Goodness what a horrible photo!
You can hardly see their faces... but these are my two eldest sisters.
The sane, not horrible ones.
Irony here... the one with the dark hair is the oldest.
The one with hair more silver than my own is second oldest in my family.
Ten and eight years my seniors.
Our father, who lives in DPH,
turns 87 on Saturday.
My sisters and their husbands stopped here to have
breakfast with us on their way up to celebrate with Grump Pa.
Neither had been able to attend our wedding,
so this was their introduction to the man.
Cinderella, silver hair was supposed to go on an anniversary
trip paid for months prior to our invitation.
However life interjected a series of events that kept that from happening.
While I thought she was lounging on a beautiful beach...
their tree was blown down by a freak tornado
and her father-in-law died suddenly.
Our wedding day was his funeral day.
Meanwhile, Duffy, dark hair and husband Bull
were attending a reunion where no one showed up that they could recall knowing.
Isn't that how life goes?
Such was the conversation this morning as we chatted and ate.
Nothing much to talk about really.
A few funny old family stories and swapping pics of the grand kids.
But it was wonderful to see them.
I was glad to have "normal" family members to introduce to the man
vs the not so normal Grump Pa and Medusa.
The thing that stuck me immediately was how much my sisters
looked like other family women that I thought of as
elderly.
Ha!
Duffy looks like Auntie J and Cinderella looks like the grandmother
we called only "Gertrude".
It also confirmed my suspicion that Bear sounds
very much like Duffy when she speaks...
and proved to the man that both Cinderella and I snort when we laugh.
And that we both laugh a lot.
The Grump used to call us "the jolly girls".
Yeah... we didn't care for that much.
It was fun and strange and sweet
to see them all.
How much we have all changed over the years.
How different but essentially the same.
I wished that I had more time to visit,
but at the same time welcomed being home again.
A morning of contradiction.
When I hugged Cinderella...
she whispered in my ear...
"I am so glad to see you happy."
I came home and said good night to the man
and wandered out here to post.
I thought about her parting words
and the intensity with which they were said.
I guess I hadn't fooled anyone all those years
that I was not happy.
How wonderful that they can see now that I am.
One point of conversation came up...
the Duck game tonight against Cal Bears.
The man asked who they would be rooting for...
Cal Bears!
I had to laugh.
We were raised Californians
and it is where they all still live.
We'll be rooting against them of course.
=:]
Brother-in-laws paying their bills.
Sweet!
I see the family resemblance. I'm glad you were able to spend some good family time with your relatives.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved spending time with my siblings, but now that my daughters are old enough, they join in, not as children, but as adults (or close enough) and it has added a wonderful new layer of family connection that is heartwarming and hilarious at the same time.
It's so nice to spend time with family you like! It's a great bond that people have - someone who's known you your whole life! very glad you are happyalso
ReplyDeleteCube- I do agree! As adults we all watched each others children grow up and our interactions during those times are priceless memories. Its funny, now that our kids are grown with kids, we talk about our cats and dogs... our new "kids".
ReplyDeleteNoRegrets- It was great. We all live so far from each other now. Time passes and we all age so much. But under the silver hair and the laugh lines, they are still the same. We just look funny!
ReplyDeleteThere will always be toilets that back up and other frustrations, but happiness cannot be crushed when its real... and it feels like a miracle to me. =:]
I have too many dog, cat, & ferret nieces & nephews to count. They are part of the hijinks and hilarity.
ReplyDeleteOT I hope you get a chance to check your past posts... I know I was very late in replying, but it's been crazy busy around here lately.
Glad you got to spend some quality time with the family. It is always nice especially when there is no drama. And go Ducks!
ReplyDeleteI like spending time with the sane members of my family, too! Glad you had a good visit with the sisters.
ReplyDeleteCube- No worries about being crazy busy! I'm impressed you took the time to go to past posts. Animals and children are the best form of entertainment that I know of!
ReplyDeleteMr. Shife- I'm just about over to your blog. Yay! Yay! Yay! My Ducks WON! Hee hee
secret agent woman- You can cube both rock with the way you go to back posts. Thanks for that. I have not seen them in so long it was very interesting and enjoyable.
It's wonderful to be able to introduce the people you love to one another. I do see the family resemblance between you sisters. Glad it was the nice ones who showed up :)
ReplyDelete