Wednesday, May 7, 2008
After Ben’s graduation we flew to Sacramento, California. We stayed with Kaye and Dan Wilson my cousins whom I have not seen for over 15 years. Alma is the wife of my mother’s brother Gene. Gene and Alma and Hike (my mother’s other brother) and Lorene his Wife and My mom and dad used to get together at my parents’ home each summer so I knew my Aunts and Uncles really well, however, I did not know my cousins Kaye and Keith (her brother) and their spouses as adults. Kaye hosted a 90th birthday party for Alma (Hike is 92) and these two are the only ones left alive of the 3 couples. Kaye and Dan were great hosts and we had a wonderful time. I spent some time each day in the hammock.
Alma is a little person who looks fragile on the outside but who has had plenty of adventure. Including living in Saigon, Vietnam while Gene built runways and roads during the Vietnam War and traveling down the Amazon in a boat full of chickens. Not at all the “little old lady” type, she was an inspiration to me and fit right in with my mother and grandmother, great grandmother and great aunt Jeanetta. All of whom were women of courage and strength and get up and go, not a shrinking violet in the bunch.
This is Kelsey, Kaye’s youngest daughter doing Irish step dancing. She spent a year in Ireland and just got back from spending some time with her older sister who is studying in New Zealand.
Darwin and I at Kaye and Dan’s.