Ode to Flip

This past Tuesday, one of my favorite older cousins, Flip Harris, passed away. She was a cousin of my grandma's, so I'm not sure exactly what our relationship was (you know, first cousin, twice removed, or third cousin once removed - however that works) but I know that she was one cool old lady and that she will be dearly missed. (And for those who are wondering - yes, Flip IS her name, although it's short for something that I can't remember at the moment - she's just always been Cousin Flip to us.) Although I didn't live close to her, one of my earliest memories is of visiting Flip and her sister Jules at their house, I think in Arizona, and where they had their very own horses. And, like almost every other girl in the world, I was absolutely fascinated with horses for awhile, so in my young eyes, I thought these ladies were the luckiest EVER.

My most recent memory of Flip was from my road trip across country ten years ago with my best friend, Holley. We were working for Disney Cruise Lines then, but since the ship we were supposed to be working on wasn't finished being built on time, all of the crew got sent home for an eight week paid leave - which was basically an eight week PAID VACATION. How often does THAT happen? So Holley and I jumped into my old red Pontiac Sunbird and took several weeks driving across the country - it was very Thelma and Louise-ish of us and probably one of the best trips I've ever gone on. (Ah, the good old days!)

Anyway, we kept our costs down by staying with friends and relatives along the way, so we ended up stopping to see Flip while we were passing through Arizona. Being the computer geek that I am, I took my trusty laptop with me on this amazing trip (which was no easy feat ten years ago - they weighed a TON!), and I started what I guess would be considered my very first blog, "Adventures in Red." Below is the entry from the day that we visited her:

April 20, 1998
Hello again! Here we are in beautiful Leisure World (Mesa, Arizona), where the sun is shining and the seniors are hoppin'! We finished off our visit with Jer by driving out to see our frisky cousin Flip (yes - that IS her name) at her beautiful home outside of Tucson. She entertained us with stories of our family scandals and her two tiny, yippy dogs, Butch and Casey. She definitely reminded us of the spunky old lady in the movie "Titanic" with her jokes and her forward way of speaking. Needless to say, we were all VERY entertained.

I only saw Flip one more time after that visit, when she had to uproot herself from her beloved house in Tucson and move to Florida to be closer to family because she couldn't take care of herself as well anymore. But she still managed to keep her amazing sense of humor, even though I'm sure it broke her heart to leave Arizona...

Flip, you were one amazing lady. You will be missed...