Time Machines, Reunions, Japan, and California

It’s all a part of my continuing California travel story being published in serial form by Atticus Books.

In this fourth installment, I meet up with my first book event and old friends for a reading at the end of Rout 66 followed by a reunion of friends I went to school with in Sasebo, Japan.

Like a word you hear and read often after learning it for the first time, Japan and the 1980s seem to pop up at every turn as we explore Los Angeles and the area. It’s like a tar pit time machine.

Join us at the Atticus Books Blog.

http://atticusbooksonline.com/blog/2015/08/04/booking-it-along-the-california-coast-a-book-tour-road-trip-across-the-pacific-coast-4/

The Good and Bad of Family Reunions

Recently, I went to a family reunion of sorts in celebration of my surviving grandmother’s 90th birthday. In the room were dozens of cousins, uncles, and family members, some of which I hadn’t seen in fifteen years. Five generations stood together in that room—a first in our family history. And best of all, we were not here for the more common sort of forced family reunion. We were here to celebrate 90 years of life well lived.

The other sort of reunion I mention reminds me of her husband’s funeral in 1988. I remember when my grandfather passed away, and the feeling that it was a shame we didn’t get together more often under happier circumstances.

The same tone was present last year at my other grandmother’s funeral. So it is refreshing to be celebrating life at a family reunion.

Not long ago, an abridged version of my short story, “Reunion,” was published in Syndic Literary Journal. Although it was written before my maternal grandmother’s death and paternal grandmother’s birthday, it hits on the theme of the unfortunate sort of family reunions and why it sometimes seems to be the most common kind.

In addition to “Reunion,” you’ll find a nice collection of fiction and poetry you can read or listen to in the latest issue. All available to read in digital ink, or to listen to in audio format.

 

LeRoy Chatfield founded the original Syndic in San Francisco and published it from 1958 to 1960. Fifty years later in 2010, Chatfield revived his Syndic Literary Journal and publishes it online at http://syndicjournal.us.

 

Go directly to “Reunion” at the following link.

http://syndicjournal.us/syndic-no-10/short-story-reunion-by-eric-d-goodman/?submit=view

Art Imitating Death Imitating Art

Sometimes moments or scenes or feelings can stay with you for a long time.

In the summer of 1987, my grandfather (father’s side) died. My family was on vacation in Seoul, Korea. We lived in Sasebo, Japan at the time. I remember the Navy Chaplain visiting us in our tatami-mat hotel and delivering the news. We cut our vacation short and flew from Korea to Wyoming for the funeral.

I don’t remember who said it or how it was said, but my teenage self took to heart when a person mentioned how unfortunate it was that the one time you could count on the entire extended family gathering together was for funerals.

When I wrote a story for Tracks about a woman dealing with the death of her parents, that childhood memory still lingered in the back of my mind. That, and a vivid scene from East of Eden when the Hamilton family gathers to talk about their plans after their father (John Steinbeck’s grandfather) died. Of course, on some subconscious level, I realize that I must have been writing through fears of the inevitable as well.

I named the story “Reunion” and wrote this line of dialogue from an estranged neighbor friend: “Why is it that it takes tragedy to bring old friends together?”

On May 9 of this year, about a month ago, my grandmother (mom’s side) died, leaving behind a husband of 68 years who is 95 years old. 

At the viewing and funeral and house, family, friends, and community gathered. It was nice to see so many people paying their respects. But that same feeling echoed and I even had to voice it. “We should try to get together more often,” I said to cousins and uncles and family and friends.

Here’s to art imitating life imitating art.

I read an abridged version of “Reunion” for WYPR’s The Signal. You can catch a podcast under “Reunion” at www.tracksnovel.com/radio.html.  

You can also find it here: http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/84379/Reunion.