17 Sep 08 (evening in Reno)

I am in Reno.  I drove here with my dad and his brother, uncle Paul.  I learned a few things.  Uncle Paul is called Pablo in Mexico.  My dad is better at making it from one stop to the next... And one funny thing: while we were talking, my dad turned down the volume of the radio.  It wasn't turned off, but quite faint.  I was waiting for Uncle Paul to turn it back up when conversation died down.  He didn't.  Noone did.  In fact, I listened to the very faint fuzz and occasional music until we pulled in front of the Williams' house tonight.  So, they have both lost some hearing... or Uncle Paul was listening and wondering why I didn't ask to have the volume turned up.  

I still regret not having a camera.  Quite a lot.  I may look for one in the morning, but I don't expect to.  I think the day starts at 10:00 am, and the funeral is at 2:00 pm.  It is now 10:44 pm.  I am not feeling very tired right now, and why should I?  In Korea it is only  2:46 in the afternoon.  I am going to be quite screwed up when I get back there.

The older two and I got to dad's cousins house in time to eat a nice lasagna dinner.  I found it noteworthy that the vegetable platter had unhusked peas in it.  The broccoli, carrots, and tomatoes that accompanied the peas are normal fare for a vegi tray.  I tasted the lasagna, and it was like eating a foreign food.  I haven't had good lasagna in a long time.  I did have some shrimp lasagna in Korea that was ghastly. 

I remember dad's cousin, Laura?, and another person looked familiar.  I also remember Uncle Wilford, mainly because of the farm he ran.  Not the farm itself, just him and the idea of the farm.  Uncle Wilford and Aunt Irene's sisters shared a lot of stories from their past.  Someone has Aunt Irene and her husband's journals, and is compiling them.  She'll send them out to the family when they are complete.  One entry was in reference to Aunt Irene as a little girl:

The river that they lived near would flood fairly often.  The root cellar was below the water level, and would flood each time.  The shelves in the root cellar were high enough that they didn't get wet, and food was stored on them.  Aunt Irene's job was to go to the cellar and retrieve food.  When the cellar was flooded, she used a little boat.  She had a stick to push herself with to get to the shelves and back safely.  She despised the task, but did it.  She had to.

After dinner and the stories Laura's husband (don't recall his name) took us to their family friends house, the Williams.  I gather that these family friends are close like the Carricos are for us.  Getting to know the Williams was fun.  I asked the often ill-fated question of "do you know..?", but this time my fishing paid off.  Not only did Brother Williams know Tom Allred, and Jenny, but he was also Tom's basketball coach.  So, I am staying at a good friend's basketball coach's house.  Who'd of thunk it?  Sister Williams is a school teacher for 1st graders.  I must say that being here feels like being with family, from teary eyed Sis W talking about Aunt Irene to the pat on my back Bro W gave as he walked past me going down the stairs.  Truly amazing, loving, and friendly people. 

Sis W said (in reference to the shared friends and family), "You know, there are only 400 people in the world."  The inference was immediately apparent to me.  You tend to know someone wherever you go.