blessed

now playing: frog holler, “least most wanted”

wendy’s grandmother passed away over the weekend.

the last time i saw her was when we went up for her aunt pattys’ wedding…i specifically remember sitting with her in her apartment, looking through family pictures that must’ve gone back over fifty years. she gave me the nararrated, guided family history as we looked through them.

she was unstoppable. she did her share of complaining, as do most elderly folks…i think i’m starting to get some insight as to the source of the aches and pains that plague folks as they start to age – i’m miles away from 40, but i seem to be noticing of late that i don’t have the stamina or the energy that i had not that long ago. but “nana” seemed to give the pain its space and move on. the day she died, she called patty to tell her that she had gas and wouldn’t be able to go kayaking with her the next day.

pretty damn spry for an 83 year old woman.

so…all this means that wendy is headed north, both for her nana’s funeral and for her cousins’ graduation the following week.

friday i drove all the way to pottstown to surprise my all-but-adopted shanna with tuition for cheerleader camp. i had talked to her mom a bit earlier in the week, and she had told me about how her daycare was doubling over the summer and that her rent was going up…and that she was selling something to try to help defray the costs of camp. i personally had no need for the cookie dough kits, or whatever they were…and i hadn’t done anything really nice for shanna for a while – so i paid for camp for her.

and, as is usually the case in my life, no good deed goes unpunished.

got a speeding ticket on the way to philadelphia this weekend – for $115…just a few bucks shy of what i gave shanna’s mom for camp.

i got a chuckle out of it as i remembered later that some years back, todd and i were standing on south street eating pizza when a woman approached us and asked for money to buy tampons. a woman, i might add, who was many years removed from the last menstrual cycle she’d had, if i had to venture a guess where her age was concerned.

as she walked away from us, she turned and told me, “god will bless you tonight”.

that night, on the way home, i got a ticket for making a U-turn prior to getting onto the ben franklin bridge.

blessed, indeed.