Reunited

Hi.

Hope you are well.

Heard that an old friend lost her parents -- both of them -- within two weeks.

Made me think of how kind her parents were.
And how made-for-each-other they were.

**

Been 35 yrs since I last saw them.
Decent parting.
Sort of.

**

I met "Alpha" in a pizza parlor when I was in Alaska.  She had a boyfriend and I had a girlfriend.  We laughed and hit it off.

Had no plans that included one another.
I think that happens a lot.


Alpha and her boyfriend split up.
Wasn't ever gonna work out anyway.

My girlfriend and I broke up.
Wasn't ever gonna work out anyway.

Alpha began spending more time at my place.
Not as nice as the cozy nine-room home I have now.

Zero furniture.
Zero appliances.
Tin stove under a tree.
And "The Office," our two-seater latrine.

But it rocked.

Everyone who visited had his/her own seat: the end of a log cut to his/her own desired height.

Had a campfire every night.  Not just because it could get chilly, but the smoke kept many of the mosquitoes at a distance.  Lurking, really.  Waiting to nail you, kinda like The Wicked Witch's flying monkeys.

It was no small feat to woo a woman in the woods.

I shared a tent with Peter. 
He and I were there to build him a log house.
Dandy idea.
Hard work.

Alpha loved the camp.
Odd, because she grew up in New York City.
Manhattan.

Her dad ran the galaxy's coolest folk-rock club for a while.  If you've ever read about Dylan's rise -- or anybody else's there in the 60s -- you've read about it.

Not that I knew her or her family then.
But the obits in The New York Times tell the tales.

**

Alpha's old bf didn't like me much.
Didn't like her too much either.

I had carried a pistol most of the time.

Not unusual in Alaska, where to call the police you must tie a note to a moose, twirl him/her around several times, and let it go -- hoping someone would shoot/hit the moose, retrieve the note and tie it to another moose ... until the authorities were finally notified.

In other words, you're on your own.

That Last Frontier thing was more than a slogan in 1975, a mere 25 years after the last stagecoach stopped running in the Yukon.

**

No, I don't know what all the asterisks mean either.
I just use them.
Deal with it.

**

Alpha heard from her old bf.
Wanted to see her again.
She went.  Reluctantly.

He beat her up.
Steel-toed boots, the whole deal.

Had brothers.
Planned to do me too.

Slept with a loaded rifle in my sleeping bag. 
Firing it would'a caused a bit of a burn by my foot, but it was better than being unarmed, no matter how close my pistol was.

Nights dipped down below freezing.  In August.
House had a long way to go.

Peter's parents were less than thrilled by how much money (thousands) we had spent thus far.  There didn't appear to be enough money for Peter to fly me "anywhere I wanted to go" once the house was built, per our agreement for my company/labor/mischief.


**

Alpha called her dad in NYC.
Let's call him "Gamma."
Gamma was an actor.  No, not some fancy person you know well.
Gamma was a singer.  Yes, he was in old folk groups that people who follow old folks groups would know well.

Gamma was married to "Mu," a delightful woman.
WAY smarter than Gamma, but the gracious kind of woman who hid it well.
Not that she played dumb.  Not at all.
She merely played her part as a sort of "supporting role."
Perfectly.

Gamma and Mu had three other kids, "Tau," "Delta," and "Gabrielle." 
(Sorry, but Gamma was taken.)

**

So, Gamma told Alpha to get her butt back to N'Yark.
She didn't want to leave.
Had to.
I wanted to leave.
Had to.

She flew home.
With me in tow.

This worked out pretty well for Peter too.
Nobody bothered him after I left.
And his parents sent him truckloads of money to button up the log house before winter

**

I hadn't seen a stoplight all summer.
Lived in the woods.
Loved the woods.
Learned to bathe in a panful of water.
Learned to build a fire in the rain.
Learned to tickle the big mosquitoes, the only defense when they carried you away.  (OK.  That's a lie.)

Wore a leather hat I made for myself, using a kit.
Most everything I owned fit into a backpack.

