A good visit and some sweet retro

I had a really nice time with my folks and my sisters today! It was good to get caught up on things and hear how everyone is doing. (This is a picture from our family reunion last summer, sorry Dad isn’t in there.) Mom and Dad took us out for lunch at a Chinese buffet, and I got my one sister to try a bite of sushi--just a veggie roll. She was noncommittal, but didn't spit it out or anything, so I guess that was a pretty good sign. Ha!

One tense moment at the restaurant, when the check came, and my sister Sue grabbed it.

Mom: Susie, give Dad that check.

Sue: Let me get this. I'd really like to.

Mom: No, you don't. Give it to Dad. I'm going to get mad if you don't.

Sue: It's okay. I really want to do this.

[By this time, Dad is chuckling, Diana is outright laughing, and I'm wondering if my sister Sue has lost her mind]

Mom: Fine. Then I won't go get any ice cream.

Sue: Mom, go get some ice cream! Let me get this.

Mom: Nope. [sits back and crosses her arms] I'm not getting any.

Sue: But you just said you wanted some strawberry ice cream.

Mom: I do. But I'm not getting any now.

[Sue hands the check over to Dad]

Mom: Good. Now I can go get my ice cream. [walks off]

Dad: You see what I deal with? She's stubborn.

Me: Susie, you've been around longer than I have...you should know by now that's how she'd react!

I've learned that when Mom says stuff like "Don't get us anything," she means business. She gets more upset if we buy her something than she does if we don't. I know she loves getting cards or phone calls or visits, and sometimes I'll cross the boundaries and get her something I think she'll like, and know that I'll hear, "Honey, you didn't have to do that." I just say, "I know, but I wanted to."

After we left the restaurant, we stopped by to see my Uncle Burt (my Dad's brother, his only brother left), who is in poor health but looked pretty good today! He'll be 91 soon. We always did a lot with Uncle Burt and Aunt Margaret (she passed on many years ago), even going on vacations with them to their cabin in Minnesota. His son and his wife stay with him most of the time, but on Mondays, a guy from Hospice comes in, and he was there today. Just the nicest guy, a retired teacher, and we all had fun visiting. You should have seen Uncle Burt's face when the three of us girls followed Mom and Dad in...he said, "All three of you are here!" It was pretty cool, and I'm glad we stopped to see him. Mom said he'll probably tell everybody about how we all stopped by to see him today. Aww.

As we were talking, Dad showed us the letter opener that Uncle Burt made out of shell casings and bullets when he was in the Navy during WWII. Dad asked him if he still had the model planes that he'd made back then (also out of bullets), and Uncle Burt said yes, they're on the bookshelves in the basement. So we all went down there to see them, and they were very intricate and really neat! It had been years since I'd been in the basement of their house, and I was amazed to see some gorgeous retro furniture down there. Very sixties, and in just beautiful shape. Next time I see Doug (my cousin), I'm going to tell him that if they want to sell any of that furniture, please let me know. I would love to have some of it for the basement. It's so cool and retro, and I would love to take care of some of Uncle Burt's furniture. This picture isn't of one of the pieces, but there was a chair very similar to this one. Also sixties era couches with the original upholstery, still in great shape.

We've talked about doing retro stuff in the basement--I think it would be fun to put stuff like that down there, even more so if it were things from my family!

My sisters and I decided that we should do this more often, and Sue said, "Maybe next time we can take the convertible Mustang...?!" I said sure (if Ken gives the go-ahead, of course), but I think they'd better be careful what they wish for! I don't drive the speed limit, although I'm not a speed demon or anything (Diana has a Camaro, and there were times when I wanted to tell her to PUNCH IT!), and at highway speeds, you really take a battering with the top down. It's also pretty hard to talk, because of the wind, so we tend to really crank up the stereo. So get ready, big sisters, Little Sis is at the wheel! Heh heh heh....