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A Tayar Angel

Last year, while traveling on business in San Francisco, across the street from the hotel was a little deli that had good coffee. Early one morning, I walked over to get a double latte, which I ordered from an older gentleman with curly white hair and wonderfully olive skin. He didn't speak English very well but understood my order. When I paid for the coffee, he counted back my change in Arabic. I said, "You sound just like my grandfather! He taught me to count in Arabic--but all I could ever remember was how to count to three--wayhead, the-nane, cletay " (spelled phonetically). The man behind the counter had no idea what I was trying to say, but I left the store with a grin from ear to ear and tears running down my cheeks! It felt like I had a Tayar angel sitting on my shoulder.

They Must've Been Crazy

When my sister, Bean, was still in diapers, Mom (Rodene) and Aunt Rachael took all seven of their kids and a dog in a station wagon from Los Angeles to Seattle. We pulled a pop-up tent-trailer. We took several days to get there, stopping at everything tourists might find interesting and camping every night. As a mother now, I look back on that trip and tell my mom she and Rachael must've been crazy (seven kids and a dog)! She says, nah, they had a great time.

I remember one afternoon, after what seemed like a long time in the car, we finally stopped at a campground. While Mom and Rachael were setting up camp, I remember my cousins Brian and Tait (then about 9 and 7 years old) were having a little brotherly spat--pushing each other and fussing at each other. Then something caught Tait's eye and he said, "Hey! There goes a lizard! Let's catch it!" Whatever they had been fussing about was instantly and completely forgotten and they were best friends in pursuit of the lizard.

Impromptu Talent Show

On August 1, 1981 Garry and I were married and then were off on our honeymoon. Aunt Rachael and her kids, Granddad (Rod), my parents, and my sisters and brother all gathered at my folks' house to enjoy a post-wedding evening together. I wasn't there, but I understand that with all the formality out of the way, they had quite a contest of strange and amazing talents. Rachael demonstrated that she could still do the splits. Granddad demonstrated how he could not only wiggle his ears, but also wiggle his whole scalp. My mom showed how she could raise just one eyebrow. My brother Mark cupped his hands together, blew into them, making various tones and playing a melody. My sister Anna could turn her tongue upside down. Granddad did a one-arm push-up. Rachael whistled real loud by putting two fingers in her mouth. The kids practiced making various and assorted rude sounds by holding their armpit and pumping their arm, etc. What a talented family we are! I only know about this talent show second-hand. Anyone wish to elaborate on this Evening of Exceptional Talents?

Girl Stuff

As you know, my Aunt Rachael has three sons. Growing up I was always amazed at her talents and ingenuity that helped in this situation. She could whistle real loud with her fingers (which somehow seemed like a big help when dinner was ready) and she designed her house so that there was a laundry shoot from the boys' bathroom directly to the laundry room. She has always amazed me.

But as her first niece, I got to enjoy some really special girl stuff with her. When I was about 3 1/2, I stayed with her in San Antonio for a few days. The highlight of the visit was when Aunt Rachael bought red fingernail polish and painted my fingernails red. I thought it was so cool (or "groovy" as the word may have been at the time) that she would let me be so grown up!

When I was 11 years old, I visited Rachael in Mississippi. I was very eagerly awaiting my 12th birthday so that I would be old enough to have pierced ears. Rachael took us to visit New Orleans, where she said there was a little store where they pierced ears. We walked down every street in the French Quarter and looked in every store, but never found a place that pierced ears. A few months later when she visited us in Tucson, Arizona, Rachael actually pierced my ears for me! I was thrilled! What was even cooler was that she pierced my mom's ears, too! Thanks again, Rachael.

I don't have very many memories of my grandmother, Jouree Tayar, but I do remember a time when we were visiting her in Dallas. She made me feel so grown up and promised to make me look like a beauty queen in curly hair. (My hair was really straight, then.) We spent all morning in the kitchen doing an at-home perm. Unfortunately, despite her good intentions and best efforts, something went wrong and I ended up looking frazzled for weeks. However, I don't remember it bothering me any--I was thrilled by the attempt!

Onion Rings

It's funny how when we are kids, when someone is a couple of years older than we are, they seem really a lot more grown up. My brother Mark is two years older than I am, and I spent most of my childhood envious of all the things he could do that I couldn't do yet.

When Mark was 15, he spent the summer living with Granddad in Dallas and working at Uncle Bob's restaurant, Bonaparte's. It was the summer that the store initially opened in Dallas. Mark was a busboy, but got to learn all about the workings of a restaurant. I remember him raving about this incredible new invention called a "microwave oven," which he said heated things from the inside out. I missed Mark that summer, but the best part was that he learned how to make these incredible fat onion rings. For months after he got home, he would make us Bob's Onion Rings on a regular basis. I have loved onion rings ever since! Thanks for teaching him that, Bob. (By the way, I think my mom still has--and uses--the red apron that Mark wore as a busboy.)

Not All Stories Are Old

I remember way back in…last week! Mark and his family, in-laws, and their extended family, invited us and Mom (Rodene) to spend the week with them on a house boat on Lake Shasta. For a full seven days, we enjoyed total relaxation, water-skiing, kayaking, swimming, and other fun and games. Two other houseboats full of extended family and friends joined us that week, so there were about 30 of us all together. It was the best vacation!

Our web-master, Mark Capalongan, was also the ski-instructor and slide-show host. Mark took us skiing, wake-boarding, knee-boarding, and just boating everyday (actually, several times each day). The highlight of the trip was when we docked the boat in a cove where someone had set up a water-ski course. A water-ski course is a set of buoys set up for a skier to try to zigzag through the water. Although Mark was the boat driver, instructor, cameraman, and coach about 99.9% of the time, we did manage to have a chance to watch him "do the course." We stood on the top deck of the houseboat and watched as his wife Sandy drove the boat, and Mark sliced the water. Back and forth, spraying walls of water in either direction as he turned, leaning almost horizontal to the water for each turn, a quick recovery and then another immediate turn on the other side. We cheered from the rooftops as we admired our captain enjoying his talent, skiing successfully around each of the buoys in the course. What fun! What talent! What a great brother!