A Day Of Miracles

Yesterday, I watched the impossible happen. . . twice.

During the late afternoon (MT) I watched NCSU defeat Duke in the elite 8 bracket of March Madness on CBS. Awesome game. Welcome to the Final Four.

Shortly afterwards, this crew of travelers appeared on my doorway.

It seems that the death of their dear fur family member, Cairo, the Sicilian Mastiff, in Oz, had caused them to spontaneously book a family excursion back to the US for a vacation. They spent a lot of time since their arrival a week ago, touring the Northwest.

They shared a recent photo from their wanderings which I thought was particularly interesting, as Scarlett’s character in WTLLM has grown into an internationally famous adult artist (and witch):

Left to right, Stella, Savanna and Scarlett in front of the University of Washington’s School of Art building.

Since none of their family had any idea of Scarlett’s character’s development in my latest book, I took this as a positive sign from the gods.

Needless to say, upon their posting of the photo of the welcome to colorful colorado sign, which I knew borders I-25 at the state line coming south from Wyoming, Lisa – who is always prepared – popped her family famous lasagna and garlic bread into the oven, and by the time they arrived, Easter dinner was ready. Blue was thrilled to see the girls.

Now you may wonder why I never mentioned this before hand.

Well, McCaffreys are a strange bunch. And the more adventurous McCaffreys were more likely to detour into Canada and head for Alaska than show up on our doorstep. We aren’t a needy family. Everyone is welcome but no one is expected.

So, we played it by ear, and Lisa prepared a delicious meal just in case.

Lisa also had created three huge Easter baskets with stuffed animals and all of the candy you could imagine and arranged to hide dozens of colorful plastic, jelly bean filled eggs around the front of the property for a magical hunt immediately upon their arrival so the girls didn’t have to do it in the dark, and only add to our Addams family reputation.

The combination of excitement and sugar rush raised the energy level within the walls of Casa Claire by 1000%.

It was magnificently exhausting. I stayed up way past my bedtime talking mysticism, extraterrestrials and writing with Luke – his sequel to Lebanon Red is incredible – while Lisa helped get the girls bathed and ready for bed. Then Lisa and I retreated to the basement to sleep on the convertible couch bed that Lisa had prepared with a wonderful mattress topper and comforter so I was able to sleep like a baby.

Unfortunately, it also meant that I had to carry out my morning ablutions, coffee and mule and dog food distribution with the contemplative silence of a Trappist monk, in order not to wake Lisa who now temporarily inhabits the dungeon with me for the remainder of their visit. Slows things down quite a bit. Just realizing for the first time how much this chair squeaks when I shift my weight.

Anyway, I am thrilled to see them – it’s been over 18 months – and look forward to spending some quality time with them catching up with all things Oz until the wind shifts direction and they continue to blow on their way to more exciting adventure.

Monday just became a Holiday.

I’ll keep you fine, five readers posted.

Now I must sneak upstairs and feed and cuddle the kitties without waking the tribe. Then off on my rounds.

But whatever we get up to, let us make today a great one.