I Love My Family

My mom and her brothers made arrangements to get together to celebrate their sister's birthday.  Pat, my mom's only sister and best friend, died maybe ten years ago.  Her husband Bob passed away a year ago, and we miss both of them.  That hole in our lives can never be filled.  Thank heavens for the knowledge that we'll see them again.  In the meantime, it was wonderful and cathartic to get together and talk about our memories and the legacy Pat and Bob left.

I often think about what it would be like to be in Nana Ruby's stage of life.  She is so limited by physical restraints.  She knows her mind is "playing tricks on her," not allowing her to remember things or organize her thoughts.  The one thing that's not confusing or overwhelming is having her family around her.  Nana had a smile on her face the whole three hours everyone was there.  She must have slept well that night!

I was sitting with Nana at dinner one night several weeks ago, and my dad walked in the front door.  It was like an electric shock went through Nana.  She said, "Now what is he doing here?  I know him!"  I don't know what is going through Nana's mind when so many of her children are gathered around, but I know it made me happy to be there.  Ruby and I were able to talk to Uncle Paul about Holland, and his connection to the family she will be staying with in The Hague.  It's because of Paul that we know the Onsteins, and he gave us some great background on their family.  We also talked to everyone about Hong Kong, and missions, and how Da wants Golda and all of us to drop by Thailand on the way home.  It's so close!

Most importantly, everyone shared stories about Pat and Bob.  We even talked about the week Pat dies, and how sacred it was, and how the veil was so thin.  Until Uncle Jim piped up with, "So just out of curiosity, who's voting for Trump?"  Ha ha ha!  Allison was quick to point out that the question violates Nana's directive that bans talk of politics and sports.  No matter, there was still plenty to talk about on the topic of "Pets that Were Probably a Bad Idea."  On that note, here's a blog post (click) that covers most of the King animals.  
Here's another one about wild animals we tried to turn into pets. Da will have to write one about their new puppy.  My favorite was Paul's joke:  "How do you get a dog to stop peeing on the front lawn?"  "Shoot it."  Har har har.  Maybe that smile on Nana's lips was due to Paul's jokes.