Another life...

You know that Grandma has been with us since April and except for a couple of weeks ago when she visited my brothers, we've had her all to ourselves...well, it turns out that we'll have to share her once again.

Last week, our family lost another of our favorite people. My great Aunt Nina passed away on Thursday morning. Wow, has this been a crazy year or what? Mom is heading up to Washington on Thursday to celebrate Aunt Nina's life with our family and to visit all and sundry in our great pacific northwest family...(oooh, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get letters about that one...for the record not a single one of them is named "Sundry".)

So as the "video"/"picture" girl...I've been sharing a bunch of memories with my cousin John (he's a second or a removed or something but you get the idea) as he weeds through pictures and posts them. Some of them are so funny and some are sweet...

This is, from right to left, Aunt Nina, Nina's daughter and My Grandma Marie...all looking very "June Cleaver-y" to me...they are all gone now...



And here is another of of Aunt Nina, Grandma Marie and their brother, my Uncle Karl...also all gone...



As straight-laced as they all seem in those shots, there are also a few of these nuggets that were found...anybody else thinking...WOW!



But in light of all the other pictures...this is the one that stopped me. This is the one that made me the saddest and the gladdest...This is one of those..."I wanna do that" pictures that remind me how great my WHOLE family has always been...

Johnny titled it, "Mom and her girls---practicing for church"



What a great memory for those kids. What a wonderful moment, caught on film. I'm sure it was a typical "rehearsal"...someone was probably off key...someone was MORE than likely fidgeting or acting up in some way...someone else was probably impatient about something...but the picture of the moment...that flash of light caught the togetherness of a family. The togetherness that I KNOW carried on in her life and gave her children and the rest of her family joy. Lots of it.

After seeing that picture the other day...I put MY mom to good use. The woman can PLAY the piano...so I made her. And she made US learn a new song...and then Bear made HER play an old song for us...one that is full of meaning for us because it's played a part in the last two funerals, Grandma Marie and Daddy...and I just recorded the moments...in memory of Nina...but FOR me.

I don't know how long I'll get to keep my mommy...but I never ever want to lose the moments.

The one she taught us "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" (1:59)



And part of one we made her play, well BEAR made her play, again and again..."Until Then" (1:54)





Aunt Nina...you will be missed. We love you.

See ya around...