some pix i love

i don't know how much i've written here about my gramma lately, but she's 93 and in hospice care. she's got heart failure stuff going on and is on oxygen. she's had several times when everyone thought "this is it" and then she's rallied.

well, she's rallied again. she's one tough cookie. her short term memory is mostly shot, but the last few times i've been there, she's known who i am and known i have two kids and a wonderful husband. MUCH better than when she doesn't know who Irene is (rhys i can understand a bit more, b/c she was declining much more when he was born - but she was there when Irene was born and we went and visited as often as we could. plus, Irene is Gramma's mother's name. anyway, my gramma is one of those people in my life that has helped to make me the person i am. she's always had HUGE unconditional love for me and never questioned my choices (at least not to me). i used to spend at least 1 weekend/month with her when I lived with my dad and moni (so from 1979 - 1984), and then she'd come up or we'd go down to visit her when i lived with mom. most christmases she spent at our house (or at least that's how i'm remembering it). anyway, she's very very special to me and it will be hard when she's gone gone. i've done a lot of mourning already as she's declined more and more in the memory department. i'll probably write more at various times, but that's it for now.
gramma holding rhys when he was about 1 month old. i love her hands on his wee feet.
here is a picture of the grannies (as we have referred to them since they moved in together in 1994). gramma is in the pink pants on the left, janty is on the right. mom took this when they all went to "visit the boys" as well as visiting with Mother and Dad. the boys are my papa and great uncle. the cemetary is a lovely one in san diego.

and here are 4 generations of Romig/Peace women - this was at janty's 90th this past november. there's Irene (almost 8), Gramma (nearly 93), me (37) and mom (62).
and this is one of my most favorite pictures! it's from July 2002 - Irene was 2 1/2. Gramma and Mom were running back and forth and swinging Irene over the little wee sprinkler. Gramma is a woman full of spunk and glee. she has a twinkle in her eye and a great sense of joy.