Saturday

SATURDAY

Forgot to add, when we arrived at our cabin on Thursday evening, no one was at the office, so I called Sandy (the owner) and got her voice mail. She had told me she would leave all the details with Sharon because she might not be home. So I called Sharon and she told us the cabin was unlocked, just go on in. Ohhh, the advantages of living in a small town. LOL

The sun coming up

sweet little fellow that sat on our

deck at the cabin

The view from our kitchen window

We met Sharon at her shop on Saturday morning to pick up more boxes. Her shop isn’t open on Saturday, but she opened it for us. So nice. She had her sweet puppy there. She is her official greeter dog and somehow neither of us got a picture of her.  The puppy seemed intent on showing us a bear that she really liked. I tried to take the bear from her to play with her, but she growled at me to let me know, “Hands off the bear, lady!” Sharon later told us Chan had given her the bear for her puppy just before she fell ill. It gave me a little shiver that the puppy decided to show us that toy that morning or maybe I just want there to be more to it, who knows?

Work in progress, Chan's shop

Chan's shop was on the right side

Saturday we worked in the basement.  If you look closely you can see Chan's guitar case near the bookshelf.  Bet you didn't know she played the guitar!

JoAnn and I worked out a good system of searching, packing, taping and stacking today. While carrying more boxes down the stairs to the basement, I stumbled and backed into something that felt like glass that was on a shelf that ran along the wall to the basement. I held my breath waiting for whatever I had backed into to break or to continue falling down the stairs. When nothing happened I cautiously peeped around to see what I had backed into, and it was Chan's Vincent puppet in a glass showcase thing. We had walked past it I don’t know how many times and never saw it. I could hear Chan saying, "I've been trying to show you that and you never saw it, so I just gently pushed you toward it." I quietly thanked her and continued on working.

At one point, JoAnn found a wonderful zine and said, “Sit down, I want to read something to you.” I am as bad as a little kid about loving to be read to, so I eagerly agreed and we needed a break anyway. I don’t know how to explain the few pages she read, but they were beautiful and so touching, so of course we were crying again.

The last picture of Chan and Baci

taken a few days before she fell ill.

We spent a few minutes just grieving, but there was still work to be done, so we blew our noses, wiped our tears and went back to work.

Our goal for this trip was to get everything sorted, packed and hauled to be picked up, so that the family would not have to do any of it, and unless they find a few little things, we did meet our goal. The first and second day we worked non-stop except to eat and get more boxes or packing material.

Sharon was a wonderful resource for whatever we needed. Once we just called and asked for more boxes (small ones for zines, and she got some oil can boxes I guess from an oil change place in town, LOL...again the advantages of living in a small town). She also brought us tape, packing materials, bubble wrap and even offered to feed us every time we turned around. Such a sweet person and she was very close to Chan.

On Saturday, Amber had to concentrate on packing her things, as her dad was taking her and Baci to CO on Tuesday, but she taught us well the day before, (so much like her mom), and we just looked through everything. Sure enough, just when you thought you had a box of school materials, there would be some original art tucked away amongst the papers.

In the basement we concentrated mostly on one side of the room, because that is where the boxes were. When we were almost done with those, I started looking through a book shelf on the other side of the room and sure enough, there were more treasures to be found.

one of Chan's shelves 

Hurman insisted on taking us to dinner again

Saturday night and we were glad to oblige him. 

We went to a Mexican food place that he and Chan really liked. Whatever calories we burned going up and down stairs and hauling boxes, we canceled out at that dinner. We must have been at the restaurant for 2 and a half hours. 

Hurman talked a lot about how much he loved Chan (when he first met her he thought she was so beautiful it made his teeth hurt), their life together, their jobs, and kids. He said they used to ride their bikes to the lake to catch fish, and then bike back to their little house where he would clean the fish and she would cook it.

Chan and Hurman

He also said in their later years they enjoyed what Chan called “parallel” play. They enjoyed being together, in the same room or in the car, but each doing their own thing. It seemed to be good for him to talk and we were happy to listen. I think only 3 of us cried during dinner that night, so we were getting better about not crying, I guess. But anytime anyone even threatened to shed a tear, my titty-baby self would cry too. Sheeesh! I wish I wouldn’t do that.

Although she confessed to be shy, it seemed like we had known Amber forever.  She was very open and honest and knew her mom so well and is pretty familiar with fandom too.  I can see and hear so much of Chan in her. 

JoAnn, me, Sharon, Amber, Hurman

I'll let you guess which one is Hurman. LOL

Here are some pictures of the murals Chan painted around town

POSTSCRIPT

Sunday we were going to sleep in or maybe get up early and watch the sun rise over the lake, whichever happened first. We wanted to walk on the beach too. Hurman wanted to take us around to see some of Chan's favorite places around town Sunday afternoon. Monday morning we will head out for the 2-hour drive to the airport. As on the trip down, JoAnn and I will fly together from Saginaw to Detroit, then go our separate ways.

