Morton Sisterhood

This past weekend I got to attend the annual retreat I do with my cousins. This year was a full salad year (long story, which no one really understands, but it involved trying to explain the different generations of the family using carrots, celery, and tomatoes as a visual aid). It just means that my cousins and I were there, along with our mothers, and a few of my cousins' daughters (the of-age ones . . . I can't remember exactly what age we decided was old enough).

I dropped off Campbell at school Friday morning (Helene was sick and stayed home with John), and then headed for the airport. I spent the next 3 hours on the phone with various relatives and local friends, trying to figure out if it was safe to travel. It was a crisp, clear day in Denver and no flight delays. But in Austin, you would have thought it was the Apocalypse. They had snow, which they are not used to, and everything iced over. They cancelled all outgoing flights and weren't sure about incoming flights. Even if my plane could land, my family were not sure that anyone could come pick me up at the airport. After much agony and debate, I decided to get on the plane anyway. John convinced me that the plane would only fly if they thought it was safe enough. And I decided that if no one could pick me up at the airport, I could find a nearby hotel and be perfectly happy reading and being by myself for a few days. (It was one of those weeks - sick kids, snow days, cabin fever.)

I am so glad I decided to go. Not all of the Sisterhood was present; the Dallas crew was completely snowed in, but 10 of us made it. By the time I landed in Austin at 2:00 pm on Friday, everything had completely melted and the roads were fine. As always, this time with my family was refreshing and refueling. We shared wisdom and laughter and tears. And I left the weekend with my cup running over.

We had a lovely lake house on Lake Travis. We spent one evening drinking wine around a campfire by the lake. My aunts even brought out hot artichoke dip. What a treat! This was taken at sunset. A couple of hours earlier, Courtney and I were wearing jeans and tank tops, soaking up the sun. The others didn't think it was warm enough to go sleeveless, but to our Colorado blood, it felt great! Our family has a legacy of gathering around the campfire, both literally and figuratively. We all spent much of our childhood summers gathering around a campfire at the yellow cabin, and the desire to circle up and enjoy each other's company has stuck with us.

The first group to arrive (in the kitchen of our rental house):
6 years ago, Chad & Courtney had their rehearsal dinner at The Oasis. A few months later, a fire burnt much of the building. They have now rebuilt and the restaurant was very close to our house. Lunch at The Oasis:
We had all of our other meals at the house, taking turns cooking. That's a great way to do it with such a big group.

Our big adventure for the weekend was repairing the driveway gate! Karen's car pulled the gate off of its hinges when she arrived late Friday night. We put off thinking about repairs until the next day. I have no idea how much a gate like this weighs, but it was astoundingly heavy. With our bare hands, none of us could budge it or even shake it. So those of us (not me) who are engineer minded came up with some possible solutions. The one we decided on was brilliant and effective. We lifted up the gate with a car jack and once the wheel was slightly above the track, we all pushed the gate to get it back on track (amidst screams of, "Don't stand in front of the jack . . . it might pop out!). I love the facial expressions in this picture:
The rental house was rather spartan. But being Mortons, my relatives took care of that. They brought in rugs and lamps and end tables, and we made the space more cozy. I was especially impressed with what they did to this previously bare mantle:
Thank you cousins, and aunts, and mother, and cousins-in-law, and 2nd cousins-in-law, for sharing this time with me. And those of you who could not make it, we missed you. I am so glad we're doing a cruise with everyone next year! I love you all.