happy birthday eve

Today. One year ago my nanna eve passed away while my mother held her hand. she died in the "parlor" of the home she'd had since 1940. the house that my grandfather bought and paid for (with his hard earned money and the military pension my nanna received after my grandpa died in ww2). the house with the beauty shop in the cellar. the house with the art deco collander on the wall. the house of secrets,tea cups,gold shoes,fur stoals (sp?),and chocolate almond ice cream.

In my gaze, as I drove past the barely illuminated sign of the arrowhead inn I read: Happy Birthday Eve.

Indeed sweet evelyn. I miss you. I love you.....thank you for all those halloween cards that you sent me in the middle of june just to make me laugh. thanks for the new washing machine when that beat up one died. thanks for the walks to the hojo's those cool summer new york nights for the best ice cream Ever served up right in metal dishes. thanks for teaching me about life. about the elderly. about death. about how much fun it really is to sit in a chair and have someone spin it around so fast you almost fall out of it. thank you for creating treasure out of jelly beans and old coins. thanks for sharing a bowl of fresh sweet blueberries with me and Da (my sister) that one day soon after my family started to fall apart. thanks for the phone calls. I was only 10 and we talked for hours.

Every child in the neighborhood loved her. She never remarried after my gpa Alfred passed on. She said she had dreams of him before she had ever met him..which is why she eloped with him after only a few dates. She always said he was around her...so she was never really alone.

little sicilian fire cracker. there is so much I could tell you about her. she was first generation in her family to be born in america. she never finished school but got her g.e.d...put her self through beauty school, dental assistant school and a dietician program as well. She took care of my great uncle peter,who had been stabbed by his nutty wife 14 times,until the day he passed away. she was born in 1921. she only had one gray hair. she never looked her age. Her last remaining months of life she spent watching movies and eating as much chocolate and sweet goodies as she could get...then she started whispering to her mother and my grandpa...she saw them around her...and she was so pleased to see them...she had not one moment of fear...just grace.

so peace to her....peace to her re-birth ..where ever the re-born go...to the wind that gives wings smooth flight or the spinning of currents that give brooks their voice...

where ever you are...i hear you still..

Peace