Winter 2025-2026 (5/20/26)

 Winter is typically not a time when we do a ton of exploring. That was even true when we were full time RVers, but its more true now that we have houses.

Highlights of the fall and winter include the following:

Paul’s close friend Kirk turned 70 and had a blow out party at his cabin near Shaver Lake in California.

The weather was perfect. and the live band was awesome.

In October we joined our daughter Jess for a weekend in Palm Springs. We hadn’t seen her in months, and it was a destination we could all easily get to.

The rest of the month was pretty much spent packing up some stuff from the house in Lake Havasu.

We were supposed to close on our new house in Green Valley at the end of October, but it was delayed a week. Not too bad though.  We aren’t selling the Havasu house at this point, so in addition to packing some stuff, there was some shopping going on.

We are lucky enough to have very good friends. Once we closed on the house, Liz and Randy came to Green Valley with us and helped us move stuff into the house and install a bunch of things like light fixtures.

Of course, it wasn’t all work and no play!

Thanksgiving was in Havasu- a pretty quiet one for us, with Liz and Randy and my brother Ray and his wife Dawn.

Most of the winter was spent going back and forth between the two houses, with the holidays being in Havasu.

Christmas was also more quiet than usual with just a few friends. What was different was that Liz and Randy’s daughter and granddaughter flew in for the holiday, which added to the festivities for sure.

January and February brought more back and forth between the two houses, and also some prep for a big party in Havasu.  Paul turned 70 in February, and wanted a birthday bash. So he got one.

Friends came from all over the country- and even though quite a few couldn’t make it, we had a blast!

Along with the invited guests, we had some UNinvited guests. A swarm of bees decided to plop themselves down on our bougainvillea bush for the afternoon. And they did NOT like the band warming up. Might have been the bass.

The fire department was called, but of course they couldn’t do anything about them.  I was getting nervous because all bees in AZ are Africanized and usually aggressive. I was hoping we weren’t going to have to move the entire party inside. It turns out they settled down, much to my relief.

So the party moved forward, with much eating, drinking, and dancing….

Because most people came from such a distance, we actually partied for several days before saying goodbye to most of the guests- but not all of them. We sort of just moved a smaller party down to the new house in Green Valley so we could show the house to our friends Mike and Julie, who had flown in from Florida.

We hadn’t been there very long when I got a devastating phone call from my brother Ray, who has a winter place in Mesa AZ and was at our party.

 

Our younger brother Richie had gone into cardiac arrest and we initially got no more details. Richie lives in Massachusetts and was born with intellectual disabilities, so Ray and I are his guardians.  We both got the first flights out that we could. We went straight to the hospital and met up with our sister.

Unfortunately the news was not good. After determining that there was no brain activity, we made the only decision that felt right. We decided to donate his organs so that others could live longer and healthier lives.

 

That is the only reason I really shared that personal story. I have been amazed at how many people realize of course that organ donation is a thing, but never really thought about it in terms of themselves or other close family members. Although the decision was an easy one, it was not an easy thing to go through. However.....

Thinking about the people he helped, helped all of us cope with our loss. His kidneys went to two different people in their 50s, and his liver went to a woman in her early 20s. His heart was used for researching valve transplantation.

So, anyway, if there is anyone out there who has thought about organ donation but hasn’t done anything about it per se, it would be a great idea to let your immediate family know what your wishes are, and to find out what Their wishes are.

After spending a couple of weeks in Massachusetts, we all returned to Arizona.