Seems like a common or prosaic start to a new year. And then I realized the everyday events really are the “good old days”. We started off 2019 with our sons, Lorenzo and Miguel and Arevik, our wonderful, soon-to-be daughter-in-law. (Gee, that’s a lot of hyphens so from now on it’s just our daughter Arevik.)
We joined Arevik’s family for New Years at the Stepanyan’s in North Hollywood. They are the warmest and most loving family! Armen and Laura, their son Hayk, his finacé Yulia, and the cousins, Alina, Mary and Mark. This is not our first time together for a major holiday. Instead it adds to the times we’ve shared and portends a strong relationship and bonding of the families. They remind me of our crazy, entwined Mexican family, with the addition of speaking Armenian and Russian. I better get going on learning some Armenian at the very least.
Later in the month we celebrated Luis’s 71st birthday going to an escape room. Paradoxically, it was so much fun and not at all the stressful experience I expected. Once again, I’m made aware that being open to something new can be a good thing.
We were saddened with the passing of a very nice man we were privileged to have connected to our family. JD Jones, my sister Diana’s father-in-law. He was a nice guy. Can I say that again? He was simply a very nice, decent person and my heart goes out to my brother-in-law Tim and Diana for their loss. Really, it was everyone’s loss. All in all, JD was in his 90s and we were happy he touched our lives. I got to see my mom and sisters and brother’s in law, Leonard and Tim, plus the nieces and nephews, cousins and tias.
In another gift that JD brought us, I was able to reconnect with high school friends at the funeral. My dear friends whom I’d fallen out of touch with, became Diana’s friends and they were at the funeral and reception. I can’t describe how happy I was to visit with Lee and Patty. This reunion was unforeseen and something that I had longed for. But after a decade goes by, and then another and then another without being in touch with Mary Lee (Quintero) Pritchard or Patty (Rosas) Corral, I just didn’t know where or how to restart our friendship. Or even if they wanted to. At the funeral, we picked up where we left off. Now have plans to gather in Long Beach this summer. Thank you, JD, for bringing us in this unlikely setting together!
On the heels of the funeral, Luis and I took off to the Monterrey Peninsula in Northern California. Just the two of us in a nice road trip. We skirted the edge of a nasty storm and enjoyed seeing moody weather, mostly from a distance. Luis said it makes for nice photos and I believe him after seeing some of his photos. They’ll be available after he downloads them. That’s be another post if I’m lucky. Meanwhile, here’s one from my little phone.
Ordinary Gente 
Great description, Rosana. I look forward to your posting many more accounts of our happenings in 2019.
Your description of the past several months is touching. In the wake of sad events, some relationships were rekindled and others were solidified. Thank you for the wonderful write up.