Andrea: Happy Birthday Gram L

Yesterday was my Gram's 94th birthday, but of course we told everyone it was her 49th birthday. She had lots of fun putting strangers on the spot and asking them if she looked old for 49! It was my honor, privilege and my enjoyment to get to spend the afternoon with my Gram on her birthday.

We went out to lunch together (and wow for skinny little "elderly" lady -as she calls herself - she sure can eat!) and ran a few errands and scratched a few lottery tickets together - we won $4 on her 94th birthday!

During lunch I started thinking about all the stuff my Gram has lived through and we started talking about it. I have actually had this conversation with her before, I even wrote a paper about it in college that got me an A, but I still find it so interesting to talk to her about it. My Gram was born in 1915 and has lived through so many historical events including 16 presidents, Pearl Harbor, the depression - the list goes on and on with that many years under your hat. When she was born, not every house had electricity. She still has the actual Iron iron that they used to iron clothes with, to get it hot you had to put it on the stove! She uses it as a door stop these days. They had touring cars back then and not everyone had them, she told me that when it rained you had to attach across the top a tarp, but that it did not do much by way of keeping the rain off of you. She also told me about the time her dad once took their family in their touring car from Bridgeport, CT to Lexington Ave, NYC and it took 3 hours. Post Road all the way, when my eyes bugged out of my head at this she said, well remember there was not the Merritt Parkway or Interstate 95 at that time.

So many things have changed in so many years and she has seen so much of and kept up with the time as well. My Gram has always been and still is a forward thinker, she moves with the times and keeps up with the way of the world today which I think is very cool. She is happy to talk about the past and what was going on when and what her life was like but she lives in the present. Oh and she is still sharp as a tack (both in her memories and her wit), she remembers everything including dates from the past as well as keeps up with current events. We should all be so lucky at 94!

I am very blessed to have my Gram still here and get to spend time with her. Happy Birthday Gram, looking forward to celebrating 95 with you and everything between now and then!