feet. It’s always

hard to tell because we have desert landscaping around here. They come over

every once in awhile to get a good look because then down the line into their

futures they will be able to write their memoirs and tell how they would come to

see me because I was the oldest living relative they had. I was an oddity in the

Forster Family.

This visit just took place the last few days of June, and the players were: 2

great nieces, Roberta and Michele (with her 7 year old son, Josh,) great nephew,

Michael, and Mom of this crew, Anita, widow of my brother Bud’s son, Mickey.

Almost forgot — another reason for the visit was to find out about the

folding of those #&!*$?#@ (blankety-blank) fitted sheets.

Also, how the left leg was healing after the Wound Care Center at

Eisenhower took over the chore of dealing with the wound. It is doing very well

considering the mess they had trying to get Humpty Dumpty back together again.

On Thursday, the Warden, Roberta, Michele, and Michael went off to play a

little game of golf at Indian Springs, and have a bite of lunch. Josh and Anita were

sleeping in, then enjoying the pool where they were staying at the La Quinta

Resort. I was busy finding a fitted sheet in the dirty clothes bin to wash and have it

ready for my class on how to fold a #$&! fitted sheet.

They all arrived back at the house, and then I couldn’t wait to show the girls

my latest toy I had just sent for. I knew they could figure out how to operate it. It’s

called an Imagebox, and you can scan 35 mm slides, negatives, and photos to an

SD card. It’s a stand alone piece of equipment. So, those 2 nieces spent hours

scanning 265 slides onto the SD card. There are wonderful pictures taken in the

1960’s — my Mom’s 85th birthday party, 2 different years of the Swallows Day

Parade in San Juan Capistrano, various parties, my Barefoot Bar on the Main

Beach in Laguna, and loads of my son Gary surfing off Brook Street in Laguna and

in Hawaii at the Ala Wai and Makaha. What memories came surging back into the

old bean! Enough for many more memoirs to be written.

Besides the above-mentioned photos, there are more priceless ones where it

is either Christmas or Thanksgiving because Bud is carving away on a big turkey at

his and Evelyne’s home — and more pictures reveal Anita and her now late

husband, my nephew Mickey, plus some shots of their first babies, Michael and

Michele. What a treasure trove! It’s going to take me hours on end to get these

together in their own little files — all nicely categorized.

The fitted sheet was on the dryer waiting to be the guinea pig, and was still

waiting when they left for the Resort to get their beauty sleep. Before I went to bed

I draped it on the top of the sofa near the front door so we could take care of that

exercise the next morning when they came to bid fond farewells.

Saturday morning, the gang came to say goodbye, and you could tell by their

expressions that they felt quite sure that the Warden was taking very good care of

the old family heirloom. Off they went, and when Alba and I came back into the

house after waving goodbye —what hit us like a ton of bricks? Well, there was the

fitted sheet — still waiting.

Later in the afternoon, I noticed that the sheet had been removed from the

living area, and guess what! When I went into my bedroom, there was the fitted

sheet all nicely folded, neat as a pin and waiting for me to spot it on my chest of

drawers! Somehow, the Warden had placed the sheet on top of the bed and had

figured out how one does this maneuver all by oneself. She earned a gold star that

day. And now she tells me that sheet is never to be used again because she will be

exhibiting it whenever someone comes through the front door.

MELITAS FORSTER