My Brother Walt Lingren

I had not seen my older brother, Walt for more than 13 years. So imagine how happy I was to get a call from him a few weeks ago. He said he and his wife Janice were coming to LA to go on a cruise and wanted to know if they could visit us for a couple of days. I was ecstatic and of course told them yes. So on the appointed day I picked them up at LAX and brought them to our home. They were so pleased to come to our home, and we were so glad to have them. You see, in all my adult lifetime Walt has NEVER been to my home. I was glad to have him see how we live and what our lives are like. He found out we are VERY busy, all the time.

I took them to a concert at USC the night they flew in. The concert was really special because Lauren (our granddaughter) was playing in the symphony orchestra. Lauren is currently second chair cellist and this is only her sophomore year at USC, which tells you what kind of skills she has.

The concert was fabulous and we went to Gladstones for ice cream afterward and Lauren got to know them better, and they got to talk quite a bit with her.

The next day I took them sight-seeing. We went to The Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax and we got to go to the shop where Percia (another of our granddaughters) works.

We stayed for lunch and then I took them to Rodeo Drive so they could see the 'beautiful' people.

Then in the afternoon I took them to visit our church and I played the organ for them. Neither one of them ever knew I play the piano and the organ, so they were extremely surprised. That tickled me so much. I was very proud to play our lovely pipe organ we have at the Wilshire Building for them.

The next morning (Saturday - sailing day) I made a huge breakfast for us all, we devoured everything and really enjoyed ourselves. We left the house a 11 AM and got to the Port of Los Angeles at noon.

We stayed until they got their luggage taken and then we left. I wish we could have gone on the cruise with them, because Tony and I adore cruising. So we made a promise we will take one together the next time.

I was able to re-connect Walt with his former high school sweetheart, Janice a few months ago and they have been inseparable ever since. Janice has always been my dear friend and although we had not seen one another in 49 years we picked up our friendship right where we left it off. This was truly such a fantastic reunion and I'm so happy they made us part of it. I can't wait to see them again.