85

Yesterday, we celebrated my grandma's 85th birthday. It was special for so many reasons.

We ate Appaloosa beans from the farmers' market with a peppery organic arugula salad.
Mindy and I both brought our knitting and enjoyed relaxing a bit after the hard work of eating strawberry shortcake.




But really, this little guy stole the show:


He's caught Uncle Chris' eye. And he knows it.


Oh heavens.


Oh mercy.


It's a good thing I've made medically certain that I can't have any more babies. This might have just pushed me over the edge.

Oh dear. Where was I?

Oh yes. Grandma's birthday.
So, we have just finished the process of moving her into my parents' home - and though I say "we," the majority of the work has fallen to my parents. But "we" all helped and we have all enjoyed the benefits of having her nearby. My parents' house is kind of the central location for all the family activity. It's near the music studio where I teach and near Emma's school and near to both of my brothers' houses.
That means that Gma is near to all of those things now.
We see her three or four times a week now - sometimes more. She helps Emma study for her tests on Wednesday afternoons. She watches Mythbusters with Andrew. She catches me up on all the extended family news.
She is amazing.

But the thing is, today, the day after her 85th, birthday, she went into surgery. My grandma is an extraordinarily private person, thus I've chosen to not share much about her health struggles so far. But I think it's safe enough to share that she has breast cancer. She is not quite awake yet, post-surgery, and hasn't yet been given her full report, so I will not share it here. Please pray for her.

I can't believe that, in the entire evening of birthday party-ing, I did not get one really good shot of the birthday girl! But, you know, it's fitting. She has always defined herself through her family - her "self" fading into the background as she fully lives through and enjoys the people around her. My children, little Nolan, my brothers, my mom and dad - all the pictures you see here kind of are pictures of her. And I, for one, am feeling hopeful that she'll continue to be at the center of our family's adventure for some time to come.