Happy 20th to Annika!

 Annika is on a mission to Washington DC South - Spanish speaking, and it is her 20th birthday!! And I am remembering a Grandma's Birthday weekend when we went shopping for her gift of choice - and it was a Dora the Explorer metal wastebasket! I  was sure Bruce would be horrified - but he wasn't. Said she obviously loved it - and wasn't that the point?

The above photo is my fave of Annika and me - we were in VA at Eliza's - had come for Theo's blessing - I even remember how good it felt to hold that little hand - and how happily she held mine!

After October, 8 of our 24 grandchildren will be 20 or older. It is bittersweet to watch them grow - there aren't many Birthday Weekends anymore - and no one asks about the Grandma's Treasure Box either. But the calls and the visits with these marvelous young adults is worth the tradeoff.

And there are still 16 kids under 20 - and great grandkids too!

Prayers for Mary

 Mary Taylor is struggling with a recurring cancer.  We will be going up to Utah next week to spend some time with her. Mary - in the red in case you don't know her - has lived a happy serving life - and we are hoping we can help ease her transition. But it is still a sad outlook to contemplate.

The stories are legion - and hopefully I can share some with you. Right now I am recalling that every time she came down to SoCal to visit - a visit to the Huntington Library was de rigeur!! (That's French and it may be spelled wrong!!)

And whenever we visited Mary, it seemed like we brought her joy -- at least she always expressed great joy when we arrived.

Last September, my sister Alice and I went to visit her - and we went out to lunch. She was not as ill as she is now, but she was ill. But you would not have known it from the way she greeted us - and regaled us with tales of medical misadventures!!

Oh Mary - we love you!!