A Reunion to Remember

by Richard Edfeldt

Sleeping Lady Mountains

Ten years ago, members of the Ralph Edfeldt branch of the family tree arranged (through the extreme generosity of Ralph, the patriarch) to fly in from around the country to have Christmas in the state of Washington. David and Bonnie had scouted out suitable places and found the perfect location in Leavenworth (remember its Washington, not Kansas so forego the obvious joke fodder). The idyllic spot found was called Sleeping Lady Lodge, named for a range of nearby mountains and beautifully nestled along Icicle Creek. It was built as a camp site for the CCC back in the 1930’s and it has gone through several owners over the years. Now it is privately owned and is an absolutely perfect place for family reunions.

Each family had its own cabin on the property. We would slip and slide along on the sidewalks bordered in by waist deep snow to get to the dining room where we would feast on gourmet food created by a wonderful and personable chef. Each evening we would gather in a great room, complete with roaring fire, to play games, sing songs, and tell stories. Part of the celebration was for the upcoming 60^th wedding anniversary of mom and dad. We also decided to throw in an 80^th birthday party for mom. We were quite in the festive mood.

During the day we took on winter excursions that those from the South had never experienced. We tried hiking across the tundra in snowshoes and we properly embarrassed ourselves with cross-country skiing. On Christmas day, we all went to the Stephens Pass ski area. Some went skiing (or so we called it) and others went tubing, but all had fun. Karen and I took some lessons and were such ‘special students’ that, after the standard lessons were given, the instructor sent the rest of the class snow plowing down the hill and gave us extended teaching time so we wouldn't damage any trees on our excruciating journey down that mountain.

But the most memorable part of the trip was the day we went on a cross country tour via snowmobiles. There was an age requirement so Jacob was paired with me. We went through a few cursory instructions and then off we went.  Jacob and I was the caboose of the snowmobile train.

 We wound through meadows and jetted across frozen lakes. It was glorious. Part of the tour was to ascend a mountain for a breathtaking view at the top. So we headed up the side of the mountain using a switchback path when the improbable happened.

On one hairpin turn, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that caused me to lose control of the snowmobile and crash into the side of the mountain. Neither of us was injured (except maybe my pride) and no damage was done to the machine. However, in the crash the snowmobile had tipped over on its side.  I was pleased that Jacob and I had listened to the part of the instructions about bailing out on the high side of the machine if you felt it tipping over! But I was chagrined when we couldn't tip the machine back on to its skis.  We were stuck!

Now, remember …. I said we were last in line so nobody saw what had happened to us.  The line of snowmobiling Edfeldts was well past the next bend in the trail and no one had a clue where we were. When Jacob and I both acknowledged that we were fine, our next questions were, “What do we do now?” and “How did that happen?”  We checked to see if we had our candy bars on us so we knew we could survive and we knew we could eat the snow in order to stay hydrated. We were well into survival mode. So we began to address the second question. What happened that made us crash?

 

I started reviewing what had caused me to lose control. When I got to the part about something that had distracted me, that’s when Jacob nearly shouted, “I saw it too! I saw Sasquatch!”

WE HAD NEARLY RUN OVER THE LEGENDARY SASQUATCH!!

We rolled around and around in the snow laughing our heads off as we embellished our story to Mt. Everest proportions in order to explain what had happened when our rescuers would eventually arrive.  We both made a pact that that was our story and we were sticking to it!

Fortunately for us, Karen soon realized she couldn't see us and notified the guide. He circled the group back, up righted our snowmobile, and we finished a fantastic memory.

It truly was a perfect family reunion that year. But little did we realize on that trip that Jacob was battling an

undiagnosed disease of Protein Losing Enteropathy (PLE) that was causing his pudginess and lack of endurance. We were told it was the normal growth cycle of a young teenager and that we needed to watch his food intake and make him exercise more. But six months later, we were finally given test results which told of the disease (which is the subject of a previous blog) and the fatal toll it would inevitably take on Jacob’s ailing heart.

We also had no clue, as we enjoyed the beautiful northwest, that less than one year later, nine years ago today (December 21), our family and a multitude of friends would be waiting in a crowded room at Egleston Children’s Hospital and around the country to hear the greatest news. Jacob’s new heart was working! What a memorable Christmas!

But now we face another Christmas without him … his smile … his creative imagination …his incredible sense of humor…. his zeal for life.

But we will always have the memory of a Sasquatch sighting!