My Aunt Ang turns 90 today, and she’s the first person I can personally say that I know who has achieved the milestone of making it to 90 years old on this Earth. She’s a spry lady who likes to still mow her own lawn, do the yard work, say “My lands!” a lot, and although her eyesight could be better, if you were to meet her I doubt you would peg her at 90.
I went back to the old homestead in Ohio where her kids celebrated her birthday this weekend, and although a low-key kind of party, there was still a limo involved where she waved to her throngs of fans, or at least the people at the gas station, was able to do a little jig, and did the Polka with my cousin in the kitchen. There weren’t too many story of the old days, just a little recollection of how she met the love of her life, my Uncle John, how the family used to get together for Christmas every year, and some talk of the folks in Chicago my family used to know, but mostly there was talk of things going on in our lives today.
It was the talk of those Christmas parties that I kind of felt a little melancholy because like many families after they develop their own clan of children, and as members spread a little bit further from each other, most of our family get-togethers now focus either around weddings or funerals, and even those are hard to justify to attend with the travel involved to get there. Understandable in these times I guess, but back in the day when everyone lived pretty much about 30 minutes from each other, and were still alive I suppose, it was just a little easier to hold a family party and have everyone attend. Now, though, on the Aunt and Uncle front, the numbers are dwindling and looking forward it will be even a little more challenging to have a get-together. It’s easy to say we, as the cousins, should just plan a family reunion, but like many plans talked about at a party, they don’t always come to fruition. The thing is that in the past, and getting back to the folks we knew in Chicago, they used to treat any reason as a time for good party, rent the VFW, and celebrate getting a new dog, but even they don’t seem to do those parties any longer, and instead of using a good party to find out all of the goings-on of the family, now we know everything thanks to Facebook.There was something nice about the little get-together we had, and somehow this plight that was going to be a celebration of my Aunt turning 90 has turned a little to “dreaming of the old days,” but I have to say that I almost didn’t go, coming up with a lame excuse like money, time, or who-knows-what, but I’m so glad I made it and got to see her dance with my cousin in the kitchen. Now I’m just looking forward to the birthday when she can tell us “My lands, that Willard Scott called me on my birthday. I don’t even know who he is, but he wished me a ‘Happy Birthday!'” So, Happy Birthday to my Aunt Ang, 90 years young and still Polka-ing! And so my plight today is: Do you personally know someone who is at least 90 years old?
That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!