July 2025

 Dear Family and Friends,

The month of July was rather full of sunshine and flowers and memorable moments.  It started out with True coming home on the 1st after being gone for the whole month of.June.  She brought with her a dear friend from Sedona, AZ named Che, pronounced Shay, to stay for about a week. She is really a nice lady who right away made herself well acquainted with our kitchen and made her own meals.. True gave her bed to Che and slept on the couch. We also had the visit of several close relatives from Utah who were here over the 4th of July weekend, but they had to rent motel rooms.  Though very short, their visit was extremely enjoyable. It was a chance for us to meet and get to know Rees Rasmussen, the new husband of my niece Diana, and we were surprised by how easily he fit into the McBride family. And we talked about what Terry and Kristol plan to do now that he is no longer bishop of their ward in Layton. Steve wasn’t able to come with Sandy this time, but she and my sister Carol were able to conveniently bunk together, which made six of them in all. So with me, Linda, True and Che, that made ten of us, but what a congenial and fun-loving bunch!

Since our house no longer has a dining room with table and chairs, we wondered how we could possibly accommodate such a crowd. But True came to the rescue by coming up with a couple of small folding tables that were set up between the couch and easy chairs in the living room. We all gathered around this setup for a rousing card game called “Switch” (I think) taught to us by Terry and Krystal. It was easy to learn and a lot of fun to play, so by golly, we ended playing many rounds of it until long into the night on Friday And we'd have done it again on Saturday while enjoying a picnic at the river’s edge, but it soon became time for them to claim reserved seats on the Hellgate excursion boat which travels along a large portion of our scenic Rogue River, and included a delicious family-style dinner at the OK Corral at the end of their ride downstream.

It seems that they had a very enthusiastic boatman, because both going and coming, he kept swirling the boat around so as to get everybody soaked and to hear their screams of laughter! Old or young, they all enjoyed having him do that. But it was late when their trip ended, so no more card playing on Saturday, just fond goodbyes, since their plane for Salt Lake would leave early Sunday morning. It was such a short little visit but a magnificent one, as we were able to enjoy each other tremendously, and it will be a time that we will all fondly remember, especially me. I feel so awfully sad thinking that that was probably the last time I may ever see any of them again, especially my dear baby sister Carol Ann, or “Peachie,” as I sometimes call her. It makes me cry.

While having at least most of my close family members present during that weekend (my son Dan was in Florida), the conversation soon became centered upon my remaining years and what preparations various ones thought might be the most feasible thing to do about them. I didn’t happen to be within earshot at the time, but I was told later that the consensus of the group was that since Linda and True had had full responsibility of my care for almost eight years, and now that Dan & Cathy were back from their mission and had a nice home and a good income in retirement, that perhaps it might now be Dan’s turn to relieve his sisters and take up the responsibility of caring for his mother. When asked my opinion, I said Yes. I know both of my girls have more or less given up their lives in order to bless my life with their care, so now it is time for Dan to have a turn. When we approached Dan with this proposition, he was entirely in agreement.  He indicated that the Labor Day weekend might be a good time to make the big move.

So with that discussion cleared up, believe it or not I am soon to be off to Florida!  Of course. (you know me) I’ll be anxious for the real adventure part of it, but I will miss those I’ve come to know and love during my 55 years in Grants Pass, Oregon. I will still send out this monthly letter to those who already receive it, and may write a fgew letters individually to those who don’t. Either way, I will try to remain in contact with everyone, and I hope to have some correspondence in return. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and my mother moved with us when we came to Oregon, so getting out of “smogsville” was no problem, but leaving Oregon will be quite a bit harder to do I’m sure. However, even though I am in good physical condition (except for a missing leg) I’m hoping the long trip getting to Florida will not be too strenuous on me.

Through many conversations back and forth with Dan, the final plan is that he and Cathy will fly to Utah in time to attend the wedding of Cathy’s son Cody on the 6th of September, then rent a car and drive here to GP, spend a couple of days taking care of odds and ends, then fly together with me on a flight leaving Medford at 6:00 AM on Wednesday the 10th of September. The plane will have a layover at Seattle and then will head nonstop straight through to Orlando. Something like 9 hours total. So I’m hoping I will make out OK.

Another thing I am worried about is - how will I be able to still have all the handicap things I need here those last couple of days and also have those same things available to me the first day I arrive at their home? Dan said he is looking into purchasing all those same items there, saying it would be cheaper than trying to ship mine cross-country and have them there in time. He's hoping my insurance will help pay for a new hospital bed and perhaps a new wheelchair as well. We're all coming to realize that moving me across the country to Florida is not going to be the same as moving me to another place close by. But, we still have a month to work out all the little details.

Although I do actually have very little personal items any more, I still worry about what things of mine that I absolutely must have.  What are the things I want to keep, and what are things I guess I should probably toss, but can’t bring myself to do - because it’s either memorabilia or something I may wish I still had after I've thrown it away. So I end up not doing much of anything about anything and that’s no good, because departure time will soon be here and I must be ready for it.  I was about ready to call this July’s letter a “wrap” and get on with something else, when we suddenly had a bombshell dropped into our laps!

It seems that as of May 7th of this year, all IDs must now be updated to "Real ID", proof of US citizenship for all air travel within the United States. This means providing them with your valid birth certificate, a bill or statement showing your correct address, and a card or something showing your complete Social Security number. Well that wasn’t too bad even if it meant that I might have to do a little digging, that’s all. But when it has to be done through the DMV and the finished ID card wouldn't be sent to you until 20 days (3 weeks) later, that was shocking to us.  It meant that our issue had to be taken care of immediately.! Or else I might not be allowed onto the plane without this proper type of identification.

Now I don’t know what the DMV is like in your town, but here in Grants Pass you can expect to stand in line to receive a number and then sit for at least another hour before your number is called.  And sometimes after all that waiting, only to be told the information you do have is not acceptable, so you must come back tomorrow! Believe it or not, that’s almost exactly what happened to all three of us working together. Linda had the day off on July 29th, so we looked through my files until we found what we thought would fill the bill. We decided to take a photocopy of my birth certificate because the original was very darkened and not very legible. Knowing what our DMV would be like, Linda planned to leave about an hour before I did. True would then take me, and we'd meet up with Linda and hopefully there'd be little or no extra waiting time involved. Good plan. But when True and I got there, Linda was still waiting in the line to receive her number, so I sat down and True went home. I waited there a half hour.

When Linda reached the point where numbers were being given out, there was a man there who examined what each person brought to let them know if it was acceptable or not. He gave Linda a number, but told her she may be refused later because the birth certificate should always be an original. Even though her number was still a long ways from being called, Linda knew she wouldn’t have time to drive all the way back to my home, pick up the original and still get back in time. So she decided to call True, who was already there, and see if she would bring it, figuring True would have a better chance of getting it to us before Linda’s number was called. True arrived with it in plenty of time, and we were able to get that little unexpected problem taken care of that same day, and without hearing those heartbreaking words, “Sorry, not acceptable. Come back tomorrow.”

So with that hurdle taken care of, I think now is a pretty good time to put this little ‘epistle’ to bed. But first, I‘d like you to know how much I do appreciate you sticking with me through all my little episodes.  I wish you good health and much joy and laughter throughout the coming month as you keep a song on your lips and love in your heart. With the love of our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ to be with you always, life can be Beautiful!! And remember that I love you, too. 

Marie

I would sincerely love to hear from you. My new mailing address will be:

Marie Stevenson

c/o Dan Mundell

3018 Sugar Pine Circle

Sebring, FL 33872