Another Passenger

This is Mandy, TD and Bill’s daughter and Tricia and Jennifer’s aunt. I am preparing to venture on this Australian Adventure with them in a week and a half. It was quite an honor to be included on the trip, and I fully expect that there will be much laughter and lots of talking on this trip, as I am traveling with identical twins. But how does someone my age travel with just a carry-on for 16 days?

I consider myself the luckiest girl in the world: I had the best parents. They were energetic, funny, involved, and interested in others and in me. This trip, although initially planned for just my mother, has another passenger now.

My parents had been married over 57 years when my mom passed. My father got along OK, he was sad to lose mom, but found a little spring in his step for a few months. In May of this year he was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer, and was immediately enrolled in Hospice. He pulled me aside one day and told me how he wanted his funeral to run, even down to what music to incorporate. I asked him what he wanted done with his remains. He seemed perplexed, then replied that he wanted some to go to his parents’ graves, then some to Stanford, Lake Tahoe, and his childhood home in Atherton, California. I asked him about going with mom to Australia, and he answered that he would like his remains to accompany her there as well. (They had a fabulous Australian cruise all planned several years ago, but my mother's health prevented them from traveling such a distance.)

Dad suffered for seven weeks and passed away peacefully in July. He has already gone to his California destinations and now he will accompany mom on a final excursion to Australia.

PS- if Tricia and Jennifer tell any stories about me while on the trip, don’t believe them.