The weather is crisp and getting colder during the nights here in New Jersey. The leaves are falling, and the holidays are approaching, and after Halloween, well, we're in the holiday season then. I already saw a few Christmas commercials this weekend. Yesterday, as any usual Sunday, I had my son and his family over for dinner: he and his wife, and their two kids, a son age 5 and a daughter almost 3.
Natalie's daughters have not had children yet, and I wondered if that may have been different had Natalie lived. In any case, she missed out on one of life's greatest joys: grandchildren. From all I've learned about Natalie, I think she was the type of mother who prioritized, and realized that the simple things in life, such as being a mom, were most gratifying. I bet she would've made a spectacular grandmother. Yet, she loved her work and pursued it. She was a well-rounded, feet-on-the-ground woman.
My other grandson, my daughter's son, 5, who we call "the Gooch" is in Kindergarten, and he spent the night last night. I took him to school this morning, and his mom will pick him up this afternoon, and she will see him dressed odd: It's school spirit week and each day calls for a certain odd dress: today was "backwards mix-match day" -- tomorrow is "Hippie Day" (can't wait to see him Tuesday!) so I put two different socks on him and his shirt went with the design in the back. He was laughing so hard when I accidentally put the right shoe on his left foot and he said, "We don't have to take it that far." I started laughing because the shoes were a total mistake on my part, and we laughed all the way to school. The simple things.
It sometimes strikes me how "the simple things" make me think about Natalie Wood. Sometimes, I think some of my friends and family get a little tired of me talking about Natalie. I don't do it on purpose, it just happens. I am certainly not obsessed, and I bow to so many of her fans who know so much more about her career than I do, but I simply think of her because not only was she my favorite actress, but my friend worked for her, and I always thought that was such a special thing, but most of all, as I mentioned to someone last night, I can't reconcile with the manner in which she likely suffered the night she floated in the ocean. It eats away at me sometimes. It does not consume my life, but I've spent a good portion of my life seeking answers for her. It's a position that happened because I am friends with a member of the Wagner party that long ago night, and I care about the woman who suffered through that long ago night. There was no way I could let the memory of Natalie Wood be buried in the cemetery with her, and it was refreshing to meet so many others who felt the same way along this past 30 year journey.
Thirty years ago, around this very time, I had called Dennis in L.A., and asked if he might consider visiting home (NJ) for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend that year. I said that we (friends and family) all missed him, and said too many years had gone by, and I remember him saying he might be able to, that it was not a busy time in November for his job of taking the Wagner family on weekend cruises. He had said he would get back to me. I got busy with the season, and didn't hear from him, figured it wasn't going to work out. The 1981 Thanksgiving weekend came and I'll never forget the phone call I did receive early Sunday afternoon of that weekend, from my brother Dave, when he asked, "Have you heard the news?"
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