**

Left my friend, the camp and my firearms, and flew away.
Little plane to Anchorage.
Big plane to Seattle.  Big plane to Chicago. Big plane to N'Yark.

Talk
about
culture
shock.

sheesh

**

Hated Manhattan.

The airport, the ride into town, a zillion cabs and a bazillion stoplights were a trip.  The people were SO rude.  Acted like they had never seen a man in a leather hat, work boots and a backpack in their LIVES. 

Alpha was zipping through the crowds like a cigarette boat charging through the waves off Miami Beach.  The people didn't part to let her through, she just kinda surfed over and around them.

I didn't.

After having the 100th cab challenge me to a duel of death
I stopped at an intersection where Alpha had paused.

I shouted (something like)

"I HATE IT HERE! 
WHAT ARE WE DOING? 
WHERE ARE WE GOING?"

She gave me the most queer look and said,
"Robert, I'd like you to meet my parents."

Honest.

What are there?  Eight million people in N'Yark?  Nine?
I freaked out in front of the only two people I wanted to like me.

Seriously.

**

Gamma was great.
Shook my hand. 
Told me he appreciated all I'd done for his daughter.
(Well, all he knew I'd done, anyway.)


Mu scanned me.  I could feel it.
Afterward I was sure she knew more about me than I knew about myself.
That's what she was like.  Wise and kind.  Smart and gracious.

Mu was the kind of woman a man wants to marry, I think.
A fabulous partner and helper.


Gamma offered to take me to lunch.
Had a nice time.
If I remember correctly.

Went back to their place on Houston Street.
I think it was a fifth-floor walkup.  Maybe 20th.
All I know was it'd been a long time since I'd seen stairs and theirs seemed to go on forever.

Met Delta, Alpha's brother, and Gabrielle. 
Don't remember if Tau was there then or not.

Tell you one thing I remember:
when Gamma thanked me and said "Goodbye!"

And I said ...
"I'm with her."

**

Gamma was a devout Catholic.  Very principled man.  A good man.
Like any loving father, he wasn't wild about Alpha dragging a man like me into his home.

He was kind.  Thought it was OK that I'd been in radio (three stations by then) and done some community theatre.
I admired him.

Mu was wonderful.  That's what I remember.
Reminiscent of the wife in Swiss Family Robinson.


****


When my beloved son-in-law asked for my blessing to marry my daughter, Epsilon, I mean "Esther" -- with three day's notice -- I said no.

Told him I didn't know him.  He didn't know her. 
I didn't know him.  She didn't know him. 
And I didn't know him.

They had a great wedding, a great reception and now they have 1.8 great kids.

I am glad God brought him into her life.
It happens.


****

Gamma graciously allowed me to stay overnight.
Maybe a couple of nights, it's a blur.

The family -- all show biz, to one degree or another -- had a gig lined up.

The Show was being produced on Broadway. 
(What that means is they rented space to rehearse there.)
The Show had dates scheduled at DC's Kennedy Center.
With hopes of being filmed for PBS TV, followed by traveling forever from town to town, pausing only long enough to deposit lots of money in banks along the way.

Gamma got me in on the gig.
Props, backstage.  Loved it.

**

Gamma and Alpha used to play recorder duets on street corners for tips.
I'd listen, pop a few bucks in their guitar case,
walk around the block, pop in a few bucks, etc.

They were musicians.  I was their shill.
Symbiosis.

**

Came the time Alpha and I wanted to ... well, you understand.
Gamma was not in favor.  At all.
Mu was perfectly wise about it.  Although her input is a blur.

Gamma was a good father.  Way nicer than me.


As part of the family, we all headed together to DC in a rented car.
The Show would go on.

Had a *great* time.
Quite the adventure.
Most of it will never be told.
After all.  It's taken me 36 years to divulge this much.

Seriously.

**

What do I remember?  Loving The Show.
The Fiddler who ... oh, never mind.  You wouldn't understand.

