Anyone in my family could tell you that I have a terrible memory for dates. My husband often teases me that I will someday forget our wedding anniversary. One date I always remember, though, is the birthday of my father-in-law, Bill. He was born on March 19th; the day the swallows return to Capistrano.
It seems fitting that Bill's birth date is renowned for this famous migration. Bill grew up the youngest of five in Southern California. His ancestry goes back to the Basque Country, and his grandfather, Domingo Amestoy, who landed in San Francisco, traveled by foot down to Los
Angeles,and allegedly shot a bear along the way. He became one of the
area's early ranch settlers.
The Amestoy family prospered and lived at Rancho Los Encinos, in the San Fernando Valley.
Bill grew up
loving the beautiful California landscape and later reminisced over the
enormous flocks of birds that would blacken the sky as they migrated
south.
When World War II broke out everything changed. Bill enlisted in
the Marines and was sent off to fight in the Pacific. His horrific war experiences
matched those of many young men, and after years of intense island fighting, he was sent home to recover from
shock,stress, and break down.
Meanwhile, on the
other side of the country, a young, spunky girl from Vermont was
experiencing her own war effort. After graduating from a small business
school for women, Diana was assigned to the Pentagon, in Washington
DC. She later decided to move to the Big Apple, where she found a job
in the famous Helene Rubinstein empire.
When Bill was back on his feet, he traveled
to NYC to see an old war buddy. Lee Marvin. My father-in-law often
described Marvin as someone who "literally got his ass shot off". The actor had not yet
begun his rise to fame, and was happy to introduce Bill to the
intriguing young Vermonter who worked for his mother, herself the
assistant to Helena Rubinstein. Bill and Diana fell in love,and had one
son, Jeffrey Lee, who later became the love of my life.
Many years
later, we were all out to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants.
There had been the usual vodka martinis, and a little too much wine,
causing Diana's conversation to become quite animated. My very quiet
and reserved father-in-law suddenly leaned across the table and said, "I
love you, Di." My mother-in- law was suddenly speechless and then
laughed with delight. Despite the odds,after the ups and downs of a long
married life,
those swallows always eventually returned.
My friend from high school was roommates with his best friend when they were at the Air Force Academy; if I’d visited, we’d have met. Years later, when I was at college, I attended a Star Trek convention in Denver, where my friend and I won first place for a poem about Klingon eating habits. I had thought of putting a note on the announcement board to the effect of “meet the authors,” but decided that sounded arrogant. However, Rob was also at that convention, loved the poem, clipped it out, and searched unsuccessfully for us all weekend. One note, and we’d have met then. (He still had the poem when we met two years later.) 
