Joy

Today William, Austin and I went up to see my great aunt Joy again. Her 94th birthday is in a few days so we wanted to bring her flowers and take her out to lunch. William kept pointing at the flowers during the ride saying 'flowers for aunt joy' - so sweet, and I love that he knows his great GREAT aunt. Amazing! When we got there Joy surprised me by having a present for William though. Her birthday an she had a present for him!



She also had something special for me.



A picture of my dad! My moms picture boxes are filled with pictures of Brandon, Brandon, Brandon, Brian and a few spottings of a dark haired little sister - but no pictures of her or my dad! There are a few but apparently their lives and cameras revolved around their kids just like mine does now :) the point is I don't have many pictures of my dad, especially from his healthy years, so this one was a treat.

We went to a nice little cafe for lunch and William behaved like an angel. (stay tuned for a post with the opposite outcome...) after lunch we went back to Joy's house and spent some time visiting. If I didn't have an all-boy hyper 2 year old in a house full of glass I could stay all day listening to her stories. She talked about her great uncle Will (where I learned William's name started in our family) and how he helped his nieces sneak out of their house to go on dates, she talked about growing up with divorced parents in the 30's, she talked about her daughter and granddaughters - she just talked and talked. I heard stories about my grandfather who I never met, Mimi, my dad...just everything. I wish I had recorded it all so that I could remember. It was like system overload, I was just trying to take in all the information and enjoy it.

I wrote a poem about Mimi a few years ago for christmas that ended with me saying that all I wanted/needed was her time. I cherished the hours we spent talking at her kitchen table; I loved learning about her and about my family. Sitting with Aunt Joy today was the same. I just loved it and can't wait to go back. Joy has always been one of my favorite people in my family, I think because she lived far away so it was always really special when she made it to family functions, and I think I cherish her more every time I see her!

Here we are just before leaving her house. Hope to have a new picture to share soon :)



- manda