Feliz Ano Nuevo

Dear Mom,

Greetings from Valparaiso, Chile! I've taken my time writing this update from South America. But I realized it's Epiphany and Three Kings Day, so it seemed fitting to write today, as the holiday season "officially" comes to an end.

First...a Christmas recap. Leigh Ann and I flew to Quincy and went to the Sawano Club dance with Dad.

Aunt Leigh Annie Claus sent some Nerf guns to Benjamin and William. Ranie let them open them early while we were visiting. Here's W showing off his gun and eating a mayonnaise sammich.

 

From the Q, we drove Dad's car to Charlotte and spent Christmas in Leigh Ann's house. Leigh Ann had to work, so Dad and I entertained ourselves for a few rainy days. Mary Beth and K.B. had everyone over for a Christmas Eve buffet, so we went to the 3 p.m. service at church.

It finally stopped raining on Christmas Day, so after we exchanged a few gifts, LA and I got some exercise, and then she and Dad undecorated her tree and got it out on the curb. Yes, we were THOSE PEOPLE! But, obviously she didn't want to deal with it after being gone for ten days...and she and I were headed south on 6 p.m. flights out of Charlotte en route to Buenos Aires. (I went via JFK, and she went via Miami.)

Leigh Ann's friend Pilar from business school and her husband Oscar (a heart surgeon) have a lovely apartment in the city's chic Palermo neighborhood, and they were wonderful hosts. Anyone who thinks the American South is famous for its hospitality has not been to Argentina...Pili even got her brother to pick us up at the airport! We had a great time enjoying beautiful Buenos Aires with our native hosts. (Though somehow I missed getting photos of their adorable little ones, Catalina and Mateo.)







If you'd like to try an Argentine wine, Oscar recommends this one...


Oscar mentioned he enjoys chowing down with an American breakfast when he's in the U.S., so we made them breakfast for dinner one night. We scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and onions, diced fruit and toasted bread. We even managed to score some pancetta to pass off as bacon. Oscar was tickled.





The "main event" of our trip to Buenos Aires was scattering the last of your ashes. (To recap for readers who've missed an episode or two, we had six portions of ashes, and they went: 1. The Snipes family plot in Hillcrest Cemetery; 2. Myers Park in Charlotte; 3. Kensington Gardens in London; 4. Central Park in NYC; 5. Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.)

We could have come up with a bunch of other special spots, as we wanted to have a mix of both places that were special to you and place that were still on your bucket list. -- some of my favorite finalists were Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard (I think your 60th birthday in Nantucket may have been our best trip), the Gulf Coast (lots of happy beach trip memories), the Grand Canyon (I don't think you ever made it there...and neither have I), Valencia, Spain (site of your FSU summer study program with Frances), Switzerland with Arthur, etc.

In fact, as I rewatched the movie The Way in late November or early December (did I already write about this?), it was all I could do not to save some of your ashes and take them on the Camino de Santiago!

BUT -- as proof we don't need your ashes to carry your spirit with us -- I could almost hear you saying, "Okay -- just cut it and call it!" I knew you'd love the simplicity of six eclectically chosen spots -- the magic of three times two.

And as we debated our spots, we probably settled first on Buenos Aires as the grand finale, knowing it would be best if we had something bright and new to anticipate, to avoid getting into a holiday funk.

SIDEBAR: I had originally considered proclaiming December 27 to be International Pajama Day (hash tag #ipj -- get it?) in celebration of your pajama philosophy. As we put it in the eulogy, "Life is better if you spend the occasional day in your pajamas." We even had the perfect photo of pajama nirvana!

However, Leigh Ann informed me she did NOT plan to trek around a foreign country in PJs. Touche! It's too bad though. I thought it could really catch on...

Okay, back to the main tale.

Leigh Ann headed out for a short run on the morning of the 27th and found the perfect spot in a park near Pilar's house. (It was too hot for much exercising, especially since we had to adjust to the late mornings and late nights of the porteños.)

We spent the 27th on our own exploring the city. First, we checked on Evita at the Recoleta Cemetery.

We explored the nearby craft market, and I briefly considered surprising the Centenary girls with these throwback denim purses, similar to the ones Miss Adele helped us make in the 80s...

From there, we walked a good bit, including a stroll down Calle Florida, ending up at the Casa Rosada. Three cheers for the Argentinian schedule -- it was 5 p.m. on a Saturday, but the executive office building was still open for tours! And, even better, since it was a weekend we actually got to see the inside of President Kirchner's office (no photos allowed...rats!). 

I'd forgotten how young Evita was when she died -- just 33. The Casa Rosada has a copy of this official portrait; the original is in a museum. I was rather fascinated by her pearl bracelet.

