Lost Grandmothers

I decided to use a personal photograph.  I've got boxes and boxes sorted by year.  And yes, I've put binders and other stuff on top of them.  Dennis often suggests that we 'do something' with the boxes but I won't do it.  And, yes, I also have all of the photo albums inherited from both sides of our families.

But the easiest one to get to was 1997-2000.  This picture caught my eye.

The lost grandmothers.  Picture labeled 1998

My daughter Ilana who would have been 12 or 13 at the time.  My parents or at least my mother have come to visit.  This picture undoubtedly taken at Alki Beach after buying a bunch of fish and chips from Spuds.  My mother loved to do that.  You can see Spuds in the background.

Ilana stands between two of her grandmothers, Lanaya and Claire.   Not such a great picture of her; maybe she wanted to be doing something else at that moment.  Lanaya would have been 72 here and was likely already feeling the effects of the dementia that would consume her.  She would die in 2007 after being in the nursing home for over 5 years.  Actually she died the night before Thanksgiving, maybe that's why I'm thinking of this as we head into that holiday. 

My mother, Claire, would have been 74 and still in good shape.  My father's health wouldn't start to fail until 2001 so things likely looked pretty good then.  She died in 2010 aged 85.

My kids at the time would have been 9, 12, 14, 16.  Whew, thinking about that, good but also hard times.  But we held together.

The more I think about it, the tireder I feel! 

Thanksgiving this year will be fine, just 7.

Not all grandmothers are lost...Grandma Anne is still happening.