when we were kids, we all wore those great red sneakers with the round toes. the original pf flyers, they were. the pic above is of my younger brother at age 3. at that time, we were just little runts whose main concern was having fun. “playing” was a key occupation. and we were really, really good at having fun.
i mention this because i saw dear childhood friends last weekend. john haberstroh, marcia pierce and dru dickey were all at jennie’s funeral. john’s brother, mark, and his family were there as was laurie [john's sister] and her husband dave. all of jennie’s friends were there too, many of whom are my friends now that i am a so-called adult.
as it turns out, saying farewell to jennie haberstroh was not really necessary. i realized that she is no longer on the planet with us, and i will miss her like crazy, but i didn’t have to say goodbye. i realized that jennie lives on through all of the people i just mentioned and so many others. i will still have her in my heart and have such wonderful memories of her, so she will always be with me. nice, nice, nice.
back to the 30 years comment from above: john, marcia, dru, annie, joey and i hadn’t been in the same room for 30 years +/-. i didn’t even recognize dru at first, but then she told me who she was and i realized that she hadn’t really changed at all! she was still the long legged beautiful girl that i always knew. john was there with his life partner, johnny, whom we all adore. marcia was there managing the luncheon and taking care, helping out the family like she does. she’s awesome.
it was soooooooooooooo nice to have everyone near and dear all around us as we celebrated the life of jennie. we laughed far more than we cried. we smiled far more than we frowned. and we were all so grateful that our dear jen-jen left the corporal world while having a sweet dream. i wish that lovely exit to all those near to my heart.
the other foto above is of my sibilngs and my dear grandmother, res. mama. [left 2 right: annie, res., joey, maria, vicky].
HAHAHAHA – first of all, 3-year-old Uncle Joey is the cutest thing ever. Secondly, you called my dad Vicky. I can’t stop laughing. I might “accidentally” call him that when I see him next.
P.S. Look at my dad in that pic, and that is EXACTLY how Skyler looks right now. Eggs. Act. Lee.
yeah, vicky’s the name. feel free to quote at will.
this is how i imagine joey’s birth: he walks outta the womb with a buster brown ensemble (striped shirt, solid shorts, matching striped sox), black oxfords and a briefcase. it was all business, right from the get-go. very efficient, very smart and very determined. it’s very, very cute in miniature–scary as life-size. but not scary bad, scary good.