Friends, relatives and Memories

Did you ever meet someone who you could be in the middle of a conversation and walk away for a minute and 10 years later meet up with them and pick up right where you left off?? That would be my cousin Nancy. Mom and I went to California last week and returned home this Tuesday. We went to Riverside, California where Nancy lives for a memorial service for my Aunt Gail.

When we were kids we always took a summer vacation. We traveled this country many times and saw unbelievable sights, but there were a couple of years when we traveled to California to see Mom's family. Uuncle George and Aunt Gail, Uncle Angelo and Aunt Pat and Uncle Alex. Her brother Jim still lived in Illinois. Though California was full of movie studios, the beach, Disneyland and every amusement park it was the draw to Uncle George and Aunt Gail's house with Nancy and Chris. Now they also had 2 sons Steve and Ken but they were older and generally by the time I remember they were not living at home. Now here in Illinois most people have a dog either in their yard or in their house. The first time we went to my Aunt and Uncles it was very surprising to see in their backyard was a horse!!! Not many people had those at home and we had very little experience with them and they were a lot larger than any dog we knew.

To see Mom with her brother was always special and Aunt Gail was the life of the party, always laughing, telling jokes, playing the organ and singing. She was a bundle of energy and a party in a single person. Nancy and Chris instantly became your best friends and we would hang out and play together every minute until it was time to pack it up and leave for home. Many times we were in the middle of a conversation and it was time to go.....we left the conversation only to pick it up later in life.....those were some of the best vacations and memories that have lasted forever. This trip was harder because Uncle George and now Aunt Gail have both passed away and you felt their abscence. It was extremely difficult for Nancy and Chris and the entire family to continue on with arrangements and services when all you wanted to do was just absorb what had transpired. I have always believed and still do that we are the ones that mourn here and the ones that have passed are now celebrating and reuniting with the people that they love and haven't seen in a very long time. Aunt Gail and her laughter will always be missed but the qualities that she possessed she passed on to her children and through them you still get a glimpse of Aunt Gail. They are her legacy and testimony to the life she lived and loved here. She will be missed always, loved forever and a piece of our memories forever.

Mom and Elaine.

The whole gang...Aunt Pat with Mark, Matthew, Luke and Tina......

Steve and his son Steve.....