Full of memories

My family’s fishing cabin, located between Creede and Lake City, Colorado was stuffed to the gills during our recent vacation. I was so fortunate to spend a week and a-half with not only my husband Cal and nine-month-old daughter Samantha, but my brother and sister-in-law, Chris and Sharon, and their two sons, Jackson and Sutton, as well. And though it hurt my heart at times to be there without my parents, I think the seven of us started to make the place our own.

And that’s no small job. The cabin was purchased by my grandfather, Morris Higley, decades ago, and my mom, Clemi Blackburn, had it for the past 20-something years. It is full of memories and their mementos: the knife my Poppy always used to clean his fish; a window sill decorated with small fish and such that my Grandma, Carol Higley, painted; a 1930s photograph of my grandparents and great-grandmother Bibi Amacker; Howard’s Beauty, a wood-burning stove (and the only stove there!); a kitchen table, handmade by my great-uncle Dale Higley; an ashtray bearing the name of Alec Saied’s old motel; a Texas quilt Chris and Sharon gave to Mom one Christmas; fishing lures and flies belonging to Poppy and Dad; an electric clock with a pendulum that wheezes as it swings; a buck and doe, mounted, hug over the fireplace, and affectionately referred to as Morris and Carol. And there’s much, much more.

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Cal, Chris, Sharon, and I have planned some changes to the cabin. Some are pretty major, like replacing the kitchen floor; some are less major but very important, like a shower head for the tub; and others are not at all major, like eventually taking three more Texas quilts up, so each bed will have one.

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But there’s one thing I absolutely will not change: the hook at Headquarters, where the cabin keys hang when we aren’t there. The name tag always read “Higley” while Poppy had the cabin, and when Mom took it over, she wouldn’t let the caretakers take “Higley” down. So they put “Blackburn” above “Higley” for Mom.

When I arrived to sign in and pick up the keys, one of the caretakers told me this story of the names over the key hook. And then she showed me that, because I am my mother’s daughter, she had added “Stone” above the other family names. It was so very touching.

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I think my daughter Sam is going to be a mountain girl. I can hardly wait until she can fish and hike and skip rocks on the lakes, just like her big cousin Jack. Of course, she can’t even walk yet, and Sutton will learn those things before her, but Sutton and Jack will be excellent teachers and guides for her! The three of them really seem to have a mutual admiration society. Those three children love each other like crazy.

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That’s how I feel about every person who was at the cabin. I love them like crazy. I have a wonderful husband, who is a good man. I’m madly in love with my baby. My crazy brother is just… Well, I honestly don’t know what I’d do without him. Jack and Sutton are the children I thought I’d never have; they’re my godsons, and pure joy.

And Sharon? Well, there is absolutely no one better than Sharon. She is lovely. And tolerant. She loves unconditionally and whole-heartedly. She doesn’t judge. She’s Sharon.

I want to be more like her when I grow up.