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 My cousin Vanessa is our family’s statistician/amateur genealogist… She has gathered the stories of our elders as she exhaustively documents our family gatherings. I’m thrilled to report that Z & V were ON TIME as we were being ushered onto the front porch for The Annual Family Portrait. There were 42 of us gathered together, an auspicious number especially if you’re a Douglas Adams fan!

My cousin Clifford’s wife (unspecified metastatic cancer was found to be the cause of her back pain & immobility last summer; she has had radiation therapy & oral chemotherapy) made it out of her house - it was a bittersweet moment when she hobbled over to greet my mom. Very strange to contemplate that Mom will likely outlive Marilyn - everyone seemed pleasantly surprised that my mom had graced us with her presence, even though she became restive shortly after our bountiful luncheon, I took her back home about 2:30, then bounced back in an attempt to spend a little more time with my cousins - however, the celebration was dispersing by the time I returned (shortly before 4 PM)

My cousin Rick's widow is downsizing: clearing out my aunt & uncle's sprawling ranch-style home since it's far too large for her needs as the "last resident standing": Ann & Rick moved in with Aunt Sue after Uncle Willie passed away (easy for me to remember with my post-Z timeline: Z was 6 wks old in 1998). Rick was their eldest son, who was tasked with caretaking their youngest, cousin Steve who had the mentality of a 4-5 yr old. Unfortunately Rick himself passed away in 2011 (heart attack), then Steve in 2018 (cancer), followed by Aunt Sue in 2021, leaving Ann all alone in that huge house. I have not been able to get up there to help on any of her big weekend clean-outs - she brought a box of assorted photos & a set of Zelda the bulldog books I had given my aunt over the years. I left the big photo album with my mom but I’ll post some highlights of a young cowgirl - ex & I took our ponies for multiple visits back in the day…