Hannukah 2023 started early this year on the 7th of December. Our eight nights of Hannukah were filled with soccer, dance, softball, and basketball making it challenging to light the menorah at a normal hour. Some nights it was after 9:00 p.m. before we lit the menorah and said the blessing, but we did it. In a time with the current Israel Palestine conflict and the horrendous acts of the Hamas, I felt it especially important that we recognize the holiday even at late hours some nights. The girls made out better than normal this year with their Hannukah gifts….though still practical in nature, the clothes and shoes they got this year sparked a lot of excitement and disbelief (in a good way).
We spent one night of Hannukah celebrating with the Goldmans and the Rackisanys and one night celebrating with my parents and Auntie Lauren, who happened to be in town for a work trip.
We all agreed that Christmas seemed to get here very quickly this year. Karolin came to visit a few days before Christmas and the girls enjoyed having her for the holiday.
Christmas Eve we went to the 5:00 VPC service so that we could go to dinner afterwards. We all decided that we had graduated from the 5:00 children’s service and would not be returning to that particular service the following year. The church service seemed to be running late and we had to leave early for our 6:15 dinner reservation missing “Silent Night” and the lighting of the candles, our favorite part of the service. I was excited and scared to go back to PF Changs after our 2019 experience where we had horrible service. Thankfully service was good, food was good, and we were in and out of the restaurant in one hour allowing us to walk up Hillington when we got back home to see the luminaries.
Avery and Harper set out cookies for Santa, cookies that they made with Ms. Pat earlier in the week.
We all slept soundly and until 8:00 am, which was agreed upon by everyone!
The girls can barely fit on the same single stair!
Santa delivered, though unlike other years, much of his gifts were shared gifts including some board games, a waffle maker and a wagon.
The girls all got presents for each other, which were well received. Justin and I got the girls a combination of clothes, shoes, dance apparel (Avery), softball apparel (Emerson) and a little bit of art supplies (Harper). Total mom fail in that I hadn’t realized Harper’s gifts were minimal in comparison to Avery and Emerson’s. Her and I talked about it and she understood…lesson learned for Mom next year! Harper’s big gift was a new IPAD and Avery and Emerson each received the IPhone 15 plus.
Christmas Day we had a great breakfast of lemon scones, French toast, eggs, fruit, bacon, and sausage. We took a nice family walk in the day and had a second big Italian meal in the evening, my parents joining us, consisting of chicken parm, pasta, sausage meatballs, green beans, and homemade crusty bread.
Dance isn’t as much of a spectator sport as softball and soccer, so as a family we don’t attend as many performances as compared to softball and soccer games. Studio practices are closed off so we also don’t watch her practice on the three days of the week that she dances.
Thus, it’s always exciting when we get to watch our girl perform! Sadly, this year’s first performance, Octoberfest, was rained out…the morning was rainy and the teachers understandably could not risk the girls dancing on a wet stage. Her first performance of the year was in the Annual Vienna Halloween Parade. Cuppett won 1st Place in Youth Performer category! If you zoom in, you can see Avery in the background of this picture featured in the local Gazzette newspaper. Watching Avery dance through the streets of Vienna always makes me smile.
As a Junior in CDC, Avery participated in the photo shoot. Avery’s headshot, in motion, Junior A, and all of CDC:
She also participated in her first Dance Convention, something she has been longing to do after watching YouTube for years The Convention was everything she expected…7 hours of dance in all different genres with Hip Hop producing a laugh from her and her fellow company dancers. When we got home, she shared her audition number and some of her Hip Hop moves that she awkwardly yet proudly displayed. She’s blessed with a great attitude, resilience, and strength.
All three girls pulled together their own costumes from existing wardrobe options. That made it cheap, easy, and fantastic…until later on in the evening, I realized that the girls were taking after me with not going all out for Halloween and that thought was somewhat depressing too.
Harper opted to be a cowgirl borrowing Emerson’s cowgirl hat from last year’s costume. Avery was intending on wearing one of her many dance costumes and last minute chose to be a preppy school girl. Emerson chose to be a frat boy and swapped Justin’s khaki shorts that she was wearing to gray sweatpants, when I asked her if she was going for the butch lesbian look, a comment that she less than appreciated.
For the second year in row, Harper trick-or-treated with her friends in a different neighborhood, even she had mixed emotions about it….she’s all about her friends but misses the trick-or-treating and mass amounts of candy in our neighborhood, as evidenced by the significantly smaller volume of candy she brought home compared to Avery and Emerson’s amounts especially considering Harper trick-or-treated for at least an hour more than them.