Naturally, we took a "don't cry for me" selfie on the famous balcony. 

 This is why you don't feed pigeons...

From there, we took a taxi back to the park near Pili's house in Palermo. We entered the large Tres de Febrero Park (similar to NYC's Central Park...it was created by a famous landscaper named Carlos Thays in 1914 and is called Bosques de Palermo -- Palermo Forest). Our destination was El Paseo del Rosedal, or Rose Garden Walk, a massive garden featuring 1,200 species of roses on 15,000 bushes.

Nearby is the Garden of Poets, with busts of Shakespeare, Borges and other literary greats (another sign this was meant to be your resting place).

We thought you'd want to be by a rose variety with a fitting or clever name, so when we saw this -- given your affinity for royal trivia -- in such a beautiful spot right by the pergola -- it all seemed meant to be.

I didn't think of it then; it all just felt really right and peaceful. But as I reflect on it now, what better place than a garden to come to the end of our journey with your physical remains? Gardening seems like such a fitting metaphor for parenting. Coaching, encouraging, cajoling, watering, shading, training -- but knowing that plant often has a stubborn mind of its own. We plant things and watch them grow and step back at times amazed at what blossoms. (And, to be fair, disappointed at other times at what doesn't seem to take root, no matter how hard we try.)

Leigh Ann and I have your handprints and fingerprints all over us. We laugh at the ways -- great and small -- we carry so many of your quirks. From your tendency always to try a new restaurant before returning to somewhere you'd already been, to your affinity for conducting post-event analysis of wedding receptions.

But if there are two traits we carry that most define your legacy, it's our thirst to learn and explore, and our desire to stay in touch with friends. This trip was a fitting tribute to those -- oh, yeah -- and a chance to practice and improve our Spanish!

From Buenos Aires, we flew to Mendoza for a few days of wine tasting, horseback riding, and just relaxing. We loved our guide, Matias, booked through our hotel's (Lares de Chacras...thanks Jen & Kristen!) recommended tour company, Feeling Mendoza.

We went back to Buenos Aires to spend New Year's Eve with Pili's family at her parents' home. The next morning, we flew to Santiago. I amused myself in the airport thinking I had a windfall of pesos to blow in the duty free area -- until Leigh Ann pointed out it was about $6. (Argentina's official exchange rate of ~8 pesos to 1 dollar is so out of whack, they literally publish the black market rate (called the "blue rate") of ~13 in the daily newspaper.)

In Santiago, we were hosted by our Charlotte friends Traci and Paul, who moved to Santiago midyear so Paul could teach in a private American-style school. They live in a great house in a nice suburb. Their kids Greta and Wyatt are a hoot, clever and curious, and I loved playing games with them. Paul's parents were visiting from Michigan, so they had a full house, but they couldn't have been more gracious and fun.

Greta LOVED my big girl fashion purchases...

Traci and Paul met serving in the Peace Corps in Niger, so she enjoys collecting "unusual" business signs, like the "Jehovah is My Pastor Minimarket," brought to you by Coca-Cola.

We had a clear Vanna thing going on in Santiago...





We did a few educational things, like going to the Human Rights Museum, and entering La Moneda, but mostly we just enjoyed summer in Santiago.

And, of course this whole trip was a flashback for Leigh Ann, who studied in Santiago and visited Pili's family in Buenos Aires during business school in 2003.

Leigh Ann flew home from Santiago, but I'm in Chile for another week. I'm spending a few days on the coast in Valparaiso. Sunday was beautiful...

But the coastal climate here is reminiscent of San Francisco, so it's looked like this for the past two days.

Fodor's calls this city "gritty-yet-groovy," which seems pretty accurate. You can read more about it if you're curious...

I need to hoof it up these steep hills and check out La Sebastiana, the house of Pablo Neruda, Chile's famous poet.

He wrote mostly love poetry, and most of his famous verses seem kinda cheesy for those of us who aren't swooning with new passion. But I found this, which I think would be exactly the note you'd want me to end on:

Laughter is the language of the soul. 

You so loved a good laugh, especially when it came in the company of friends, and I know it made you happy that we managed to find humor in unexpected places. I'm so grateful to have spent the last year celebrating your life. And I'm also grateful that the journey of this first year of grief has come to an end, because I know you'd want me to keep living and to keep laughing.

So, here's to a new year filled with friendship, laughter and adventure. Cheers to a perpetual celebration of the gifts of the spirit that live forever, wherever in the world we find ourselves planted.
Salud. Peseta. Amor. Y tiempo de gustarlo. 

Saudade,

Lynsley