Mamapalooza

Center stage: me (your mom). To the left: your Great Great Grandma (Pipaw Jon's side...is that right?) and holding me, my ex-uncle Dave. Is that right, do relatives become exes with divorce too? I'm going to say since I've only seen him once or twice since that occurance, than yes.

Your uncle Dan, Sister Helenette and me in our living room in South Minneapolis. That carpet! The couch! I remember it. You guys have met Sister Helenette...which reminds me that we need to go visit again!

Grandma Jane and me. Hard to believe we all start so little.

Hanging out on a ship up in Duluth harbor. When I verified this with your Grandpa Jon he wrote back that it was true, and a foreign sailor offered $50 for me. Yeah, that's your grandpa. My family would go up to Duluth fairly frequently, I'd guess at least once a summer. Lake Superior is as close to the ocean as we're going to get!

For the record Zoe, "I feel pretty" too.  I was one of few girls in the neighborhood.  Here we are seated on the front stairs of the house I grew up in (mostly, and still dream about).

Top row: Scott (friend) , my cousin Pete, your uncle Dan, your uncle Dave. Next to me is my cousin Joe. Pete and Joe lived two houses down for almost the first 10 years of my life. I guess I didn't realize how unique that was until much later.  

Oh boy. look at that outfit. I do appreciate the sneakers though. My out-of-state boss thinks it's funny that I call my athletic shoes "tennis shoes". I just do. No, I don't play tennis. But when I saw these I didn't think of them as tennis shoes. So there.

I'm standing in the yard of my aunt Carolyn and uncle Mike's cabin in Wisconsin (parents of Pete and Joe, above).  We had some fun times up there.  But it's funny the memories that pop in my head. One in particular: I went up without the rest of my family. It was me with Carolyn, Mike, Pete, Joe and Laura (who was adopted later on and closer to my age), my Grandma Vivian and Grandpa Cliff (Carolyn and Grandma Jane's parents).  We were sitting at dinner and I was served chili. Let's just say the kids in my family (not in tow) were not known for being adventurous eaters. If, or when, we had chili it didn't have much (any?!) spice to it. My aunt Carolyn didn't play that way. I'm not exactly sure how it went down, but my memory is of everyone at the table staring at me and laughing because the chili wasn't to my liking. I'm guessing it was one of those "taste it" scenarios. Yep. Nope.  And probably one of those moments when I missed my mom. :) Because that's the way it is. Your mom knows you. Your mom will put up with some of your...oddities. Or make your chili so bland that it doesn't cause a 4 alarm fire going down.

So having said that, I now like my chili with a little spice. Granted, it's still Minnesota variety spice, but hey... that's better than 57 varieties, no? :)