Week One with Family – Citrus Heights, Ca

When I think of Citrus Heights, or the surrounding towns/communities of Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Carmichael, Roseville, West Sacramento, Elk Grove, even Folsom…I just consider it all part of Sacramento.  Having been raised and lived in the area for the first 30+ years of my life, and having had addresses or associations in most of these communities, it is just how I see it.  And when I think of Sacramento, there are many landmarks which come to mind…the Capital, the new arena, the Sacramento and/or American River, Sutter’s Fort, Old Sacramento Folsom Dam…even the iconic Folsom Prison…but most of all, I think of the Tower Bridge.  The Tower Bridge spans across the Sacramento River, and opened to traffic in 1935.  It has not always been gold…that feature coming in 1976 as part of a Bicentennial project aimed at matching the gold in the dome of the Capital Building nearby.  The word “Tower” has been very important in the 20th Century Sacramento…Tower Theater, Tower Cafe, Capital Towers Apartments, and the most famous...Tower Records (founded in Sacramento in 1960)…just to name a few.  We plan to be here through July 11th, but we will be back sometime in September and will be here (except for a few short trips) through Christmas. 

Arriving a week ago, we did attend Aunt Rosie’s Celebration of Life on Saturday down in Oakdale.  When the minister ask people to say on word about Rosie, the three most common words were kindness, sweetness, and loving.  Yep, that sure was Aunt Rosie.   It was nice to see a few cousins who were there, one of whom I had not seen since the early 1980’s.  Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary (whom we have visited and written about before) were there, along with my mom and dad…four the last five of the children and their spouses of my maternal Grandmother. 

We also took mom and dad out to dinner last Friday, took dad to a few doctor appointments yesterday, got a few things done on the motorhome, got a huge laundry mess taken care of, and we have sweated out about 25 pounds from the heat…although the last few days have not been “too bad”, which is kind of like saying to a young man on a blind date, “She is not as ugly as I thought she would be….”, or to the young girl on the same date, “He is not as much of a dork as I thought he was…”

Arny’s mom, who is in her early 90’s, is doing pretty well.  I watched her last night while Sandy and Arny went to dinner…an easy task since she was already in bed for the night.  I went in shortly after they left and said, “Hello my lady…do you remember who I am?”  (Of course, she has seen me a number times this past week, but at this age you want to reinforce everything all the time.)  “Yes.” she says.  “What is my name?” I ask.  “Umm…umm…”  Seeing her bit of confusion I said, “I will make it easy on you….am I Roger of David?”   “DAVID” she replies, with a big old smile….   We sure do love that lady…