A Non-Writing Weekend Bracketed by Two Aletas

by Betsy Ashton

Duane, Aleta, me and Terry

Aleta is a fairly rare name. To have two Aletas in the same family is rarer yet. And both were named after Princess Aleta in the old Prince Valiant comic strip.

The first Aleta in our long weekend away is my cousin who lives in Burlington, VT with her significant other, Duane. Her mother, who was like my second mother and for whom I am named, loved the comic strip. Our selfie is the fearless foursome at the Saratoga Race Track, a place we like to meet once a year if possible. Aleta and Duane are both in health care, she a psychologist, he a psych nurse.

We don't get together more than twice a year, but each time it's like we just ended one sentence and started another, with months in between. 

Terry

Our road trip took us from Southwest Virginia through Maryland, Pennsylvania and finally into New York. We ended in Albany where we spent three nights. Aleta and Duane drove from Burlington to Albany. Their drive was a wee bit shorter, about three hours to our twelve. We backtracked a few miles to Saratoga for two days of racing. None of us did very well, but we didn't care. We had wonderful conversations about mental health, politics, the color of grass, writing, and playing the bagpipes. Duane is in a pipe band up in Burlington. In fact, they left after dinner on Friday because Duane had Scottish games on Saturday.

The other Aleta is my husband's daughter. He too loved Prince Valiant. Who could have guessed I'd find a man with a daughter named Aleta?

Aleta and her husband live in a small town in Orange County, New York, about an hour and a half south and west of Albany, where she is an event planner and her husband puts bad people in jail. Seeing them is terrific, but seeing our only grandsons may be even better. Howie is four with an adult-sized vocabulary, especially about trucks, planes and trains. He loves his PopPop and dominates his time. John Callan is two and is into grandfathers rather than grandmothers. Just the right age for male bonding. I don't mind. I get plenty of time, including bedtime, where I read stories to Howie to calm him down enough to sleep. PopPop/Terry ended up with bathtime. 'nuff said.

Cal, Aleta and Howie

Much as we hated to leave on Monday, we did have to get back to work. I left my novel at home, because I was stuck on how to make the last movement work smoothly. Hours of listening to two suspense novels and plenty of windshield time unlocked the ending. I've always known how it ends but I didn't know how much of the draft had to be rewritten and trimmed. I have my shears out for trimming and the delete key at the ready. 

 That was my summer vacation, lovely weekend with the two Aletas. Can't wait for December when we all get together again for the "Tween the Holidays" party.

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Betsy Ashton is the author of Mad Max, Unintended Consequences, and Uncharted Territory, A Mad Max Mystery, now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.