Alex came over and went door to door with Emerson. Avery went with Cora and Maddie, though Maddie had not been in Avery’s plan.
We started the night with pizzas in the cul-de-sac (20 of them) from Lombardi’s followed by a quick picture of all the kids. And then off the kids went along with everyone else in the neighborhood…the smokeless firepit attendance for over an hour was Justin and our two neighbors…odd and interesting! Quite the change from years past, but actually a welcome change…it was nice to be in early on a Tuesday and to not smell like smoke.
Our skeletons (yes, we have three now) stayed in one place this year (so far) and each time I drove up to the house, they made me smile. The pumpkins and hay set up were a good addition to this year’s scenery.
So, it was a different Halloween night, but easy and good.
The girls love one-on-one dates; we have been doing them occasionally for the last five years and we were long overdue for this round. They all chose me as their date this time.
Emerson – Emerson has been longing to watch The Summer I Turned Pretty, a show whose main characters are affluent teenagers, and while good kids with good hearts, underage drinking and potty mouths are the norm. The plan was that we would watch two together as the “test” and then I would make the determination if she could continue to watch it; I felt comfortable with her watching it along side me. I was just as into as her and we binged watched the first two seasons over in just over a week. Oh to be that young again!
Harper – Harper knew immediately that she wanted to go to Muse Paint Bar, her first choice, certainly not mine. And while I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of painting, I was excited for our 1-on-1 and my heart was open and willing to this scary activity. I thoroughly enjoyed our time together and believe it or not, painting. I learned a few things which I kind of wouldn’t mind trying out on my own; and I surprised everyone with my masterpiece! Harper’s was great, but everyone was expecting a dud from me….glad I shocked them!
Avery – Avery was sick on her original date day so we rescheduled, sticking with the same plan. A 30-min foot massage accompanied by a snoring man in the next room (not so relaxing). An All-Caps donut stop at Dunkin Donuts. A Pre-point make-up class sandwiched the middle of our date. Our date ended with more pampering time at the Diamond Spa where Avery had a mani/pedi and I had a pedi.
Avery, Emerson, and Harper really value and appreciate our dates…the girls actually talked about some of their prior one-on-one dates with me during our one-on-ones…I couldn’t believe that it has been almost five years since we began doing them; 2. It reiterated how much they enjoy them; and 3. That we should continue them!
Three girls…three distinct personalties, interests, needs, and worries.
Parenting….is not for the faint of hearts….it’s so true.
It’s tiresome, grueling, and yet amazing and beautiful.
Occasionally I slip handwritten notes under the girls pillows.
On a night when not one of them said anything about finding there note, and I was feeling kind of sad about the lack of acknowledgment, I found this under my pillow.
Justin and I have a family mission statement. It’s helps us tremendously in figuring out what we say yes and no to and determining if something fits into our purpose and mission.
South America. Brazil. A continent and country that I can say I never envisioned myself going.
But travel, family, our au pairs, and experiences are high on our mission statement…so when we had to make the decision about attending Lari’s wedding in Brazil, it was a very easy decision to make.
Justin and I made the trip together and represented M-unit. While the girls wanted to come, they just started the school year and had lots of softball, dance, and soccer.
Flying the red eye allows us to make the most of our time off and trip. We arrived in Sau Paulo, Brazil Wednesday morning; Lari and Will drove three hours from the town of Cruzeiro to pick us up. Halfway through the three-hour ride to Passa Quatro (the small town where we were staying), we stopped for “fast food” for lunch; our first experience eating “food”.
Unlike many of our prior trips out of the country, we were well aware that this trip would not afford us the luxury of conversing with many English speakers. Our first night out we ventured to a Lebanese Restaurant, where English was not spoken. We used Google Translate on our phones so we had some of idea what we were ordering; however, we didn’t realize that the “carne” we ordered was raw! Justin tried a bite; my view was that it wasn’t worth eating it and potentially getting sick on the first day of our trip. The trio of dips including hummus and baba ghanoush was pretty gross too. Thankfully the pita bread was good, and I thought to myself this was going to be one carb heavy trip!
