My grandma had a big birthday yesterday!
She just turned 75 -- I'll turn 25 in October. For the mathematically-challenged, we are 50 years apart.
It sounds like a great big span of time, doesn't it? These are benchmark birthdays, meant to divvy up centuries evenly and make sense of the passage of years.
Sometimes I wonder what life was like when she was born, in 1937...
Picasso completed Guernica following bombing during the Spanish Civil War.
via
Mrs. Wallis Simpson married the Duke of Windsor and almost brought down my beloved British monarchy (Kate Middleton's grandfather was probably still working in the coal mines).
via
Snow White premiered, becoming the first full-length animated motion picture in history.
via World War II was just around the corner.
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And most importantly, at least for our family tree...
Ann Brooker made her debut. TA-DA!!!
She married herself an Air Force man.
And they had lots of little troublemakers.
I don't use that phrase lightly, as anyone who knows the spunky Sailor children will attest.
They lived in Germany, not once but twice.
By the time she was my age, she had three kids!
Crazy ones.
By the time she was my mom's age, she had 6 grandkids!!! Goodness Grandma, how did you stay so young with all this mischief around you?!
She always agreed with me that our family is "to the manor born," certainly descended from very noble lines, the ladies of the house, that sort of thing...
(Although our forebearers were actually much more likely to be found working in those same coalmines as the good ol' Middletons, or rather, starting rascally trouble in the streets of Scotland and Ireland -- because that's just how we roll).
She very begrudgingly let me call her Grandmary for awhile, when I was the Samantha-era of my American Girl Dolls love affair.
She still has Dancy Nancy at her house, this gigantic soft doll whose feet you can strap around your own and, thus, dance with. She still has the Fisher Price kitchen we played with when we came to visit. Her house is still one of my favorite places on earth.
She is, quite simply, the best:)
(and luckily, very understanding about her loved ones lack of punctuality -- one of these days, I will write an on-time blog post about things like my anniversary, Mother's and Father's Day, important birthdays, etc etc).
Happy belated birthday, "Grandmary!"
As a special birthday treat, I figured out that 75 degrees Fahrenheit is equal to 24 degrees Celsius, and we've always been rather more European, wouldn't you say? Here's to being 24 together, equally young and fun (I'm pretty sure you stay up later than I do now anyway).
I love you bunches!!!