Autobiography - Christopher E. Brennen

EPILOGUE

``I feel
when you are here
as if a star
had somehow tumbled down the chimney
into an ordinary room.''

Attributed to Wilfred M. Brennen

And now my adventuring days are done. Age and old injuries have caught up with me, necessitating much physical healing including one artifical knee. I look back with great joy at the companionships created along the way and hope I have given some pleasure to the dear friends for whom I cared and who cared for me. As I read through the adventure accounts I have written I take vicarious pleasure from those recollections. It is with a resignation tinged with sadness that I move on.

One reason for waiting so long before writing this final epilogue was to allow a pause to cement the memories of the days before and the days after. In the days before our wedding, Barbara and I traveled to Perth, Western Australia, to a Space Shuttle launch in Florida, to Paris, France, and to Japan. In addition I had been to Yosemite to climb the Eichorn Pinnacle. In the days after our wedding we would spread our travels even wider, many times visiting Perth and vicinity, traveling to Tanzania, to England and Ireland, to Egypt, Cambodia and Korea, to China, Bali and Borneo, to Canada, Botswana and Rwanda (most spectacularly to hike to visit Dian Fossey's mountain gorillas in the wild).

During our adolescence my mother, Muriel M. Brennen, had found great affection for Barbara as we spent the last few years in our hometown of Magherafelt. Subsequently, as our lives evolved, she played a part in ensuring that I always knew where Barbara was living. She sent me the photograph of Barbara beside her when Barbara and her sister carried their mother's ashes back for burial in Magherafelt. Thus there is great pathos in the fact that my mother just missed (by six months) knowing of our reunion. As if being able to see across the Atlantic, my mother died on Feb.23, 2007, just hours after the third of Barbara and my "polite" dinners in Guilford, Connecticut, and while I was on my way from Providence to Philadelphia. Later that day, Dana, helped me find the additional clothing I would need in order to look respectable at the funeral. The following day I drove to Newark and flew to Belfast, Northern Ireland, hired a car and drove to Magherafelt. Several days later I gave the eulogy at my mother's memorial service in the First Presbyterian Church, Magherafelt. The same church where, as an adolescent, I had sat behind Barbara during numerous Bible classes. The same church where my father had been buried nearly 20 years earlier and where Barbara's mother and father had been interred.

For our wedding, Barbara and I wanted to gather together as much of our soon-to-be-connected family as we could. And to find a special venue. Thanks to the internet we found just the place, a large seashore villa for rent just north of the Mayan ruins of Tulum on the Mexican coast of Quintana Roo, the Mayan Riviera. It was the gorgeous Villa Yardena which along with the smaller Villa Iguana next door could accomodate all of us. Specifically my daughter Dana with her husband David and children Quinn and Gavin, my daughter Kathy with her children Troy and Payton, Barbara's daughter Susan with her husband Merle and children Tristan and Isaac, Barbara's daughter Nicole with her husband Eric and children Sydney and Raigan, Barbara's daughter Keri with her husband John and children Alexandra, Abigail, and Caleb and Barbara's daughter Kim whose husband and daughters were unable to make the trip from Perth. So it was that we all traveled by various routes to this Mayan Riviera site for this great occasion.

We had arranged for a minister to perform the marriage ceremony even though it would be unofficial (apparently an official ceremony in Mexico would have required a physical exam in a Mexican hospital which was not convenient for us). So we decided that we would have a second, official ceremony in Guilford conducted by a Justice of the Peace and with our Connecticut friends present. Therefore, prior to our journey to Mexico, we had visited the Guilford Town Hall on Aug.14, 2007, to obtain a marriage license for that second ceremony. As well as finding us that special Mexican residence, the travel agents had set up the music and decor for our beach side wedding at Villa Yardena.

In the days before the ceremony we visited the Mayan temple of Tulum just a short distance south of our Villa and spent time relaxing on the beach.

So we were set for the big day at 6pm on Sep. 15, 2008. As the violinist played, Dana and Kathy walked me down the aisle to the ribbon-bedecked arbor on the seashore. A few minutes later Barbara's grandchildren, Raigan, Abigail, Sydney and Alex headed the bridal procession. I remember that when Raigan reached me she did not know what to do next and so I picked her up in my arms as the procession continued. My beautiful bride, Barbara, was escorted to the altar by her four daughters, Susan, Kim, Nicole and Keri. A mostly traditional ceremony followed and we both said our special vows of which I only recall my closing words "forever and always". I was deeply moved by Barbara's heartfelt words and we closed the ceremony by mixing together sand from two containers representing the comingling of our hearts and promises. Many toasts, celebrations and photographs followed before we sat down for our wedding dinner on the patio of Villa Yardena.

A week later, on Sep.24, 2008, we were officially married by a Justice of the Peace in Barbara's home in Guilford, Connecticut. We had invited many of Barbara's local friends; Susan, Kim and Keri were also there to help. The ceremony was followed by a dinner in the Stonehouse Restaurant just a short walk from Barbara's condominium. Colin McKenzie acted as best man; he and Courtland Bryan both spoke at the dinner and enlivened the proceedings with their wit and good humor. I could not believe how fortunate I was to be married to my beautiful life-long friend.

So it was that Barbara and I were entwined for the rest of our lives. For several years we continued to live in Guilford, Connecticut. But, after a visit to see John and Keri in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, we decided to move to that warmer climate. We bought a house overlooking the Wando River in that southern state and have enjoyed that view ever since.

OF LOVE AND EXPLORATION - AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

EPILOGUE