{"id":20434,"date":"2024-01-24T00:52:38","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T07:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=20434"},"modified":"2024-01-22T13:53:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T20:53:55","slug":"another-kind-of-family-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/24\/another-kind-of-family-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Kind Of Family Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY JOELLEN COLLINS<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
JoEllen Collins\u2014a longtime resident of the Wood River Valley\u2014is a teacher, writer, fabric artist, choir member and unabashedly proud grandma known as \u201cBibi Jo.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have acquired a couple of family trees through the sites I\u2019ve used researching my birth and adoptive families. I respect the names of those listed and possibly still to be accessed. I\u2019ve learned, finding compatible elders in my new residence, to acquire some friends who might, though not genetically, be close to becoming \u201cfamily.\u201d
\nI share with you some brief instances when I have discovered compassion or humor or loyalty in my acquaintances here, along with tales of remarkable lives and well-earned wisdom. Thank goodness these new friends are so much dearer than I expected.
\nMy first dinner in our large dining room gave me a hint of what lay ahead. Across from me sat a tall, brightly dressed woman who shared a bit of her rich life as a girl born in Australia, and as an artist who would live with her American husband in 10 U.S. states. After she left, one of the diners revealed that this remarkable woman would celebrate her 100th birthday later that week. I could only hope that in the years ahead I will be as warm, welcoming, and vivacious as she.
\nAnother day, worried that I was spending too much time with just a few of my new friends, I joined a different group at an afternoon tea and met an East Indian woman who, that afternoon, brought me a book she thought I might like. Later, I literally bumped into a beautiful Japanese woman younger than I am, I\u2019m sure, who has become a source of inspiration. I am with residents of many ethnic backgrounds, a diversity\u00a0that is a great part of the richness here.
\nThen there are amazing coincidences. I dined across from a brand-new acquaintance and discovered that I was married next door to her home, near UCLA. We also learned we shared a friendship with one of my fellow Santa Monica High School teachers. How lucky we were! Last week I sat in a very crowded dining room, with two other women soon joined by a gentleman.\u00a0As with anyone else, I asked his name and said, \u201cI\u2019m delighted to meet you.\u201d The woman next to me said, \u201cHE\u2019S TAKEN!\u201d\u00a0I guess they thought I had flirted by just being friendly. We all giggled a bit after I replied, \u201cWell, I\u2019m not taking anyone at this time!\u201d Turns out he grew up on a potato farm in Jerome, Idaho! We then had fun reminiscing about the \u201cold\u201d Ketchum of Slavey\u2019s, and Louie\u2019s, etc.
\nA pair of\u00a0petite women love my dog Suki and, while there is a language barrier between us, we smile a lot at each other. The other day, a musical group did not show up for the daily \u201cHappy Hour.\u201d Some\u00a0time later, someone approached Iris, the smaller and elder of the two, and helped get her up. She pulled out a harmonica from her walker bag and played \u201cAuld Lang Syne.\u201d\u00a0We all sang along, and I felt blessed with her courage and the sweetness of that moment.
\nShe\u2019s another \u201cornament\u201d on my long-life tree!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY JOELLEN COLLINS I have acquired a couple of family trees through the sites I\u2019ve used researching my birth and adoptive families. I respect the names of those listed and possibly still to be accessed. I\u2019ve learned, finding compatible elders in my new residence, to acquire some friends who might, though not genetically, be close […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-on-lifes-terms"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20435,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20434\/revisions\/20435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}