Thursday morning was our first morning at the hotel, which by the way, was probably only five percent occupied and that is probably a generous estimate. The hotel itself was situated at the top of a major hill; it was quiet, nice, and fairly inexpensive (like most everything in Brazil). Breakfast was included at the hotel; normally Justin and I eat a huge breakfast when on vacation to load up for the day and we intended to do the same. Brazilian breakfasts though consisted of breads and cakes, and likely due to the small occupancy at the hotel, were dry and not fresh. Scrambled eggs and coffee became our morning staple.
We explored the cute town after breakfast and many other mornings; our way to experience the town while getting a workout in at the same time.
Thursday afternoon Lari and Will came to pick us up at the hotel. We first shared with them their wedding gifts from us and the girls. Each of the girls wrote a letter to Lari that represented their unique personalities. Lari loved everything!
We took a bunch of pictures with one another.
Lari wanted us to experience acai, which totally looks like chocolate ice cream.
They drove us to their town of Cruzeiro and we saw where they are currently renting and where they are building their own house! We explored Cruzeiro some, which reminded me of a mini–New York, before going to Lari’s mom and step-dads house for the evening where they surprised me with a birthday celebration and we ate coxina and other fried finger food (literally, it is quite common there to eat without utensils and napkins are small and sparse). It was so wonderful to meet her family; her parents were so appreciative and touched that we came to Lari’s wedding. Her brother Leo is super sweet; Harper and him would get along great!
Friday we took a waterfall tour, which was awesome, visiting four different waterfalls. The ride was bumpy and fantastic; we truly got to experience the “hills” of Passa Quatro. Our tour guide Alex, brought a family friend who spoke English.
For lunch, we experienced a local “food” place.
Our guides Alex and Caillo recommended a beer joint that also served pizza that we tried Friday night. Fantastic recommendation…right up our alley!
In the evening, we actually had some downtime, so we binge watched an entire season of Virgin River in the evenings!
Saturday late afternoon was Lari’s wedding. One of her friends, who doesn’t speak much English, drove us. We were squished in the backseat of her car with broken AC and her driving skills had us scared for our lives. We were hoping for a dry wedding as we were even more scared for the way home in the dark, especially if she was going to have a drink or two. I think this is the first time ever I wished for a dry wedding (thankfully my wish came true). Anyway, her friends were super nice and we enjoyed meeting one another….Brazil drivers, at least some of them, are just not what we are accustomed to her in the U.S.
Anyway, Lari’s wedding was simply beautiful. She was so happy and the evening perfect; I imagine it was everything she ever envisioned and more. Many of her friends and family came up to us and told us (via a translator) that they were so blessed that we were here. A few of the kids wanted to hug and touch us as they had never been in contact with an American before! How funny and amazing is that!
Sunday afternoon we decided to use the same tour guide from Friday and took a sunset tour. It was magnificent. Oh yeah, we watched a good amount of Emerson’s tournament via Game Changer Sunday (and Saturday).
We were in the mood for some decent food (finger food or raw meat wasn’t going to cut it this night); our driver took us to the town next to Passo Quatro and waited for us while we enjoyed some local pizza. Again, we felt like we were experiencing the culture as a local!
Our evening flight, coupled with our ability to not have to check out until 2:00 p.m., allowed us to have a leisurely Monday.
If I had to pick one word to sum up the trip, it would be blessed.
Blessed to have had the experience of having Lari as our au pair for a wonderful year.
Blessed to have had an au pair who took such good care of our girls.
Blessed for a loving relationship that has continued despite distance and time.
Blessed to have Lari as part of our extended family and M-unit forever.
Blessed to be able to watch Lari get married.
Blessed to have met her wonderful family who raised her.
Blessed to have met her husband Will!
Blessed that her family felt so blessed to have us there.
Blessed that my parents watched the girls for a week so we could go on the trip.
Blessed that my girls understood why they couldn’t also go.
Blessed that the girls were on their best behavior for Grandma and Grandma.
Blessed that my girls get to grow up so close to Papa and Grandma.
This summer was intended to be a “Summer of Fun”. The girls each wrote lists of what that meant for them.
Emerson:
Get Along
No forced reading or workbooks
Don’t force going out side
Going to Watermine
Surprise things during the summer
“Never have I ever” Show
Avery:
Going out to eat
Watermine
One-on-One Dates
More Play Dates with friends
No workbooks-Don’t force us to go outside for extended period of time
Harper:
muse paint bar with family
Bowling with family
Ice Skating
Lots of swimming
Family game nights
Spending time with grandma and grandpa
Family, friends, one-on-one, and surprises were a theme. It was clear that workbooks and scheduled learning did not consistute fun. I found it very interesting that nobody included electronics and YouTube on their list!
