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www.livingthelifeofholly.com
Living the Life of Holly
By Holly Winter
© 2003
Winter Volley

“Aunt Holly. I thought you would be here after school.” Older-niece wailed, clobbering me with a hug.

“This is after school, isn’t it?”

Younger-niece cut in. “This is way, way after school. We were WAITING.”

Nephew cut in. “Aunt Holly. I’m ready to read Harry Potter to you. I always read you a book when you visit.” He giggled. “Now I’m ready to read you the WHOLE Harry Potter book. Ready?”

“The WHOLE book? How long do you think my visit is going to last?”

He giggled and giggled. “Till I’m done reading.”

“No. I get to read to her first. I’m younger.”

“No. I want to show her the scarf I wove.”

“This is Cool-guy.” I said, laughing.

“Hi.” Younger said, taking his hand. “Do you want to see our new bunnies?”

“I love bunnies.” Cool-guy said, winking at me. “Do you think they have a carrot they might share? I’m starved.”

I kissed my boyfriend’s cheek. “Now do you understand why I wouldn’t let you stop to grab a bite to eat on the way here? They were waiting….”

He smiled as I was pulled in three different directions by nieces and nephews who hadn’t seen me in six months. We gravitated into the kitchen where I greeted by younger brother who was busy preparing older sister’s fortieth birthday dinner.

I listed to the kids read. I met the bunnies. I saw their latest weaving creations. I saw their spinning projects. I watched them do their homework.

“Look, Aunt Holly. This math problem has the word, ‘Denver’ in it.”

“Then I should do that problem.” I said. “Because I live there.”

“NO. I’ll get in trouble.”

“Cool. Will you have to do detention? Here. Let me do ALL your homework. Will you have to stay after school and clean toilets? Come on. Let ME do it.”

“Hey. Someone keep Aunt Holly busy while I finish my homework. She’s dangerous.”

I let the kids use my camera to record our dinner visit. Oldest niece (11-years-old) took a photo of me with my dog for this column.

When our two hour time limit was up I started the good-byes.

“Can we come back tomorrow?” Cool-guy asked. “I want to see the house and barns in the daylight.”

Older sister turned to him and laughed. “You don’t understand how big my family is, do you? The family all lives within a fifty mile radius and I live on the far end.” She laughed again. “You have NO IDEA what you’re in for.” She gave him a hug. “Nice to meet you. Have fun.”

I drove over the mountains to get to my parent’s house. Cool-guy held on tightly.

“Don’t worry, honey. I know these roads.” I said as I barely braked through another curve.

“Can’t we go slower, so it doesn’t feel like we’re going to lift off?”

“No. Sorry. I want to get there before my parents turn in.”

“Thought you’d never get here.” My mother laughed, first hugging me, then Cool-guy.

“Hol. I put a heater up in your room.” My father said during the hello kiss.

“Thanks.” I was truly grateful.

“Your mom said you didn’t need it, but I thought you would.”

“You were right.” I said. “I don’t think Cool-guy would like ice crystals in his water glass in the morning.”

“Don’t know why not.” My mother laughed.

“I’m not the one who minds sleeping in the cold.” Cool-guy insisted.

“Oh. We know that.” My father laughed. “We’ve known her for about thirty eight years now. She whines when she gets cold.”

Cool-guy smiled. “That I’ve had the pleasure of hearing many times.”

Early the next morning I answered the phone. It was middle brother.

“Oh, good. You can do me a favor. My car’s broken down. I need a ride over to big brother’s house.”

“Sorry. Can’t do it. Cool-guy’s still sleeping.”

“Holly. I really need a ride. Wake him up. Isn’t he here to visit your family? You’re letting him sleep through his vacation.”

“I’m not waking him. You know what’s in store for him when he gets up. The man needs his rest.”

“He’s awake.” Cool-guy announced as he walked down the stairs.

“Ok. He’s up. Give him an hour to eat breakfast and shower. Then we’ll be over.”

I found my boyfriend chatting with my father in the dining room. Perfect. I breakfasted him as fast as I could, and suggestively handed him a towel and his toothbrush. Yup. He got the hint.

We picked up middle brother and dropped him off at older brother’s house where he could borrow a truck. I still had time to take Cool-guy up to the Ashokan Reservoir for a brief walk.

“Wow. Holly. This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.” He said as he gazed out at the unbelievable mountain views.

“I know. It’s only about a mile across here. I love this walk.”

“Can we do the whole mile?”

I checked my watch. We’d been walking for five minutes. ”No. Um. In fact. We need to turn around now. Uncle Rudy is expecting us.”

We drove over to my uncle’s crafts shop, Crafts People. It ended up that Uncle Rudy and Aunt Mary were off running errands. Darn it. That was going to mess up our whole schedule. We’d have to return another day. Fine. We hung out and drank some hot apple cider and Cool-guy bought me a pair of earrings.

“Can we go to Woodstock?”

Oh. Man. There wasn’t a lot of time. “Ok.” I said. “But. Only for a few minutes.”

We drove to town.

“Let’s go into that antique shop.” Cool-guy said, pointing to an old building with junk piled on the porch.

He didn’t understand. There wasn’t time to antique. “Ok. Only if you’re willing to RUN through the grocery store. That’ll save some time.”

“Aunt Holly, is that you?” A voice called as we jogged through the vegetable isle.

I spun around. It was my oldest nephew and his wife. “Honey boy!”

“I can’t believe it. I wanted to see you so badly. I heard you were home!”

“First. This is Cool-guy. This is Nephew. This is Wife. But. Where’s baby?”

“Oh. She’s home. Can you come over later?”

“Yes.” Cool-guy said. “We’d love to.”

