the clapper

So today is Gramma Funny's 93rd birthday. That's right, and yesterday was the day of celebration. Apparently people on the Funny side of the family live forever...and by forever I mean most of them make it past 100 - which I find very impressive. It's also comforting to think that J will probably outlive me and I won't be a sad lonely widow...of course the flip side of that is that J would be a sad, lonely widower so I guess now I'm not really comforted at all. Now I feel all sad and despondent thinking about us being dead so I'm going to change the subject.

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So the gang assembled at Gramma and Grampa Funny's new apartment and we had a gay old time. One thing they never show in commercials for the clapper ("Clap on! Clap off! The clapper!") is that someone laughing loudly can turn the lights off. They also never depict what I find to be, by far, the most amusing benefit: eight adults all clapping furiously trying to turn the light back on and eventually giving up and talking in the dark until somebody laughs really hard again and the light finally comes on again.

Like I said, Gramma Funny is 93 and oh...the stories that older people can tell. For instance, when they first got married Grampa and Gramma Funny bought a farm and it didn't have electricity. When Gramma was pregnant with her first child (Pa's oldest sister) she was dreading having to start a fire in the middle of the night just to warm a bottle...but Grampa got the electricity hooked up at last right before Gramma and baby got home from the hospital. It is truly an amazing thing and listen to her rattle on about things like that, it blows my mind to even think of living without electricity!

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On Tuesday I had the van. Oh! Freedom! I have purposely not been counting the days since Ruby, the car of greatness, died. But it's been a long time and I was starting to go crazy and so we worked it out for me to have the van for a day. It had been so long since I've been the driver that I grabbed my purse and coat (and gloves and hat and scarf...darn you, winter!) and was standing outside the passenger door for a few seconds before I realized that I had the keys and would have to let myself in.

I drove all over and looked at many Christmas-bedecked stores and felt oh so jolly. I bought wrapping paper so that I could come home and start wrapping presents (one of my favorite things to do), I got some more stocking stuffers for J and yes, I picked up some groceries while I was out. I got stamps and...well I guess that was it, but it was a day of greatness and I enjoyed it thoroughly.