Four Generations. My mother, in the car, at age 92. Me, in my mid-60's. My son Michael in his mid-30's. And our new 'Baby A'. (Again, the parents do not want baby's name or close-ups of the baby out on the net.)
Here is the proud father bringing Baby A out to meet Great-Grandma and Grandpa (that's me)!
They are a lovely little family, and Baby A will be well taken care of by Anna and Michael.
We then headed over to a nearby park and met my daughter Stephanie (sitting), son Ryan, and his wife Kaelyn. This was the first time mom had the opportunity to meet Kaelyn. They were out in Sacramento over Christmas, but one of them (Ryan/Kaelyn) tested positive and had to isolate the entire time they were here. We all stayed at a nice social distance for outside, which is good because mom tested positive yesterday...and thank goodness she is doing ok so far. Covid is going through the Assisted Living Facility like the fires are going through the forests here. We are lucky this is her first case, and that the current Covid is not nearly as dangerous as it was two years ago.
A little over a week ago two of my cousins, Stephanie and Yvonne, both daughters of mom's youngest brother Paul who died a couple of months ago, came through town. We all met down at our cousin Debby's house, where Aunt Mary lives. Now you have to remember, Mom and Mary came from of family of 11 children, all born from the same parents. Mary is # 8, mom is # 9, and they are the last of the 11 children. I knew their mother very well, but their father died in 1942. They had one brother, Jimmy, who died in the war (WW2). I knew each and every one of their other brothers and sisters. Cousin Stephanie is who I adored her name so much that I convinced Shelley, the mother of my children, to name our daughter 'Stephanie'. Cousin Stephanie is a year younger than I, and Yvonne is nearly four years younger than I am. I have not seen Yvonne since sometime in the 1970's. I last saw Stephanie in 1980 at a family reunion in Santa Cruz, where just about everyone of my Uncles and Aunts were in attendance, except Uncle Jimmy, of course. Grandma was there too! I can remember about a half dozen of these type of reunions in my lifetime...that was the last one I know about...Grandma only lived a couple more years.
Stephanie took these pictures of the get-together, and thankfully gave me permission to use them. This sequence of five pictures above with Mary and Mom interacting is very precious.
Since Stephanie was taking the pictures, I did not get into one with her and I, but above left is one of Mary, Mom, Yvonne and I. The picture to the right is my cousin Debby. She is fortunate to live next door to her daughter Tara, along with Tara's husband and two girls. Good support for help with Aunt Mary, and Debby also helps with Tara's children as needed.
This week is retirement week for sister Sandy. After Friday, she is officially retired, and Friday is a personal day off, so Thursday is her actually last day of working. Today they (her work) took her and about 30 other staff members she worked with over the years out to a nice Mexican Restaurant. Since many have worked from home since 2020, they have not seen each other in person very many times the past two years. She really enjoyed the honor they gave her...along with the gifts of coffee liqueur, sparkling wine (California's version of Champaign), some chocolates and some flowers. Sandy has always been a hard worker, and I know they are going to be very sorry to see her go.
Speaking of going...we hope to hit the road by the end of next week to start our trip home. Just hoping that I don't come down the Covid, because if I do, then Marcia is sure to also. So far I feel fine, and have tested negative the past three days.