I knew no matter how hard I tried to be intentional about making fun a priority, I knew the girls would only remember what we didn’t do. Tonight we sat down as a family and I reminded them:
June 18 – Alex and Emerson at Hunter Mill Swim Pool
Week of June 19 – Monday – Harper and Liza at mall for lunch after soccer camp, Avery has Cuppetts end of season swim party at Dunn Loring Swim Pool with her mini CDC Friends, Tuesday Harper at Liza’s all day after soccer camp, Thursday – Harper and Liza swimming at Papa and Grandmas.
June 23 – sleepover at Papa and Grandmas
June 23 – Emerson goes to Declan’s pool party – first boy/girl swim party
June 24 – Petchenick family barbeque at our house
June 25 – night time swim and Ledo’s takeout at Papa and Grandmas
Week of June 26 – Culinaria cooking camp – Monday afternoon swim at Papa and Grandmas, Wednesday afternoon swim at Papa and Grandma’s
June 27 – Blake and Avery playdate
June 28 – impromptu night outside at Bear Branch Tavern
June 29 – impromptu takeout from Taco Zocola
June 29 – family Pictionary
June 30 – impromptu lunch of choice after camp food not good (A and H – Chipolte, E – smoothie) / Bards Alley browsing and purchase
June 30 – Emerson and Addy go to Fairoaks Mall
June 30 – impromptu Luciano’s takeout
June 30 – Family Movie Night – Hidden Figures
July 1st – Party at the McMillans (Sarah)
July 2 – family bike ride to Papa and Grandma’s to swim, bagel lunch
July 2 – family early dinner at Red Fox Tavern and ice-cream at cute shop in Middleburg before dropping Emerson off at Camp Highroad
July 2 – 6 – Emerson at Camp Highroad with Adrien
July 2 – nighttime game of checkers (Avery and mom) and nighttime game of Uno (Mom, Harper, Avery)
July 3 – Harper and Lizzie doing Math with ms. Pat, Ms. Pat making Harper a PB and P.
July 3 – Avery making delicious chocolate chip toll house cookies with Ms. Pat
July 3 – 6 – Harper sewing camp with Callie
July 3 – Carne Asada dinner at the Goldman’s
July 4 – Swimming in afternoon at Papa and Grandma’s
July 4 – Neighborhood party and fireworks in the Mazda
July 6 – Sausage Pasta Family night – all 5 of us after Emme comes home from camp
July 7 – Harper goes swimming and has solo sleepover at Papa and Grandmas
July 7 – impromptu pick up of sandwich shop for lunch for A, E, and dad
July 7 – Amaya and Avery play date at our house….production dance
July 7 – Impromptu Dinner of 4 (Mom, Dad, Avery, Emerson) at Red’s Tavern and then reading in Pit (talking about sex in their books)
July 8 – Emerson and I went to Mosaic to pick out workbooks at Barnes and Noble and impromptu lunch at CAVA.
July 8 – Avery, Harper, Mommy have sleepover at Papa and Grandmas because our AC is broken….Harper and Avery have fantastic time in pool playing games and making bead bracelets, buying fabrics at Joannes
July 8 – Emerson and Daddy have sleepover at Holiday Inn in Central, MD after softball tournament.
July 9 – Allison Russo and Hannah come over to Papa and Grandma’s for evening of swimming and takeout with me, Avery, and Harper
July 9 – Harper sleepover at Papa and Grandmas, ate the best sesame bagel ham and cheese sandwich for lunch
July 10 – Mommy, Avery, Harper go for impromptu dinner at CAVA
July 11 – Harper and Liza go swimming at Papa and Grandma’s
Week of July 10 – Avery and Emerson have Thoreau camp
Week of July 10 – Avery’s first week of Intensive Dance Camp with her friends and learning new dances
July 12 – Harper and Mommy impromptu Simply Social coffee and mango smoothie after dropping A and E off at Thoreau
July 12 – Harper sleep over date at Papa and Grandma’s after Futsal.
July 12 – Daddy, Avery, and Emerson dinner date at Hawk and Griffin after dance class – (did not have best time though due to Avery in a mood).
