An Ode to McNew

Sandy was an amazing woman! I was teaching 5th grade in Sacramento, California when she walked in my room September 30, 1977 and said, “Hi, I’m your new teachers aide.” She was gorgeous! Sandy had this 1967 MGB when I met her. What more could a man ask for: An outrageously beautiful intelligent woman who wore no makeup besides a little lipstick and she came with an MGB, the car of my dreams. She was in the process of finishing up a masters in Social Work and took the teacher’s aide job to get herself going in the morning. It took only a few seconds before the electricity between us damn near sparked a fire and took only a few weeks to turn into a 35 year love affair.

Our last ride through Yellowstone.

I resigned my teaching job, sold my house, bought a 1-ton 1973 Dodge Van that had been converted into a camper and we spent the winter of 1978 and 1979 skiing every ski resort in the west, sleeping in the van in the parking lot. Then we returned to Sacramento and packed up all of our belongings into a 12 foot U-Haul trailer and I drove the van with the trailer and Sandy drove her MGB 3000 miles across the country to the Boston area.

Sandy had three half brothers and a half sister who she had just met a few years earlier who lived there and she wanted to get to know them better. We settled into an apartment in Waltham, Mass for six months, then bought a small house in New Portland, Maine, where we lived for twenty years. Then on to Wyoming in 2000 where I built a 2500 square foot house all by myself. My wife missed the ocean so in 2005 I took a two week trip down the West coast from Washington to Northern California looking for a place to buy so we could spend some time buy the ocean. We bought 5 acres in Oysterville, WA–1/2 mile from the ocean and 1/2 mile from Willapa Bay for $45,000. I then built another house in Wyoming on an additional lot I had purchased, sold it and had a shell built on our Oysterville land and finished the rest myself–In 2009 just before I finished the house Sandy was diagnosed with bone cancer. We had three years to enjoy our Oysterville second home before she died in my arms about 9 pm on June 1, 2012. Sandy had been unconscious  for two days but right before she died she called out my name and I went over to her and then she died in my arms never regaining conscious. Finally she had relief from the enormous pain of bone cancer. The last day before she lost conscious, even though she had trouble talking do to lots of pain meds, she very clearly asked me to promise to take the trip we had always planned down the west coast–I said I would.

Sandra McNew Holland
8/7/47-6/1/12

I was traveling my journey just moving real slow
You walked in my classroom and I started to glow
Why what’s this? I can’t speak and started to stutter
Then the next thing I knew my heart was a flutter

“Hi I’m Sandy Holland and I’ll be your new aide”
I had to blink twice to make sure this wasn’t a trick being played
A beautiful woman was standing across from me
My brain slipped in gear she was my cup of tea

It took only a few weeks for us to start on our trip
Then it wasn’t much longer and we were joined at the hip
Must have been the mysterious workings of fate
When life moved on forward and opened the gate

Our love traveled onward ever stronger in flow
We just followed the current to where it would go
So many adventures we had on the ride
With my lovely McNew right by my side

We skied all winter and slept in the van
You arrived at the party saying “Where is my Man!”
Then came the U-Haul and “Adventure in Moving”
Clear across country our love was really grooving

Living in Waltham was just too darn fast
So onward to Maine where we had a real blast
Found a small home on a road in the woods
We soon settled in forgetting all about shoulds

Oh what adventures we had on Chick road
Traveling all over as the fun really flowed
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland with such beauty to see
What wonders we saw just you and me

Twenty years later we pulled up the stakes from the ground
Loaded up our stuff and headed for the next go round
Setting down roots in Wyoming in a place called Clark
Building a house with a prow locals called Noah’s Ark

So quiet at night you heard nothing except dropping the pin
It wasn’t so long before we settled right in
Soon we had two horses to ride
Me on Nadine, and Haley with McNew right by my side

Our house soon filled with doggies and cats by the bunch
So many eyes waiting for bites of our lunch
Mostly we didn’t go looking; they just showed up at the door
Soon we were pleading, “We can’t take in any more!”

Then you said you wanted something by the sea
So I went looking two doggies and me
All over Oregon and Washington I went
Sleeping with the dogs in our little tent

We looked and looked until we had our fill
And ended in a sweet little town called Oysterville
We made lots of plans for what the future would bring
For life by the ocean and the songs we would sing

Just when we thought we had all the words down pat
Our journey slowed down like a car with a flat
Cancer reared up and slowed down the pace
The feeling was quite like a punch in the face

You fought a good battle with all of your might
Yet the time came when you went to the light
I’ll love you forever on the journey down my trail
The memories of our life will always prevail

By John Powell