Happy Day, Sad Day

Happy day, sad day....that is what yesterday was. It was a mixture of joy and sadness. Why, you ask? Well here goes....

Thanksgiving, a time to be thankful and to be with family and friends and that is what we did. Family: our Tucson family; Bruce, Holly and Cortney were here. Friends: Good friends Dick and Lano where here. We had a good dinner, Lano and I prepared it and had a good time doing it. When we are together we always have a good time, laughing, goofing off, doing silly things and we did that with the dinner as well. I have been putting on a Thanksgiving dinner for over 40 years....you would think I would have it down "pat" by now, but I always have to have an "oops" or two while preparing or cooking it. It just makes it more fun! On Wednesday, while making the cranberry jello salad (which is one of my favorites) I put the water on to boil an promptly dumped the jello into it to "boil" with the water...obviously my head wasn't with me! However, I learned that it is okay to add jello to the water before it boil and "bring it to a boil"...it still gels...making me think that jello must be "idiot proof"! The rest of the dinner went off well...Holly and Corntey were helping with the last minute touches and with clean up. If I didn't have to do the clean up after the dinner I would do turkey dinners all of the time! I have always hated to do dishes and that hasn't changed...what a boring job!

And the sad.....my Aunt Martha, my Auntie M, died yesterday. She was 81 years old and the last of my mother's siblings...that generation is gone now. Auntie M was always one of my favorites. When I was young she was my idol...I wanted to be just like her. As she aged, she was still my idol...she always had fun, no matter what she was doing. She bought my wedding dress when I married Al; she did all sorts of wonderful things for me through out my life. When my mom died, Auntie M was the one that got me through that bad time in life; became my surrogate Mom, gave me advise (sometimes whether I wanted it or not) and generally was the one I went to when I needed a little "motherly love". She is the one I helped move to Colorado Springs last year so she could be near her daughter and grand daughter and great grandchildren. I am so glad I could help make that happen. She has been ill for several years (sometimes, somewhat of a hypochondriac) but aging did take its toll on her, as it does everyone. I tried to see her every six months when she was living in California, or more if I could. I called her almost every week while she was in California and generally kept in touch as much as I could. Yes, I am sad she is gone. However, part of me is very happy she is gone....she is finally with her brothers and sisters, mom and dad, husband Ted and all the animals that have gone before her. SHe was a real animal lover...however she was allergic to dogs and cats and as badly as she would want one, she was always allergic to them. We would take our various dogs to visit her over the years...it always made her happy. I know I get my great love for dogs and cats and all animals in general from her (minus snakes, and that she and I agreed on...ICK....snakes are icky!) So one more gone, leaving me with a tremedous amount of wonderful memories. I will shed a few tears over her from time to time; but remember her with loving, fun memories. God Bless Auntie M...you are not in Kansas anymore! Her grand daughter did a wonderful thing on Wednesday and I will be forever greatful to HIllary for this...she called to tell me that Auntie M was doing bad and that she was failing fast. She was with Auntie M at the time and I got to tell Auntie M goodbye and that I loved her...may she rest in peace forever.