Dear Friends,
Kind of exciting around here this morning. I feel like I have a fresh start ahead of me. Last week was pretty eye opening at work and I get to start applying some of the new things I have learned.
Over the weekend, I was talking about my obsession with teaching and learning and how I love getting to explain things that I have just learned to people. It's like hearing it for the first time all over again as it comes out of your mouth. This is why people like me, who like to learn from being told things (aural learners), love to share what they have been taught.
It was tough, yesterday, to look at the pictures of the last gathering of my grandmother and her sisters. We went down to Tucson, well, Green Valley for the afternoon and celebrated the birthday of Lois and Dee, who were twins. Aunt Lois is the one who bought Easy Street back at the end of the 70s and I got to spend a lot of time with her a child. She moved back to Kansas after selling the sandwich shop to my mom and aunt.
Aunt JoAnn and Uncle Dick moved to Green Valley a long time ago and we would see them occasionally. I really loved them a lot. Very entertaining and nice people. While my mom was growing up, they mostly lived in New Jersey and I would occasionally hear second hand stories of their life back east. Uncle Dick sold insurance, I believe, and was pretty successful at it in his own way. Aunt Jo was a teacher for a while, too, so yet another one in the family tree.
Uncle Dick died a while ago, but Aunt Jo hung in there until just a few years back. I miss her. I know my mom and Aunt do, too, and my granny probably misses her the most of all us Phoenix folk. At the end, due to her lung condition, Granny would just call and talk to her and listen to her breathing on the other end of the phone.
These things make you wonder what the end of your own days will look like. I hope I am surrounded by the kids and their kids and Rhondi is by my side. Wouldn't hurt to have a few of the chosen tribe around, too, but I plan on outliving all of you fuckers. Haha.
Aunt Lou died last year and so did Aunt Dee. I knew Aunt Louise a bit more than Aunt Dee. Aunt Dee was nutty and I write that with love. Aunt Lou was pretty awesome and she always seemed genuinely interested to sit down and have a good talk while she was in town. I know Granny misses them both a lot.
So we are down to two. I'm not planning on writing an obits for a while, so they better both keep going on strong for now. I'd like to be able to share some more stories with them.
See you tomorrow.
The gals and the grandbabies...at least the Phoenix ones...Look how small Liam and Teresa are here.
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