WonderWoman

She looked really pretty. 100 years old, and as Jane said "Boy, that makeup stuff really works!" Someone had put a little lip gloss on my 100 year old grandmother. AND blue eyeshadow. Her hair was cut stylishly, a still thick and pretty silver and white. She was so cute, asking every so often "Is it my birthday?" And when told "Yes, Gram, you're 100 years old!" She would look aghast then shake her head in chagrin. Sister, Stephanie, got her singing, and she sang through the verses of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" Then, laughed at herself, and with pleasure. She ate a cookie and some cake, asked for another cookie, ate a few bites then put it down. "I don't want to get  fat!" - oh, pu-leeeze! She made the rounds of her guests, tickled baby Laney's toes and then announced she was tired and ready for bed. She waved goodbye, accepted kisses from her family and took her balloon strewn wheelchair off down the hallway, her little feet pulling her away. My Gram is WonderWoman.

 We then spent a wonderful evening with the family, all at my Aunt's ski house. Not quite stuffed to the gills, but pretty full with 15 of us sleeping there. Aunt Sib and cousins Jeff and Jane slept at the main house in town. The house is 4 stories of openness and with 8 kids- activity. Mostly we just wanted to be together. And in traveling from all over the country we achieved what Gram would've wanted most- her family sharing food and themselves under roof.  Sadly, in absentia was cousin Linda, her charming husband, and beehive of 5 kids. We were also short one husband- who stayed at home to bring home the bacon. Or, maybe just eat bacon. But we missed him too. What an amazing thing to all make such effort to be in the same room for less than a day. Still, so worth it.

I am always surprised by how much I love being with my cousins. I get to see so little of them, yet it is seconds before they are making me laugh, sometimes that hard, full laugh that makes your stomach ache and your cheeks hurt, gets you coughing and your eyes teary. How can I see so little of these people, when I enjoy them so much? Why are we living days apart? In my Gram's generation and before, we would've been in the same county. In the same town, maybe in the same house. Gram and Aunt Lib lived together in their old age until doing puzzles in the basement with Sonny, her cat, wasn't enough.  Lib went too far 'round the bend and had to go to the home. Aunt Velma lived at the old homestead with Uncle Ralph, until Ralph married that hussy, who kicked Velma out, waited for Ralph to die and sold the homestead without even informing the family to which it had belonged since, well, for a coupla hundred years anyway.  So, Velma moved in with Uncle Bill. They lived together, then went to the home together and made it well into their nineties. Uncle Carl- my Dad's cousin stayed around, Uncle Charlie, ( my only uncle)  my Dad's brother and Sib's husband lived next door to Gram until we sadly lost him to cancer a few years ago. But, our generation has stayed no where. We've moved. And now we call Connecticut, Virginia, Illinois, Georgia, Colorado and Ohio home. No overlaps.
We came home this afternoon to a cold house. Thankfully, it was such a warm weekend we did not return to frozen pipes. The house was cold because we were out of propane. We were out of propane because we had a leak. This was all sussed out and fixed before our late supper. So, now, heat is back on, hopefully, no propane leaks and no danger of open flames...who wants to light a candle?