… I need to say something about my mom. Shortly after she died, I had a waking dream about her:
She was standing in
line at Saint Peter's Gates, waiting to be 'interviewed' for acceptance into
Heaven, and after patiently waiting for only a few minutes, two angels came up
from around her side… took her by her arms… and said, "Hello Celia,
welcome to Heaven. You don't have to go
thru the interview process, you're already pre-approved… in fact we've been
waiting for you, and we have your place already prepared for you."
My Mom kinda pulled
back a little, and said, "Wait a minute, I'm not special, I should have to
go through the normal process like everyone else." The angels simply smiled a loving smile at
her, and said, "Celia, you ARE special, now please come with us, it's
ok."
Mom let out a sigh of
resolution, and allowed the angels to take her into Heaven thru a side
entrance. When the three of them
approached the place that had been prepared for her, Mom stopped dead in her
tracks (sorry, I couldn't resist making a pun).
She couldn't believe what she saw. It was a throne… HER throne.
As Mom's eyes welled
in disbelief, the angels told her that it was her turn to take the seat next to
God. Her predecessor had reached the end
of her reign, and had been waiting for Mom to take her place.
Not only did my mother
not have to go thru the qualifying process to get into Heaven, she had
instantly been given the rank of 'Queen
Of All Angels.'
For those of you lucky
enough to have met Celia Moreno Opdyke, you won't have any problem accepting my
waking dream as a distinct probability. For those unfortunates
of you reading this, who didn't have the opportunity to meet her, you will
simply have to take our word for it. My
mother truly was, one of the most enlightened human beings ever placed on this
planet called Earth. Yes, she was indeed
a very special person.
Celia Moreno Opdyke -
July 7, 1919 ~ June 5, 2002
Now, in fairness…
something about my Dad:
Jasper Jackson (Jack) Opdyke was the middle of
three children, and was born in 1915 in Trail, Oregon… a small cow town on the Rouge
River in the southwestern part of the State.
My sister Jackie has a different version of our family tree, but I like
mine better. I'm pretty sure hers is the
correct one, because I heard mine from my dad, and he was a self-admitted
embellisher of stories.
My Dad's version
goes like this. His grandfather… who was
born in Holland, had 13 children with the same woman, and then at the age of
50, decided to leave them all and sail to America. When he got here, he settled in Trail…
married a 13-year old girl, and had 13 more children, one of which was Paul, my
grandfather. The 'story' ends with my
great grandfather finally dying at the age of 96, when he fell off the horse he
was riding and hit his head on a rock. I
added my own epilogue… I say that my great grandfather's wife cried huge tears
when he died, because she was so happy she didn't have to have any more
children.
When my Dad died, the
waking dream I had of his arrival at Heaven's Gates goes like this:
As he was waiting in line for his interview,
he couldn't help but notice that the gates were sagging just a little bit. It's no wonder he thought to himself… they
were after all, very… very old. Fortunately
he had brought some of his hand tools, and a small amount of misc. materials
with him, so instead of waiting in line, and without asking anyone for
permission, he boldly went up and adjusted and repaired the gates so they were
in a condition as good as new. Pretty
funny huh? Dad wasn't quite as
enlightened as my Mom, but he was certainly in the front row of his graduating
class.
Jasper Jackson (Jack)
Opdyke - September 21, 1915 ~ August 22, 2004
And now something about both of them:
When my Dad was 24, he
packed a bag and got in his car with one of his best buddies. His best man actually, for his upcoming wedding
to a gal named Claira Burda. He had
decided to make his bachelor's party a 'road trip' (I wonder if that's why I
like road trips so much?). They headed
south from Sacramento, and didn't stop until they got to Hermosillo, Mexico. When Dad placed a call to his fiancé, the
long distance operator who made the connection was a gal named Celia Moreno.
Back in those days
(circa 1938), it was quite a process… as it took a series of connections, made
manually from operator to operator, to get the line 'tied together' all that
way. While my dad and 'this gal' where
on the line waiting, as each operator made the next connection, they struck up
a conversation. My Dad didn't speak a
word of Spanish, but Celia was fluent in English, one of the reasons she was
working as a long-distance operator.
Well, according to my
parents, they both became infatuated with each other's voices. Before the final connection was made, they
had a made a date to meet later that evening.
There was a big town party, and although my Dad didn't know it at the
time, she had just been crowned the Queen of the City as part of the
celebration.
When my Mom came up to
my Dad on the street corner where they had arranged to meet, my Dad didn't
recognize her. She was dressed in full
regalia, head to foot, including a full mask covering her face. My mom says she didn’t have any problem
recognizing this man as her date for the evening. Probably by his skin color… I don't imagine
there were many gringos walking around that night, but let's pretend it was her
intuition, ok?
Anyway, as soon as my Mom
said hello to my Dad, he says he recognized her from what he always called the 'most
beautiful voice in the world.' The love story
continues with them spending the entire night together, into the wee hours of the
morning, talking and talking… my Mom never taking off her headdress.
When they parted company, they had arranged
for my Dad to meet her the following morning at her home, so that he could ask
her father for permission to marry her.
He hadn't even seen her face yet, and he was ready to dump Ms. Burda,
back in Sacramento, and marry this girl he had only met a few hours ago… over
the phone!
My Mom's Father
(Marciel) was a poet, and he approved the union. Amazing.
My Dad drove back to Sacramento and told his fiancé about what happened,
and she graciously forgave him, and wished him the best of luck with his
impulsive (to say the least!) decision.
She was probably grateful to be released from a life long bond with a
man who was quite obviously totally insane.
Two weeks later after
flying back to Hermosillo, my Dad was nudged by my Mom at the altar, when it
was time for him to say, "Si."
He took her back to Sacramento with him, and 63 years later, my Mom died
peacefully in their home in Aptos, living what I believe is the Fairy Tale of
All Time. No wonder I'm so difficult to
please… I was raised in a totally unrealistic world of rainbows, butterflies,
lollipops, and 'true love at first sound' (just like I felt the first time I
heard Honey's voice).
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