“So here’s the thing…

Or maybe not an “ode” since I think that means a poem, but you’ll get what I mean…

My favorite Grandmother passed away this Mother’s Day. I’m not going to go into how painful the loss is, or how sudden her death seems to me (considering she was 86 yrs old I guess I shouldn’t have been as shocked as I was.) But what I will say is that her funeral, and all the cousins I got to speak to after years of separation, left me with a renewed sense of what’s really important - Family.

My sister-in-law mentioned later how we, as cousins, don’t really know each other as adults. She’s right. I had no idea Ryan, my closest cousin all thru our childhood, was living in New Orleans. Or that Beth had been trying to get pregnant for years only to have lost 4 children to miscarriages. Or that Shane’s 2nd son’s name is GavinTrue (sadly, not sure of the spelling.)

I walked around looking at the pictures and watched a nice video the family had quickly put together of different events and photos. There was a shot of Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th wedding anniversary, and it struck me that it was 16 years ago!! There I was standing next to my cousin Todd, who accompanied me on the piano, as I sang “Wind Beneath my Wings” to my grandmother. Ironically, Todd also accompanied me on the piano as I sang “Just As I Am” at my grandmother’s funeral this past Wednesday.

There was also a picture of the whole family with spouses/significant others, and there was Gerry, my boyfriend at the time. Grandma hated him! LOL! I can’t argue the opinion looking back. But what really stood out for me as I looked at the pictures was there was one particular person standing next to me in almost every shot over the last 16+ years… my sister-in-law, Deb.

I’ve known her half my life. HALF MY LIFE! Think about that for a minute… We’ve seen each other at our absolute best and our ugliest worst… Thru her stint as a feminist and my job at a strip club (waitressing only, I swear.) Thru bad hair and worse boyfriends, to the loss of her brother. We’ve laughed till we darn near peed, cried till our heads ached, hurt each other’s feelings and even stopped speaking for a month…and yet here we are. Every visit a joy. Every laugh still coming so easily.

So I wanted to put together some pictures I found when I got home from the funeral. I wish I had more. There’s a gap between 1990 to 93′ where we just didn’t take many pictures, not together anyway.

Enjoy.

1991-ish with my (first) step-brother, Eddie.

Jay & Deb’s wedding. I was her Maid of Honor.

With Keith at Thanksgiving 1995.

My friend Alison’s wedding…not even sure how Jay & Deb ended up there since they barely even knew her? lol

Picnic with Brian’s family. (ex-fiance 1996) Deb’s in the back on the swing.

The year I got saved…Deb followed shortly after.

I keep thinking this was taken as we sat in the bleachers watching Jay & Brian playing volleyball or something crazy like that.

Deb diligently taking notes as I open gifts at my wedding shower.

Ahhh! Finally found the right man. Deb was my Maid of Honor, too.

Family reunion 1998. Funny thing is, this was taken in July. Meaning I was either just barely pregnant (and didn’t know it yet) or got pregnant in the days that followed. ewww… (TMI, I know) LOL!

Trip to Aruba. I’m about 17 weeks pregnant I believe. Deb’s about 10 weeks.

On our way to my baby shower. Man! We were huge! LOL!

…And the rest is history…

I love you, Deb. I couldn’t be blessed with a better sister.