I love taking day trips with the hubster. It's usually some place I want to go and he volunteers to be my driver. He never complains and I appreciate that so much!! I wanted to visit my Aunties down in Wayne County. I feel a little closer to Mom when I am with some of her beloved sisters and in her hometown. I had a delivery to make to Aunt Lew so made a fun trip out of it. Pretty soon the weather will be too bad for traveling there so we needed to go now. Along with the books I brought her (she asked me to print up some of Grandma and Grandpa's history to give as Christmas gifts) I brought them each a few other things. 1st, I brought them some copies of pictures. I have been scanning my Mom and Dad's old black and white negatives and have found some real treasures there! So I printed a few of them up to share with the Aunties. 2nd, another project I worked on was to have Great Aunt Edna's biography scanned to share. (the Auntie's Aunt, my great aunt). Edna is my grandma's sister that I got to meet last year before she passed away. What a fun thing to read the beautiful biography of her, but it is not "in print" anymore. We got permission from her granddaughter to scan it and make it available to anyone who wants to read it. So I did! Since my Aunties don't have computers, I printed them each a copy of it. They were very excited to get it! I LOVE family history projects!! Then, 3rd, my favorite thing of all that I brought them, their Christmas gift (early) because it's too fragile to mail. I framed some of their mom's recipes (in her own handwriting) to preserve them and for them to enjoy having. Her little handwritten recipe notebook is so old, well used, and falling apart so I decided we needed to do something with them! I put the recipe in a floating frame so you can see the back of the page too if you want. After they opened them (because I KNEW they wouldn't wait until Christmas!) I said I wanted pictures. Aunt Lew just held it up to her face and I could only see her eyes. It was perfect! So we did a few of those pictures then took a picture of both of them together with their gifts. Afterward, Auntie Bev wanted to see the pictures...when I showed her the one with just the eyes, she said, "Oh that is so cute!" And I told her of course it was because it was HER. (She thought it was Lew - pictures are hard to see on the small phone screen sometimes). She just bust out laughing and fell into the chair. So I snapped a picture! She said, "Oh you didn't!" But I had to. It was her being natural and smiling and laughing. This is the aunt who is always scowling in pictures because she hates to have her picture taken! I promised her I wouldn't put it on facebook, but that I would the other pictures! Anyway, we had a lovely lunch and a fun afternoon visiting. I always love being with them and look forward to many more trips down to Wayne County! Here are the fun pictures from that day. Auntie Lew is in the pink stripes and Auntie Bev is in the blue. We got Curtis to step in for a picture as well. (Aunt Lew's husband and gracious host to us everytime we come!). Uncle Dudley wasn't feeling well so he didn't join us. But the rest of us had a lovely time! Yes, I love my mom's sisters probably as much as she does! Two of her sisters have passed away (Maxine and Evelyn) and her other sister lives back east and is suffering from the same dementia Mom had. I look forward to many more visits with these special ladies!