July 12 – Harper and Liza play date at Liza’s house/Hunter Mill Swim Club
July 13 – Mom, Harper, and Avery impromptu dinner at Café Sono
July 14 – Emerson and Daddy trip to PA for softball tourney for the weekend
July 14 – Harper and Pat paint at Muse Paint Bar
July 14 – Mom, Avery, and Harper Connect 4 Tournament while jamming to Mama Mia soundtrack
July 15 – Avery and Harper have fun sister day making play doh restaurants and painting – pajama wearing and no outside until 5:00 pm.
July 15 – Mom, Avery, Harper go to the mall – shopping at Old Navy followed by impromptu dinner at Fish Taco in Mosaic District.
July 15 – Emerson makes some good plays in right field and does well at the plate…Daddy and daughter enjoy their one-on-one time together at the hotel.
July 16 – Emerson and Daddy go to the Hershey Factory and take a tour in Hershey, PA
July 16 – Mommy, Avery, and Harper enjoy swimming at Papa and Grandmas and playing the “Corner Game” in the pool
July 16 – Family dinner of salmon (burger for Avery)…first night eating at the table in over a week, combined effort in making, preparing for, and cleaning up dinner
July 17 – 21 – Harper b-ball camp, learning new tricks!
July 17 – 21 – Avery in her second week of dance camp with her friends
July 17 – surprise Starbucks cake-pops for Avery and Emerson
July 17 – fun carne asada family dinner with homemade guac and and after dinner b-ball session, family walk, and firecrackers poppers, and a surprise lizard next to Daddy washing dishes in kitchen sink
July 18 – Emerson and Grandma time together at the mall shopping, eating gelato and watching “Young Sheldon” at home
July 18 – Harper and Liza go swimming at Hunter Mill after basketball practice
July 18 – Family dinner at the island….solid single of random food in the house (burritos, ravioli, pork) and just fun talking to each other
July 19 – Amaya and Avery play date at our house before dance class.
July 19 – Avery, Emerson, Harper play a round of sequence with me as the cheerleader
July 20 – Emerson and Papa lunch date after 643, then swimming at Papa and Grandmas for a little while, and an episode of “Young Sheldon”
July 20 – Harper and Liza play date after basketball camp at Papa and Grandmas – swimming in the pool
July 21 – Avery and Emerson go school shopping with Mom for their own school supplies at Walmart, followed by takeout from CAVA and Pot Bellys
July 21 – Harper and Daddy go to the Black Team Soccer Team Pool Party
July 22 – Harper has lunch with Ms. Pat and Mr. Bill – chick fila take out!
July 22 – Emerson and Harper go to Old Town Alexandria with Papa and Grandma, eating at Chadwicks, and icecream at Kilwins!
July 23 – Avery, Emerson, and Harper cook an award-winning dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmigiana, garlic bread, green beans, and brownies. Grandma and Grandpa come to enjoy!
July 24 – Avery, Grandma, and Papa have 2-on-1 date and go shopping for dance/birthday clothes at Cinnamon Tree, buying new ballet shoes and then Bagel Café for lunch
July 24 – We finished Number the Stars and had a good discussion…reading each night alternated between lounge area, downstairs, and my bedroom.
July 25 – Nashville Trip! Station Inn Concert, Listening Room Concert, good food, Gulch photoshoot, muesuem, shopping for sovieners and trying on hats, swimming and hanging out with ANN friends
July 30 – Harper sleepover with Papa and Grandma, swimming
July 31- Harper hang out with Grandma and sewing camp
July 31 – Alex comes over to hang out with Emerson and Avery
Aug 1 and 2 – Harper and Lizzie have fun doing math with Ms. Pat
July 31 – Aug 4 – Harper sewing camp with Blanca
Aug 2 – Emerson goes to Bazin’s and has sleepover with Papa and Grandma
Aug 3 – Emerson goes to nail salon, out to breakfast (Sweet Leaf), and lunch (The Virginian) with Grandma
Aug 4 – Avery and Emerson’s Birthday – lots of present opening in morning, Emerson/Papa/Grandma go to lunch, Grandma, Mom, Avery, Emerson, Harper go to the Barbie movie
Aug 5 -12 – Holden Beach for the week with the Nidays and the Brophys…lots of beach time, pool time, playing pool, BBQ, Pirate Treasure Hunt, ice cream, puzzle time, Girl Scout Cooking Baking Challenge, and hanging out with friends for a week straight!
Aug 12 – Harper’s birthday…morning donuts and cinnamon rolls with Brophy’s and Nidays…singing Happy Birthday, Pollo Peru dinner and dessert at Papa and Grandma’s with Lauren, Gabriel, Noah, and Elias. 10 presents for 10 years old!