“No. Sorry, guys. We’d love to. But we’re scheduled to the max. We can’t fit you in at all. Darn it. I really want to spend time with you.”

“Holly.” Cool-guy said. “Let’s go see the baby. A few minutes. I want to see a baby.”

“I wish we could.” I said, ushering Cool-guy away. “Next time I’m home. You can make me dinner. Canned beans would be great. Great to see you too.”

We rushed back to my parent’s house. “Honey. We have one hour for lunch. That’s it. Then we have to hit the road.”

He made lunch. An eggplant dish. A Moroccan tomato dish. A sweet pork dish and some soup. Yum. But. We were on a schedule. It took fifty minutes to make an unbelievable gourmet lunch with plates for my parents to enjoy for dinner. Great. Yummy. I ate as fast as I could to remind him that we were in a rush. Hello. Do chefs understand the concept of ‘fast food?”

I looked at my watch. “Time to go.”

We started the drive.

“Wow. Holly. Look at those icicles. I’d love a photo of that.”

Oh. Man. To get that photo I’d have to figure out two U-turns on Highway 28, the busiest road around. Um. Um. There wasn’t enough time. Um. “Sorry honey. There isn’t enough time right now. We can get a photo of it when we do the cousin loop, tomorrow.”

“WHAT? You won’t let me take a photo?”

“Tomorrow. I promise. We only have two hours to visit little sister. That’s it.”

“This isn’t a FUN trip, is it?” He sulked. “I can’t even take a photo?”

“No. Honey. Sorry. But. I told you that it wouldn’t be relaxing. That we’d be volleying from house to house the whole time. Remember? That’s what I told you to expect.”

“Yeah. But I didn’t take you LITERALLY.”

I laughed. “You knew we were visiting my family. Did you think they all lived in the same house?”

We got to my younger sister’s daycare just as the kids were waking from naptime. Darn. I missed spending time with her without fifteen kids hanging on our every word.

“Thought you’d never get here.” She teased.

“Who’s ready for story time?” I announced. The kids jumped up and down, challenging each other to jump higher. Each kid gently handed a book to me.

Little sister laughed. “They’ll expect you to read EVERY book.”

She set Cool-guy up in the computer lab with two kids who insisted that it was more fun to play computer games while jumping on him.

The two hour mark approached. I checked my watch.

“Time to go.”

“Let’s stay longer.” He said. “We’re having fun.”

“Can’t. We’re expected at the weaver’s sale.”

I drove quickly. If only everyone wasn’t so far apart…

“Can you drive slower? I want to see the countryside. It’s so beautiful here.”

“Um. Well. Let me know if you need me to slow down for anything in particular.” I said, driving to meet the schedule.

My mother and sister are master fiber artists. They wash and card wool, then dye it beautiful colors so they can spin it into yarn. Next they weave it into unbelievable, wearable art. They were part of a huge sale with several organizations.

“You’re late.” My mother said, kissing me hello.

I sighed. “I wanted the other shoppers to be able to park.”

She laughed.

“You made these scarves?” Cool-guy asked my older sister.

She laughed. “They take hours. I’ll never get the money out of them.”

“They’re unbelievable. How can you sell them for only a hundred dollars?”

“The price is going to go up to one hundred thirty after the sale.”

“That’s still not enough.”

“I know. Time and fiber alone would price each scarf at two hundred and fifty dollars.”

“I’ll buy one now.” He laughed, writing a check. “My sister would love this.”

We rushed home. We had just enough time to clean up before older brother picked us up. We went out to dinner with him, his daughter and his girlfriend.

“Where do you live?” Older brother asked Cool-guy.

“About an hour from Holly.”

“That’s perfect.” Brother said. “That way she can call when she’s on her way and you can clear out all the other girls from your house before she arrives. Great arrangement.”

Everyone laughed. Everyone except his twelve-year-old daughter.

“I don’t think that’s funny. I don’t think that’s funny at all.”

We all laughed harder.

We found a seafood restaurant. My niece only wanted shrimp.

“No problem, honey girl. You can add the shrimp to my plate, since you don’t want the whole meal. But. You’ll have to pay me four French fries.”

“You don’t like French fries, Aunt Holly.”

“I know. But. I’ll feel richer having them on my plate.”

“Oh. God. Aunt. You never change.”

We finished our meals. I looked at my watch. “It’s time. Come on, everyone. We have to go and help older sister celebrate her fortieth birthday.”

Cool-guy leaned into me. “Holly. Oh. God. No. There can’t be more. In the last twenty-four hours I’ve met all five of your brothers and sisters and your parents and gone to six different houses.”

Older brother looked at me. “He didn’t meet Uncle Rudy and Aunt Mary?”

“They weren’t home. We’ll have to squeeze them in tomorrow.”

Cool-guy continued. “We can’t even go to the grocery store without running into your family.”

Older brother laughed.

“Oh.” I turned to my brother. “Forgot to tell you. We ran into your oldest son and wife.”

“No way. They really wanted to see you. They didn’t have the baby?”

“No. And. There won’t be time to see her this time. I promised to fit them into the schedule next time. They were pretty hurt, but there really isn’t enough time.”

Cool-guy continued. “How can you even know so many people? Are you sure they’re all in your family? Look. It’s ten thirty. What does one say in your family when he’s ready to rest?”

“What?” Niece said. “It’s ten thirty and you’re already tired? Are all people in
Colorado wimps?”

We laughed.

“He’s worked pretty hard today I said, rubbing his beard softly. “So. You want to rest? Well. What to say? Hmmm. It depends. But. Usually we Winters’ say, ‘I’m tired.”

Wanna try another column? How about #128 Going Chinese which is about a young girl trying Chinese food for the first time.

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