This post will be a left turn from our usual travel posts. Life-changing seismic events have happened, and they are what I will write about today.

The first is the happy birth of our newest granddaughter, Eleanor Ann, to be called Ella. She was born just in time for the Paris Olympics three weeks early, July 24. Despite her early birth, she weighed in at 7 pounds and 3 ounces. She and her parents are well. The whole family, including her older brother and sister, are over the moon with delight at their new addition!

We brought the children to the hospital for our first look at our new grandbaby Ella.

Her siblings wanted to hold her right away.

My joy is tempered a bit with another event, though. My sister Linda passed this week, four days before what would have been her 76th birthday.

We were a family of ten children, six brothers and four sisters. Linda was nine and a half years older than I, and she doted on me. That bond has remained to this day. You can see her here, looking on attentively at the left while I sat on our oldest sister’s lap on the occasion of my first Easter.

Two of our brothers have already passed, and the last time us eight remaining siblings were together was in 2017. Unusually for us, we are not standing in this picture in age order. Linda and I are in the center.

Together, Linda and I shared many interests and our lives were similar in many ways. Like all of us sisters, we love to read. More than that, though, we both love travel, and we traveled together to China, Guatemala, and other destinations. Here we are at Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala:

I visited her in Turkey when she, her husband, and their oldest – a baby back then – lived there. Likewise they visited us in Germany during both of the times Cal was stationed there. Later, her family lived with or nearby ours for five months in Germany when her husband became ill. Despite four adults and the same number of little girls in one apartment, it worked. In retirement, she traveled often, and visited all of the countries in Europe but one. I enjoyed following her travels vicariously while I still toiled away at work.

She struggled with many health issues, though. Her life, beginning in her forties, had more than its share of grief and loss. Just a week prior to her death, I was concerned about her after a recent short hospital stay. Within a period of less than 48 hours, I was on a plane to New Orleans. Her needs were great but yet we visited and laughed and enjoyed our time together. We went out to eat for every lunch and dinner. She enjoyed her favorites: country fried steak, po-boys, and seafood. We went out to lunch with her oldest and out to supper with a special friend of hers. And, we got her nails done. She loved to feel pretty. How precious that I had that time with her, although I had hoped we would have more.

So, there is a layer of sadness mixed with joy by this wonderful new life that we all have in baby Ella. And with her, I have discovered a panacea for grief: holding a beautiful little baby by the hour as she sleeps. There’s not much that can be done except to gaze at her. Time disappears. She wakens and regards me seriously, trying to figure out just where I fit in her new life. She purses her lips into a tiny “O”, goes back to sleep.

From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinkin', step into the sun
There's more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done...

In the circle of life, it's the wheel of fortune
It's the leap of faith, it's the band of hope
'Til we find our place on the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of life.
--Sir Elton John

Next time: back to our travels