Aug 13 – Watermine birthday celebration for Maddy girls with friends and family
Aug 14 – Day camp at Papa and Grandma’s with Noah and Elias, swimming everyone, Avery and Noah bake cookies, Noah sleeps over
Aug 15 – Spent day with Noah at our house….science experients, riding bikes, making forts, reading books, playing!
Aug 16 – Liza comes over for play date with Harper before practice, Noah and Elias sleepover!
Aug 17 – Noah and Elias spend day with us! We pick up Avery and Emerson at OES from Open House and then order food from Santinis for lunch. Elias sleeps over again!
Aug 18 – Elias spends the morning with us after sleeping over. The girls and I all go to OES for Harpers open house, meeting Ms. Blissard and all their old teachers. We all then go to RTCP for a well check up with Dr. Powers who is hilarious and had us all laughing, followed by a 3:15 lunch at Chipolte followed by a quick fun stop in Target!
Aug 19 – Harper goes to Zava Zone for Laurel’s birthday party!
Aug 19 – All the cousins and Auntie Lauren and Mommy go to cousin Mollie’s first birthday party and have a fun water balloon fight
Aug 19 – Russell, Mary, Papa, and Grandma come to hang out; cousin time while Daddy and Gabriel cook dinner…lots of fun playing baseball, soccer, and cuddling. All the Bernangos spend the night.
Aug 20 – Grandma Adele’s celebration of life; all Petchenicks, Russell and Mary come to celebrate….a bittersweet day. Bernangos spend the night again!
Aug 21 – First day of school….OES bus stop breakfast.
Aug 23 – Noah sleeps over. We have yummy ravioli sausgage dinner.
Aug 24 – Noah and Elias sleep over; all the cuddles
Aug 25 – Friday afer first week of school…watched Princess Protection and ordered takeout from Bear Branch
Aug 26 – Cousin time at Papa and Grandmas, swimming with Noah and Elias, and Lucianos for dinner
Aug 27 – Emerson has breakfast at Caboose with Lauren, Gabriel, and the boys
Aug 27 – Hanging out with Noah and Elias and Papa and Grandmas for the official send off before the Bernangos flew back to London. We had a fantastic two weeks with them!
And yes, they needed to be reminded. I’m sure they will appreciate this in time. For now, they mostly remembered the few times I asked them to read for book club or that “is dinner really impromptu, if we eat it every night”.
The first day of school looked a little different than in year’s past. Avery and Emerson were off to 7th grade! New school and new schedule, including a 7:30 start time! That equates to a bus pick-up at 6:39 am!
Emerson has been looking forward to this day for years!
Avery was nervous and had some tears the morning of orientation; I was nervous the first day would be a repeat; it wasn’t!
Umm…what happened to having to crouch down in the first day of school pictures?
Harper is now the sole Maddy at OES. My sister, Gabriel, and the boys were at our house the first morning of school, so I don’t think Harper quite experienced what a normal day would look like for her. Tomorrow will probably feel a little quieter.
Noah joined us for the bus stop breakfast!
Twenty-five kids ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.
Avery and Emerson got home at 2:43, not much after I finished lunch! They were smiles off the bus. Harper said she had a great day, loved her teacher, and the fact that all four of her besties are in her class.
We celebrated my Grandma Adele today. A small, beautiful celebration of her life. A fantastic, wonderful life filled with great friendships, family, and experiences.
My memories of my grandma start when she was in her mid-50’s; I knew my grandma in five decades of her life…her 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. First of all, just wow. Second of all, I knew her 45% of her life; that too is crazy considering she lived 95 years. At the same time, there were 52 years of Adele before my time. She was always my grandma; grandmas are supposed to be loving and caring; grandmas aren’t necessarily supposed to be young and beautiful. I wasn’t privileged to know my grandma during her younger years; looking at pictures in her youth and early motherhood give just a glimpse into how stunning and glamourous she was.
At her celebration of life, I shared what I had written Grandma a few months before she passed. Several pages of fantastic memories that I easily thought of in less than 30 minutes. Even now as I write this, I realize I forgot to include SO many other memories that I have with her and Papa. There is no shortage. I am truly blessed to have known my grandma and been so close with her for 43 years. She hadn’t remembered Sol for quite some time; not only am I sure she remembers him now, but he was waiting for her with open arms (okay, an arm and a half) and I can vividly see them greeting each other with minimal words, just great big smiles and a soft “hi honey”.
