There was a guy named Spence from Half Moon Bay who wanted to buy a fishing boat back home. He talked me into flying up with him and checking it out. I buy, he fishes. I still had some pesos back then. While in CA, I decided to call my folks to say hello. No one answered the phone. I tried my sis and she was not in NY. No one was where they should be. Finally, after many attempts, I phoned my X and asked him to check this out for me.
Tragically, it turned out my brother-in-law died unexpectantly after a long illness which I knew nothing about. I tried to get a plane to NE, but United was on strike that week and that was the only airline that flew into Lincoln back then. I was stuck. After a week up North waiting for the strike to end, I finally made it home and saw the emotional wreck my sister had become. A month of sadness and worry and 2 sets of Jewish parents lamenting every second had been her life for 40 days and nights. Her young husband had died and she was like a pinball pinging around inside the family house in the middle of a Midwestern winter.
I grabbed her and flew her down to Mexico to spend a month with me. She was really out of it and in great shock. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, but she slowly and eventually came back to herself in our little jungle town. Nelo, Conrad and Sara's son, was about 5 then, and we ran into him on the path one day. He looked right at her like kids will do and called her Bozo the Clown! I was stunned and worried she would just fall apart, but we looked at each other in shock and then started to laugh hysterically. Sam had finally broken the wicked spell she was under and began the healing of her heart. Nelo was just a little boy but he helped Sam begin to recover with the candid observation of a child. Thanks!
