Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

The Kids Are Coming for a Visit. No Time to Write

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my kids are coming for a visit. here's peter
Peter unpacked his suitcase in the guest room. Photos by Barbara Newhall

The kids are coming for a visit. Peter arrived yesterday. Christina will be here soon.

This will be a very short post. I’ve used up this week’s writing time getting ready for them.

I’ve stocked up on sourdough from Santa Cruz and fromage blanc Nicasio Valley.

I’ve also pulled together a list of gourmet-ish take-out places to try. (I’ve forgotten how to cook. I married Jon. He cooked.)

The kids are coming, and we’ll spend a week together, the three of us.

For thirty-some years, we were a family of four. Jon and I, Peter and Christina.

Even after the kids were grown and had families of their own, we were still us, the four of us, a family.

Now we are three.

my kids are coming for a visit. Peter found the chess-books
When he arrived, Peter made a bee-line for Jon’s chess books. He found some he wanted to study. Peter last saw his father in January 2020.

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Comments

  2. Wonderful to have those you love most with you, Barb. Family rely is everything. ❤

  3. I miss you all so much, and I’m really happy to read this update from you. I can’t wait to see you again, whenever that may be, and wherever — maybe Oakland, or LA, or Minnesota, or Death Valley, or even a trip to Santa Cruz! I still think of you as a family of four, just with one of you having gone back to the fabric of space-time before the rest. Each generation helps the next transition into life, and into death. Love you.

  4. Barbara, thank you for the update on the arrival of Peter and Christina. Great picture of Peter.

  5. Barbara, I’m so happy for you. A few weeks ago my sister, brother and I joined my dad as we prepared for my mother’s “celebration of life,” which was last weekend. It was the first time the four of us had spent any time together alone in decades and it was so important to do. I trust it will be a very meaningful week for you too. Hugs.

  6. Poignant Barbara. Do have fun with the kids. Jon will be there in spirit. Nice to see a pic of Peter btw.