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Katie D.

April 20, 2009 - 5:00 PM

I just got back from the most wonderful trip home. I was only there for three days, but it was a fabulous chance to see my family, catch up with my friend Melanie, and take a breather from life in Eugene.

I arrived in Denver just in time for the snow to start falling. What a change! I spent a little time with my grandmother, who had also just arrived for the weekend. The point of this whole gathering of the family was that my little sister, Kelly, had a lead part in the high school musical. They performed Damn Yankees, which is a lesser-known musical. Grandma came all the way from Minnesota to see her act. Over the winter break I had asked Kelly if she would prefer me to come home for her play or for graduation. Since then we hadn't discussed my plans, and she was ignoring several accidental mentions of my plans from Mom to pretend she didn't know I'd be coming to the show.

On Thursday night I showed up at the high school just in time for the last few minutes of the play, and then was standing in the hallway with flowers when my sister came out afterward. She was so excited! We've been close our whole lives, but in recent years it's been increasingly tough to stay in touch, since we're both extremely busy. But I was there with flowers, and that's the important part. I was planning to see the show both Friday and Saturday nights, and couldn't wait to finally get to see Kelly act a lead role in a play.

The weather had other plans, though. It was still snowing Friday morning, but with only about four inches on the road I could still run my errands. I went to the DMV to renew my license (when you turn 21 everything in your life seems to expire). Then I got my hair cut, which doesn't sound that interesting unless I tell you I hadn't had it cut since BEFORE my trip to Chile, which put me at over a year in a free-growing state. It was time. I made a last-minute decision to donate my hair to Locks for Love, so I'm sporting a dramatically different hair style than any previous time in my life.

Then I spent time with Mom and Grandma, and got increasingly nervous about the weather. Not to be deterred by the eight to nine inches of snow on the ground, I set off to visit a couple of friends from high school, only to end up trapped at my friend Melanie's house for the night, with the high school performance postponed for another night. Could I have driven home? Probably. But instead I spent the night watching movies, drinking tea, and going on an epically long walk in the snow with Melanie. We even built a snowman in someone else's front yard, which isn't something I get to do too often in Eugene. Melanie is my best friend in Colorado and it was so wonderful to get to catch up with her.

On Saturday I finally got to see the play. It stopped snowing mid-day after snowing close to two feet total. Even if the snow made it a less-than perfect situation for visiting home, it's great that Colorado got the moisture. It's been a dry, dry winter out there, and drought is something we have to worry about on a regular basis.

During Saturday afternoon I got to hang out with my dad, swapping music and listening to some of his new songs. Dad has been in one band or another since before I can remember, augmenting his business livelihood with some rock n' roll lifestyle. We have a recording studio in our basement, complete with guitars, basses, keyboard, and a picture of me at age one wearing a jean jacket with the name of my Dad's band, Too Much Fun, silkscreened on the back by a family friend. My dad, the rock star.

My Aunt and Uncle and other grandmother arrived Saturday evening for dinner at our house before attending the play. It is a relatively infrequent occurrence for me to get to spend time with these relatives, and I am appreciating them more and more as I get older. It was so fun to have them come down to see us, and to go to Kelly's play together.

And finally, the event itself. I had never seen Damn Yankees before, and although I had heard some general descriptions of Kelly's part, I was not quite prepared for the full glory of it all. She played the part of Lola, the Devil's assistant sent to tempt the main character into...sinning. She had three main song and dance numbers, and she hit them out of the park. My little sister is quite the performer anyway, with this huge personality and a love of being in the spotlight. The quality of the whole performance was incredible, including the pit orchestra where I spent several musicals during high school. Maybe I'm biased, but Lola (Kelly) stole the whole show.

And that was that: my trip home. I got on the plane the next morning, saying goodbye to my grandma, to playing cards with the family, to Little Sister, and to my childhood house that feels increasingly distanced from my idea of "home." I won't be living in Colorado this summer, as I have a year-round job in Oregon and a lease that goes through August. So I feel so very lucky to have spent a weekend at home in Colorado, even if it was a brief one.

And I got to see my little sister perform her heart out. What a wonderful weekend.