Just think musicians, dancers, performers, singers, dancers, actors and dancers.
You couldn't swing a cat without whacking a gorgeous dancer.
THAT much I recall.

I remember going next door after rehearsals to sit on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to relax, one of my favorite places anywhere.

It was all fantastic.
Love.  Friends.
The adventure of a lifetime.
A future?  A career?

**

The Show was filmed.  Broadcast.
We all signed contracts and we were all paid for our work and for the broadcast rights to our labor.

The Show went on.
The Show sucked.
The Show was rewritten just about every night.

The only thing they didn't do was have me do an onstage strip-tease.
Everything was tried ... and everything failed.

The Show closed.

And I remember President Ford being shot around that time.
And I remember Alpha and I hitchhiking back to Rochester, where my mother threw us out when Alpha and I slept together.

Stayed with friends.
Hitchhiked back to NYC.

(It was a different era.)  We stuck to the NY Thruway, mostly.
I did yo-yo tricks (poorly) to get the attention of drivers so that Alpha could wiggle our day-glow-paper signs detailing our next destination.

Still amazed we weren't slaughtered by any of the various wackos who picked us up.

**

Got back into NYC late one Saturday night.

I vividly remember being let off at [insert name of bridge here] and walking through what MUST have been Spanish Harlem.

Hot night. 
September?  October?  I dunno.
Alpha was fearless.

The denizens thought aliens had landed.  Me, specifically.  In my leather hat, rainbow suspenders (back when rainbows were only associated with rainbows), and my backpack.

Alpha kept telling me not to look afraid.
Like THAT was gonna happen.
We walked down the middle of the street.  People sitting on the stairs in front of their apartment houses -- as if it were a scene in a movie set in NYC.

She's mouthing off to them.
They're yelling at me.
I'm ... danged if I know.
Might have been the first episode of true prayer in my life.

**

You do know I'm telling the truth, right?
As much of it as I can remember.
As much of it as I'm going to tell you.

**

Made it back to her house.  Climbed the stairs.
Sirens sirening.  Buses.  Cars. 
The din of perpetual car horns, car alarms and ... New York.

**

I didn't belong.

**

Gamma and Mu were great.
Never heard a harsh word spoken between them.
They were born to be together.

Never had a moment's doubt that their marriage would survive.
They were *naturals.*

They belonged together.
They were one.

I actually met two people who did marriage right.
And had fun doing it.
In a walk-up apartment that probably rents today for a fortune.

Their kids loved them.

I lived with them.
Suddenly.

Spent time with them.
Traveled with them.
Worked with them.
Lived with their daughter.
Traveled with their daughter.

And they were always gracious and kind.
As compared to always thrilled with me.
Y'know?

**

The Show I starred in with Alpha closed.
I went to the Port Authority Building one night.
Begged for money for a bus ticket to my mom's.
(Therein lies a tale.)

Made it home.
Mom took me in.

Didn't hear much from Alpha afterward.
Directly, anyway.


**

Tau, her brother, became big-time famous.
Read in the news tonight that his parents
Gamma and Mu
died.

Gamma went first.
Twelve days later, Mu joined him in death.

Not a bit surprised, personally.
They SO belonged together.

Their marriage lasted 59 years. 
Still had plenty of life left, it seems.


Now they're back together, where they belong.
Just a blessed reunion, I'll bet.

Mu loving Gamma.
Gamma glowing in her love.  Thankful for it.

**

Death's always hardest on those left behind.

[Presuming those who pass have asked for forgiveness of their sins,
if not ... the worst isn't over.  Sorry.]

Say a prayer for Delta, Tau, Alpha and Gabrielle, please.

They had two of the last examples of a loving husband and wife
and a loving father and mother.


No statuette.  No glory.  No contract. 
No name over the title.  No fortune or fame
will ever compare to ... or substitute for ... what they've lost.

But the good news is they had one another for many years.

And the Good News is Christians will be reunited
with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.


Hope Gamma and Mu put in a good word for their kids and me before we see them in heaven.


Will you be there?
Maybe I'll get a chance to introduce you.