This has been a sad, trying, back-breaking, and mostly healing process for me. I feel like JoAnn and I, being the hands and feet of fandom, have done the right thing by our tunnel-sister and dear friend and her family. I think we have done what Chan would have wanted and her family is relieved that her art and her love of fandom will be shared by those of us that also loved her.

Found this quote in the things that Amber shared with us that was part of her memorial and I think it so fits:

"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only a true friend will leave footprints in your heart."

So Chan, I will cherish the footprints you left in my heart and remember you always.

To be continued...

Thursday evening and Friday

PREFACE

When Amber announced that our beloved Chan was “gone,” several of us, along with Chan’s family, discussed what would happen to her BatB things that meant so much to her. So, as things came together, it was decided that JoAnn and I would go to Oscoda to help Chan’s family with the task of gathering and preserving the things that meant so much to her.
I'm just glad we got to do this for Chan, for her family, and for fandom, but it was a very hard and very sad task and I feel so honored to have been involved.
The folks in Oscoda were lovely and warm to us - from the family to Chan's friends. The folks at the bookstore sent boxes and packing materials. Sharon, who helped organize the memorial service, went above and beyond - scoring boxes for us, bringing tape over when we ran out, helping Amber pack, etc.

THURSDAY

We arrived on Thursday evening and after dropping our suitcases at the little cabin on the lake, we met Chan’s good friend, Sharon, at a local restaurant. She met us outside and we exchanged hugs. When we went inside she had the table set with candles and placemats from Chan's memorial, so we all cried right from the start. We talked about Chan and the memorial service and about how it was still so unreal. She said the flowers we all sent were beautiful - loads of red and white roses (we all think alike!). From the beginning Sharon has been a great resource, and through the process became a good friend. We meant to get a picture of the three of us, but somehow didn't, that night anyway. 

Boathouse Cabin

Beach

We spent a couple of hours eating, talking and crying and then we went back to the cabin for some sleep. The wind was blowing so hard and it was so cold outside, but warm inside. So, I made a video of our cozy little cabin. We loved the little fireplace and had it lit anytime we were in the cabin. If you listen you can hear the wind howling outside and one of the chairs on the deck blowing over.
Here’s the link to the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_XZp1z8tC4

FRIDAY

Chan’s house

It was still really cold. This morning the picnic table in front of our cabin on the lake was frosted over and also the car windows.
After defrosting the car windows we made our way to Chan’s house where we met Amber and Baci. Amy wasn’t there as she had to go back to work, so we didn’t get to meet her. Hurman had gone out for a little while.
Baci is just a lovable, active fur baby. He wanted us to go out back and throw the ball all the time. Then he discovered the big rolls of tape we were using. His mission was to grab one and make it out the back door with it. What he intended to do with it, I’m not sure. Maybe he planned to make us chase him outside and then get us to throw the ball, but he never made it out the door. One of us always caught him, but he kept trying. He is a bouncy, rambunctious but sweet-natured big puppy. He kept us on our toes. Amber said he slept really well that night as all the excitement wore him out.

Would somebody please play ball with me?

Trying to pose with Baci

Sharon and Deb

Amber is just precious. She knew her mom so well and helped us decipher between original artwork and prints. She also knew her mom would tuck things away in just about anything and helped us to find little things tucked away. We spent our day with her sharing stories and digging through "stuff," packing boxes, and tossing the ball with Baci during breaks.

Deb and Amber

Hurman is a big teddy bear of a man. He's very tall and very sweet and is so lost without Chan. It is so sad and so wrong for such a sweet family to be going through this. Of course at several times during the day one, two or all of us were crying at some time or other.
Sharon had gathered some boxes of various sizes and bubble wrap for us, and the folks from the book store in town also brought boxes over for us to use. We spent the day mostly upstairs, going through every shelf, drawer, box, under bed storage container, file folder, etc. in several rooms, packing 26 boxes with art, zines and other memorabilia. We were up and down the stairs so many times, our knees were creaking and our backs were aching, LOL. After we packed, we hauled to the car all the boxes from the day, and the bookstore was good enough to arrange to UPS them to JoAnn. The bookstore was selling some items designed by Chan and her daughter Amber - tote bags, tee shirts and other memorabilia - all to raise funds for the town, and it was a thrill to be able to buy things that they had designed.

Sharon and JoAnn

Everyone in town was so nice and so willing to help in any way they could. You could tell they all loved Chan so much. They were incredibly nice to us and accepted us as family.
That night Hurman took us out to dinner. He shared stories of his early life with Chan and things they did during their life together. One cute thing he said was that Chan was so beautiful, his teeth ached! He's such a dear, big bear of a man. and he opened up quite a bit, tearing up sometimes - we all kept having teary moments throughout the day and that evening. He's just devastated, and talked about having to pretend he's OK, but every morning when he wakes up and realizes Chan is gone, he gets emotional. He's trying his best to get on with life, but it's tough.

Amber and Hurman

This was hanging in the lobby of one of the restaurants we went to. It is one on Chan’s Paul Bunyan’s

To be continued….