The San Francisco Hard Hat Walk and Riding Planes with Valkyries

Oliver and I had a wonderful weekend up north. We had a good visit with my sweet Aunt Yvonne who is eighty five years old and very frail but still sharp as a tack. We also drove up to San Francisco to participate in the Children's Hospital Hard Hat Walk. We were proud members of Team Maggie, walking in her memory alongside many of Sally's friends and family. The energy there was lovely -- there was music and delicious food from local restaurants, and the hospital looks like it will be an amazing center of health and healing. The only thing missing, of course, was darling Maggie, but I imagine her spirit infused everything and everyone. It was a beautiful evening in San Francisco and an impressive event. I confess to not realizing that it was a real walk, like a miles and miles walk, and only wore a trusty pair of Birkenstock sandals, but my feet are still attached to my body twenty-four hours later, and I'm pretty excited that I finally got a decent amount of exercise after languishing for weeks with that dadgum virus.

Here's Sally and me:

Here's the Big O and me:

Not a bad view to walk along and gaze upon --

Oliver and I flew back on a Southwest Air flight from San Jose to Los Angeles this afternoon with the entire UCLA women's volleyball team. I don't think I've ever seen a powerhouse college volleyball team, and ya'll -- these women were like Valkyries. The tallest ones, and there were a bunch of tallest ones, were well over six feet and many had waist-length yellow blonde hair. The team was pretty diverse in every way except for height, and I have to say that it was hard not to stare at them walking as a group -- they honestly looked like they'd stepped out of some kind of mythical adventure book. These photos really don't do it justice, but I wonder where they all come from if not the realm of the gods.

How was your weekend?

Maggie Margaret McDonald

It's with a heavy, heavy heart that I dedicate today's post to Maggie McDonald, one of the brightest lights to shine in our community. Some of you might know Maggie from her mother Sally's wonderful blog titled Maggie World. That's where I came to know her, lighting on her shining face, reading of her raucous sense of humor and her dogged persistence to live life joyfully despite serious disability. I had the pleasure of meeting Maggie in person several years ago when I visited San Francisco, and I can still remember her riotous joke-telling -- Maggie couldn't talk, but she used an augmentive communication device and loved a good joke, told me several the afternoon we sat in her house. I texted Sally on Saturday morning, expecting to get together with them again. I had hoped Sally and Maggie would join us in Golden Gate Park on another beautiful day. I looked forward to hearing some more jokes and to laughing with Sally, too, whose dark sense of humor easily rivals my own. Sally called me, though, and told me that they had lost their girl the night before, unexpectedly. Unexpectedly because while those of us in this extreme parenting world might expect to live beyond our children, it's still shocking, still unexpected when they leave us. My heart goes out to Sally, her dear husband Steve and their beautiful sons, Tim and Eddie. I am blessed to have gotten to know Maggie through her mother's words and then my visit with her, but I'm going to miss her. We all will.