Save The Date!
This blog is about community. But before I begin… Mark your calendar for Tuesday, December 8th, 5:00 to 8:00, Dinner at The Lost Roo – a benefit for Nick Codega.
My Kuzzin Kris moved here recently and like many new arrivals and even some visitors, she has made the assumption that Nyel and I “know everybody.” We assure her that we don’t. Not really. It’s just that in a small community like ours, paths cross and lives intersect. It’s the very best part of living here!
Take our relationship with Ed and Catherine Ketel of the Oceanside Animal Clinic. I first met Catherine just after they bought the business from Dr. Goulter. She saw to our cat Bowser for nineteen years. We knew her husband Ed mostly as the Salmon Chef Extraordinaire at the Sports Boosters booth at the Kite Festival – probably for just as many years. And maybe we saw them at the occasional Christmas party…
The Lost Roo, Long Beach
When I was teaching at Ocean Park School, back in the eighties, I would watch Ed as he put the finishing touches on the building across the way – the place that became B.J. Squiddley’s and is now home to Lighthouse Realty. I taught next door to his aunt, Aileen Pomeroy – Quintessential First Grade Teacher.
It was probably in the nineties or oughts that we would see their son Tanner’s name on the reader boards around the Peninsula – and we, like everyone, cheered him on for his feats of athletic prowess. It was during their high school years that Tanner and our neighbor Lily Wilson-Codega dated and it was Tanner who spent a whole week at the Wilson-Codega house offering support when Lily’s dad died unexpectedly in Alaska.
Nick Wilson-Codega
So, somehow, it didn’t seem way out of the blue when Ed called last weekend and said he and Catherine had read my column about Lily’s brother, Nick, in the November 4th issue of the paper. They wanted to “do something.” He told me of his idea for a benefit dinner. Yesterday he called and said the plans are now firm:
“It will be a luau at the Roo,” he said. “We’ll be barbecuing a whole hog and will serve it with all the trimmings. Oceanside Animal Clinic, Peninsula Pharmacies, and The Lost Roo are donating everything. The price will be $25.00 per person and all of the money will go straight to Nick for whatever he needs! And we’re working on music, too! Do you have a phone number so I can run it by the family?” Stay tuned for details about reservations etc.
My answer to Kuzzin Kris stands: “No, we don’t know everybody, but in a small community, you don’t really have to…”
Fred can donate himself as a musician.
Fantastic idea! It takes a village. Just knowing how much people care will be such a positive influence on Nick’s battle with his cancer.
Count Sue and me in
I would donate my musical services if they can be of use. I am a bass player and also sing and play guitar.
I would love to donate some time on this day to help out if needed. Ed and his crew did a fantastic job with the benefit dinner at Nanci and Jimella’s for Jimella.
Much love in this community!
My love goes out to Nick and his family.
Katie, I hope you will be among the luau diners! And please contact Ed at the Oceanside Clinic if you want to help in the organizing and preparation! All hands needed!
I can donate fresh, organic carrots, harvested the morning of the event.
Fabulous, Larkin! Could you please tell Ed directly? He is the one organizing the food (and everything else at this point!) As they say… I’m just the messenger!