More family doings

This past weekend, my Jerry and I traveled to PA for the Blass Family Reunion, an annual event that is celebrated by various offspring of the seventeen Blass siblings of the early twentieth century.  My maternal grandmother was second oldest, with my great aunt Lena being her older sister.

My grandmother had five children, my mother was the youngest by five years and she was the only girl.  Of those five children, one still lives; Larry is 73 and not in the best of health.  So it was really good to see him for a bit.

One of the original Blass siblings still lives, at age 91, Ethyl is fairly active and gets around quite well.  Flo is the spouse of one of the Blass siblings, she celebrated her 90th birthday this spring.  The reunion was held at what had been her house, now her grandson's.

My Jerry, me, and Chiquita
Blass Family Reunion
PA, July 2015

Although Jerry and I had our TearDrop camper with us, we stayed in the house.  Becky and Allen were so very gracious and welcoming.  Our three lil girls were spoiled and indulged much.  Sophie appointed herself monitor and sounded the alarm when vehicles trundled up the drive, nevermind that she was new and those arriving were not.  Libby had great fun with all the farm animals, she would most likely have been quite content if we "forgot" to load her into the car for the thousand mile return trip.  Even Chiquita got over her trembles and let some children pet her.

There were cousins and their kids and grandkids that made it down from Rochester, NY.  I've not seen them for thirty years or more!  If not for FaceBook, I probably wouldn't have recognized them at all...well, yes, I would have; the boys are Everts, through and through!

It certainly was a trip down memory lane, some folks telling stories of shared memories.  There was food there that I've not had since I left PA twenty years ago.  Wet bottom shoo fly pie was an extra special treat.

I thought lots of mom, often.  Folks talked with me some about her, and also her mom.  My grandmother died of heart disease, at age 64.  Mom died of heart disease as well, at age 67.

Altho I knew these things before, it really was an eye opener to realize how heavy I am, how limited in mobility I've become, how hard it has become to do simple activities, and how out of breath I am ~~ disproportionately so for the amount of effort it should take.