Managing Editor
In looking back at this past year, the importance of family in my life has never been more important.
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| Ed Pierce reconnected with members of his family this fall in New York state. Top, from left, are Ed's cousin Tracy and Ed's wife Nancy. Bottom, from left are Ed Pierce and his aunt, Barbara Wolf. COURTESY PHOTO |
She is a precious little bundle of smiles who brings us joy, no matter if she is just visiting us in Maine, or we are babysitting Summer at her apartment in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. I never knew there could be so many baby toys and devices for infants available until her parents showed up with them.
Then in April I was sworn to keep a special secret when my oldest stepson Chuckie decided to pay my wife Nancy a visit from Danbury, Connecticut for her birthday and brought along our then 3-year-old grandson, Leon. I vowed to keep the secret for a few days and took Nancy for a late dinner at a local steakhouse where she was surprised by the two of them.
They stayed with us for a few days, and we had a blast because we usually only get to see Leon and his 6-year-old sister, Olivia, several times a year.
In early September, both Olivia and Leon and their parents Chuckie and Casie came for a visit and during that time, we ate at a Chinese buffet restaurant, visited a carnival, went to the beach and then we all drove to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray.
Never having been there before, Maine Wildlife Park was a perfect outing for our family. We saw beavers and white-tailed deer, exotic birds, a Maine black bear, a cougar, a gray fox and a skunk. There were raccoons, a bobcat, a porcupine, a woodchuck and even a fish hatchery to feed fish.
The highlight of our visit certainly had to be standing just a few feet away behind a fence from a large Maine moose. Never having seen one before, I was amazed at how large moose are and that they eat tree leaves among other things.
The grandkids told us they would like to go back there again the next time they come to Maine for a visit, so that convinced me we had made a great choice for a recreational outing that day.
In late September, Nancy and I rented an SUV and drove to my high school class reunion gathering in Rochester, New York. It rained the entire way over from Maine to the New York State Thruway but once we arrived in the Rochester area, the sun came out and temperatures there were summer-like.
After seeing friends at the reunion activities, we drove to my Aunt Barbara’s house for a visit and brought along a carrot cake with us. Aunt Barbara is now 86 and her daughter Robin and Robin’s husband John were there that night too. I had been an usher at a wedding with Robin when she was a little girl and I hadn’t seen her since. She was the flower girl at that same wedding.
To my surprise, Robin’s siblings, my cousins Tracy and David, were also there that evening and I hadn’t seen either of them for many years.
We had a wonderful visit and seeing Aunt Barbara made the entire trip worthwhile for me. I had lost touch with her over the years and re-establishing that family connection and having them meet my wife Nancy reinforced for me that family ties are indeed an important component of our lives.
Before leaving Rochester, we spent a Saturday with my cousin Mark, his wife Holly, and their daughter Adeline. It was a memorable visit as we got to taste Adeline’s candied lemons and sample some of Mark’s freshly made pickles. We also went to a large thrift shop, a bargain store and then traveled to Seabreeze by Lake Ontario to enjoy a meal at a place my father used to take us to when I was small. The restaurant is now called “Don’s Original” but back years ago it was “Don & Bob’s.” Not much has changed since I first went there in the 1950s from the exact same menu board to the counter seats and the food there was the best we had eaten during the entire trip.
Returning to Mark and Holly’s house, they showed us a spot in their front yard where they were able to observe and study a group of praying mantis insects over the summer. The creatures were fascinating, and they had given some of them distinct names. Before dying, one of the females had laid a sack of eggs at the end of the summer to perpetuate the species next year if they survive the winter.
All in all, this past year has proven to me how significant positive family members can be upon my life and why it’s so critical for me to surround myself with them.
I believe that the time we spend with family determines our well-being and survival in this world. Some of my family may now be gone, but the way I see it, my family's never in the past. I carry them around with me each day. <
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