It always happens in threes...

I am so sorry for being either absent or a real downer lately. I shared with you in my last post that we had to make the difficult decision euthanize Lacy, my late uncle's lovely German Shepherd that was a part of our family for almost 13 years. And I have some more bad news to report, I'm afraid.

My Mammy (father's mother) just passed away, three weeks shy of her 97th birthday. She was such a wonderful person. My childhood memories are filled with her laughter. Three years ago, before the Alzheimer's consumed her, my sister Pamela and I made the trip to see her and spent several days. She was quite the chatterbox, telling us stories of her life, opening up about her difficult marriage to my Grampy (R.I.P.) and barely holding back laughter and tears of pride as she told tales of all seven of her children and how my father loved to sing and dance as a child. She lived a good life and I am not sad that she is no longer suffering. The truth is that our family has already grieved the loss; for the last two and a half years of her life, she did not know who any of us were. Alzheimer's never took her smile though. Even in pain, she was happy until the day that she died.

Then, a few days ago, my Great Uncle Ted died of complications of a neglected ulcer. He was a rather heavy drinker and never would take care of himself. He was always a very nice man though and was always there for me. His daughter Gina, my second cousin, and I are the same age and have been very close our entire lives. I don't know if you remember or not, but a few months back I mentioned Uncle Ted giving my dad the silent treatment for years after my dad "stole" the name Lisa Marie and gave it to me, forcing Ted and Aunt Mick (R.I.P.) to name my dear cousin Regina Marie instead. Then when Regina turned 17 years old and started calling herself Gina, Uncle Ted called my dad to curse him out one more time before finally laying it to rest. He was quite a character. He could hold a grudge like nobody else I've ever met, but he had many great qualities too. He always insisted that I was his favorite niece (he said that to every one of his nieces and nephews) and when I was 5 years old he helped me safety pin the cape around my neck and told me that girls could be Superman too.

Please forgive me for not dropping by your blogs to say hello. I have been thinking of all of you and I miss you very much. I hate feeling out of touch with you. I am looking forward to catching up with everyone after I get back from working out of town this weekend. If I have missed any major news, please let me know in the comments here. I love you guys a bunch. xoxoxo