What a week. Four days, anyway.
I just had a memorable stay in the Denver area, spending quality time with my 79-year-old brother Crys and 68-year-old sister Terry and their families. We did a lot of catching up, hugging, laughing, eating great food and sharing love.
I flew from Dallas Love Field to Denver on Monday morning and arrived home in Arlington about 1:30 Friday morning after a switched Southwest flight due to weather-related delays – and my new flight ended up being delayed as well (life, right?).
Terry and her husband Rick, as they often have, were kind enough to put me up (and put up with me) at the home they’ve lived in since 1982 in Arvada, a northern suburb. Crys lives with his daughter Lew in an apartment in the southern suburb of Littleton, so Terry did lots of driving to make it possible for us all to hang out together, which I greatly appreciated. Terry also rearranged her duties at Shrine of St. Anne Catholic Parish to ensure that she was free for my visit – another sacrifice I can’t thank her enough for.
Crys and Terry also indulged my constant desire to know more (everything?) about their West Virginia childhood and our parents Betty and Bob Workman. I threw occasional questions at them, then an hour and a half’s worth Thursday afternoon as I try to gather material for that book I still fully expect to write.
Even though I’ve learned so much about my biological family, I always feel like I can never know enough. Terry, who was only 4 when our parents divorced in April 1959 and 5 when they split forever in about June 1960 after what we figure was a try at reconciling, says she also learned a great deal Thursday from listening to Crys share memories of our father.
As you can see in one of the photos here, Crys also gave me one of his “newsboy caps” or “flat caps,” which he wears all the time and looks very dapper in. I haven’t decided if I can actually pull it off, but he and Terry said I looked good. My wife Kay says from her perspective, it’ll take some getting used to. 🙂
I also got to see these awesome folks: my niece Lew, nephew Brad and his dear wife Kristin, great-nieces Bevan and Sydney, great-nephew Nolan, and some adorable doggies – Terry’s Chihuahua Chuy, and Crys and his daughter Lew’s sweet pups Penny and Minnie Moo. Bevan, a super-smart cookie, is about to begin her senior year at Regis University, majoring in Psychology. Her parents Brad and Kristin both work in the homebuilding industry. Sydney, a graduate of Colorado State U., works at the Columbine branch of the Denver Public Library, and her brother Nolan works at IKEA. They’re Lew’s equally brainy kids.
But there were even more get-togethers: On Wednesday, I had dinner at Table Mountain Grill & Cantina in the cool western suburb of Golden with two dear friends/classmates from Conroe High School (north of Houston for those who aren’t familiar) – Donna Duggan Patchell and Dannah Edwards Meloni, along with Donna’s husband Greg and Dannah’s hubby Mark. Dannah and Donna are wonderful people and we had so much fun catching up. Before dinner, I drove north to Dannah and Mark’s home in Longmont, where we visited a bit and they gave me a tour of their beautiful place on 3 acres. I also met their lovable German shepherd Gracie.
I’d hoped we might be able to drive west into the mountains one day, but the best we did was make it into the Denver foothills Tuesday to Evergreen, where Lew is an assistant manager at Home Depot. Crys, Terry, Rick and I stopped in to see her after having lunch at Murphy’s Mountain Grill. We’d planned to eat at Creekside Cellars Winery and Cafe but found when we arrived that it’s closed Tuesdays. It’s owned by church friends of Terry’s, and the three of us had dined there in 2018 when I traveled to Colorado to celebrate Crys’s and my shared Feb. 28 birthdays. Murphy’s was awesome, though, and if you’re ever in Evergreen, you can’t go wrong with either Creekside or Murphy’s.
All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. Crys, Terry and I hadn’t seen one another in too long, and I think we all really needed this. I always hate when our visits end. Even though we spend a lot of time together, they never seem long enough. I’m blessed in so many ways when it comes to my birth family, and that’s reaffirmed every time we’re together. 
A Life of Words 
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