Here's to Grandma...

I've been a bit out of pocket and incommunicado (and incognito?) for the past week, which sure isn't helping boost my readership to more than 2 visits a day.  I ended up going back to Texas unexpectedly, but completely expectedly.  Well, the unexpected part was "when."  The expected part was "why," which was that my grandma was declining quickly.  She was in stage 5 Alzheimer's, and hadn't been responsive in a while.  She passed away on Monday.

So I went back to Texas Wednesday in time for the rosary/vigil that night, then the funeral was Thursday morning.  It feels kinda wrong to say it, but it was really great to get the entire family together.  She has 23 grandkids (aka my first cousins) and all of us made it except 2, which is a 91.3% completion rate.  I honestly don't know if all of us have EVER been together at once like that.  It was very loud.

Grandma, I will never forget...

• The day you came over to our house wearing panties on your head, which when you explained how warm they kept your head, made perfect sense.
• The day you locked your keys in your car and Dad went over to help you look for the spare set, only for you to remember that you always kept the spare pinned to the inside of your bra.
• The day you came over to me and Staci at mass in your fancy little hat and shouted "LABOR DAY GREETINGS!!" to us in the silent church.
• How you would always say "Well, I swan..." which I never really understood.  I think it was like an ultra Southern way of saying "Well, I swear..." or "Well, I do declare..." but I have no idea.  But I say it, anyway.