christmas: part 3 of ? (btw, i realize it is march right now...late march)

well.  after we got home from our twisty, windy, lovely trip to granny's we crammed cashel in a different car to make the 30 minute ride to aunt ellen's (or as i affectionately call her, aininy - "ai-" as in ain't, "ni-" as in nine, and "-ny" as in knee...ai...ni...ny - it's what i've always called her :-))

we had a wonderful dinner over at her house and the only thing missing was the rest of my family.  apparently wende spearheaded the dinner preparations (she's an a-w-e-s-o-m-e cook!)  the menu was of the stuff-yourself-with-all-kinds-of-yummy-appetizers-then-keep-eating-because-the-salad-and-pasta-and-dessert-are-too-good-to-pass-up-and-hey-its-christmas-so-who-cares variety.

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after dinner we had a lot of fun.

we played the wii - well the kids did - aimee did - she shook her booty on the dance game but let me tell you something.....that girl cheats.  she knows how to just shake the controller to get points.  then we all yell at her and tell her to stop cheating because she's so cute when she actually dances and that's what we all want to see. just to give you a little insight as to aimee's cuteness/boldness, here she is.  she apparently stole my camera.

we opened presents.  well, cashel attacked his presents with the help of the older kids, specifically his idols, molly and emma.  cashel also had a great time with aimee and eli.  cashel enjoyed watching eli put his lego helicopter together.

here is a cute montage of emily getting kisses from cashel and her playing with his cute little toes.

and finally.  whenever we're at aininy's i always marvel at the table.  THE table.  THE table that emily, wende and dana and i have spent HOURS under.  this table will have to be bronzed one day and hung in a museum.

we don't fit like we used to....

but, other grandkids do!  hope you guys have as much fun under that table as we did!

things i never want to forget

1.  cashel calls carrots and hummus "carrots and thomas"

2.  he calls baboons "airbone"

that took me forever to figure out

3.  at school they've learned about a character in a book called "abiyoyo."  jason and i just thought he had made up this word because it's not a character either of us are familiar with until one day his teacher said it to me.  the best part is that neither jason nor myself have bothered to look this book up so we still don't know the story so everything we know about abiyoyo is from cashel.  it's like we've made up our own character.  he, according to cashel, is a giant who eats children and is scary.  we've created this game at home where cashel and i have to run and hide from abiyoyo, who is jason walking around with a big blanket over his head saying "i'm abiyoyo!" 

4. back when grandmother was in the hospital i was putting cashel to bed, cuddling with him in the bed, and i started to cry a little bit - tears running down my face.  cashel saw me and did the following:

stuck out his lip

yep...sweet boy tried to make me laugh

then he

wiped away my tears and asked if i was afraid of gorillas and monkeys

i said "no baby, i'm just sad"

and he, while wiping away my tears

said, "it's ok mommy, don't cry"

and gave me hugs and put his little hands on both sides of my face and gave me lots of kisses all over my face

2.22.2011

“i am standing upon the seashore.  a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.  she is an object of beauty and strength.  i stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

then someone at my side says:  “there, she is gone!”

“gone where?”

gone from my sight.  that is all.  she is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

her diminished size is in me, not in her.  and just at the moment when someone at my side says: “there, she is gone!”  there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: “here she comes!”

on february 22, 2011, my birthday, 9:45pm est, my dad called me to tell me that my grandmother had passed away.  it was expected but i still wasn't prepared to hear this.  below are pictures that, while they may not be pictures one would expect...are pictures that, to me, embody the cheerful, silly spirit that was my second mom - my grandmother....georgia thelma reneau long.  

the passage above gives me comfort.  she literally died of old age.  she was 99.  she was beautiful and graceful until the end.  it gives me comfort to know that there were others on the other side...cheerleaders, if you will, ushering her through the pearly gates.  

my mom said that, in those last few days especially, they were able to "see" that she had "connected" to the otherside.  mama and aunt ellen and even emily were able to witness her connection.  grandmother had a day, about 5 days before she passed, where she waved her arms and seemed to be talking to someone.  they thought she said "daddy" at one time.  they don't really know what was going on but the best part to me was that mama said that she asked grandmother, "mama, are you happy?"  and the biggest grin came across grandmother's face and she shook her head, yes.  maybe i shouldn't be divulging these things, but they are special and i don't want to forget these things and years from now, when i'm old and gray i want to remember this and, hey, that's what this blog is for anyways....a kind of diary to myself...for the super important things like this and for the funny (albiet much less important) things (like the fact that cashel saw a billboard today of a a black man and called him michael jordan....again).  that would have made her smile...

grandmother...you are always with me.  i love you.