Celebrating Two Lives - One Remembered, One Just Beginning

It was a bittersweet week.

On Tuesday, my Grandma Jo - my only living grandparent - passed away. She had become pretty ill during the past six months, first with a diagnosis of heart failure then a bad fall that resulted in a broken hip. Amazingly, she survived hip surgery (despite the heart condition) but she took a turn for the worse this past weekend. On Friday, we remembered her life on the same day my son turned one. It was a bit surreal.

Two things meant the world to my grandma: her family and her pets. Both of these circles of loved ones were big - she is survived by more than 30 grand-, great-grand and great-great grandchildren, along with two grown children of her own (My aunt Brenda, unfortunately, died young.) -- and she had too many pets to count. (Anyone interested in adopting a sweet cat?)

Her funeral was the first time my entire extended family has gathered together in many years. The closest we've come to doing so in recent years was my Aunt Brenda's funeral then a family party I organized in 2009.

Seeing everyone together again was the definition of bittersweet for me. It really ticked me off that we have let ourselves become so distant, particularly for Grandma's sake. It always meant so much to her that the family be close. In fact, throughout my entire childhood she made sure that we had two extended family parties each year. Before we left the summer party, we picked a date for the winer party. We ate country food, played games and laughed often. I have wonderful memories of those times.

So, to honor my Grandmother's memory I am going to try and re-institute these family gatherings. If it doesn't work, OK. But our little family is going to make an effort to see our big extended family more often.

Today we celebrated Spencer's first birthday with a small group of family and friends. He had a great time once he warmed up to the group. His favorite present was from Aunt Anna and Uncle Hess...an earth-friendly wood xylophone. (Mommy's favorite present was the organic bamboo cotton T-shirts from Paula...I want one for myself!)

Spencer is doing great. We were put on 3 month follow-up for urology again and are considering an impromptu family vacation to Arizona in March. He weighs just over 22 pounds and measures just shy of 30 inches. He is also taking Frankenstein steps as he continues to explore the increasingly large world around him.

Here are a few pics from the party.