There Was Also Joy

August 6th, 1993. Pam and I had been apart for a year as I finished out the last year of my enlistment in the US Air Force. We'd waited a long time, roughly 18 months, and now the Big Day was finally here. We were married at my family's cabin on Echo Lake in California. It's a serene, beautiful place that's been in the family since my Grandpa Holmes secured a lease on the national forest land back in 1938. Somehow we ended up with a Scottish-themed wedding, although I recollect it was Pam's idea as a part of linking to my family's heritage. Pam's mom made her dress, and I'd ordered my kilt from a small shop in Edinburgh. (There's a good story for another time about me trying to work through comprehension of a thick brogue over the phone.) We had 25 people at our ceremony, including the photographer and the bag piper. Today I'm sitting on the balcony at our home, doing some writing and a lot of reminiscing. It was a beautiful day all those...

For those of you who knew Pam: Duh. For those who didn't: This is her natural, happiest state: surrounded by pets. Yes, yes, yes, she loved people, but her bond with pets was just incredibly deep. When I met her she had two cats: Carmen and Little. 22 years later when we moved from Ohio to Oregon we took two old cats, two one-year old kittens, and two 13-year old dogs. Yes, that's six pets. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are several photos: Pam with Ed the cat, Grace, and Gus Pam with Bugsy, her office mate Napping with Bugsy and Grace A lap full of kittens

Neither Pam nor I have been fans of heights. Despite a love of mountains and hiking, we weren’t the kind who enjoyed scampering along narrow trails at the edge of a cliff. Neither of us were incapacitated by heights, but the feeling was far past mere discomfort. During out time in southern Germany (Pam was assigned to a NATO aircraft modification plant in Bavaria from 1995 to 1998) we took a number of vacation trips to Tiers, Italy. Tiers is right in the middle of the glorious Südtirol region, and is chock full of great hiking and climbing trails. During one of our trips Pam thought we should drive to one of the ski lifts and hop a ride to mid-way up the Rosengarten ridgeline. We’d save a couple hours of hiking and get to the most beautiful part of the trail straight away. We parked our car at the lift’s parking lot and walked up to the base of the ski lift. We paid for the ride, then were directed around a corner to the entry point for the lift. We rounded the corner and ran in ...