Spirits to the right of me, spirits to the left

Nov. 1, 2009

Halloween started well with a wild swim workout at Civic Pool – goofy workout instructions from Coach Stu make the hour+ zip by. There’s no way I could stay in a pool that long by myself and without direction. When I’m trying to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing – counting lengths, breaths, arm strokes, pool buoy position – it becomes meditative as I block out the rest of the world. It is a spirit-soother like none other for me.

The locker room is the ultimate status/age/body “flattener” – we are just women with wet hair and skin. My purple-haired shrunken head earrings that April bought me years ago (“I’d never wear them, but I knew you would”) always bring a smile, both to me and observers. Raises the spirits!

I zipped over to the farmers market with my shopping cart that has extended handles – Josh did that for me, and painted it red, as a Hanukkah gift one year. All was fall glorious and Halloween-cheerful until I got to the Good Humus stand, and Annie Main came toward me, son Zach in tow. I could see tears were running down her face, which was contorted in sorrow.

“Did someone die?” was the first thing out of my mouth. “Chè,” she said. “Chè Barnes was in the Coast Guard plane that went down during a rescue last night.” We hugged. “He was like one of my kids,” Annie wept. Zach hugged me, too. Chè Barnes and his twin Noah, 35, were the oldest of the four Barnes/Barsotti boys, who run Capay Fruits and Vegetables (farmfreshtoyou.com) in our gorgeous Capay Valley. Their parents Martin Barnes and the late Kathy Barsotti started the small farm 33 years ago, and now the boys have more than 6,000 weekly subscribers to their vegetable and fruit boxes throughout the state. Chè always loved flying and preferred the Coast Guard to working on the farm, but he was still part of the operation and was close to his three brothers and their families.

Zach talked on about Chè, and the weekly dinners he and his fiancée Nicole shared with him and his girlfriend Kelly. He said they thought of canceling their Halloween party later in the day, but Chè’s sister-in-law Moyra hoped they wouldn’t.

I finished the market in a different mood, but thought of the Barnes/Barsotti boys’ love of local organic farming and the way it has brightened the economy and the health of the region, and celebrated by cruising the annual school gardens fundraiser “Avenue of the Scarecrows.” I bought a scarecrow made by second graders at Marguerite Montgomery Elementary School; the hilarious child vampire-on-a-stake is propped against the palm tree in front of our house.

After treating 25 small trick-or-treaters at our house, we headed to Esparto to Zach and Nicole’s new house and their Halloween party – Alan in his “alien escaping from his chest” t-shirt, me in my purple shrunken head earrings, and dog Taj in his “Witch and Famous” t-shirt and purple wizard cap. Annie and Jeff pulled themselves together enough to join the group of young firefighters, Zach’s co-workers, and us, and we enjoyed each others company, talking about Chè and his brothers.

May his vibrant spirit and the spirit of the youthful energy he represents always move us.