Flag Day 2017

This is my cousin, Reta Weitzel Gilmore, celebrating Flag Day in about 1966.  She said she thought the celebration was for her mother's birthday.  I have promised not to say how old her mother would have been that year because I do not want you to "do the math."

In my mind's eye, I can see a picture of her mother at my 3rd birthday.  Her mother would have been 13 that year.

Oh me, I 'm telling you more than she wants you to know.

Okay - let me tell you what I want you to know.

Pauline Elizabeth Nesmith Weitzel is my mother's youngest sister.  My mother is 14 years her senior, and there are three sisters between them.  My parents married when Aunt Beth was still a little girl and when Ellie Capp and I were born, she became what we now think of as our older sister.

This is Aunt Beth.
She has always "been there for me".
Through my growing up years - although she was away -marrying Uncle Bill when I was 10, when I came back to Jacksonville in 1982 - still away - I think she lived in Chicago then but would soon move to Oklahoma - to the last 15 or so years now living in Florida.  And as my mother ages, she is a great support!

When I am sad, she makes me laugh. When I am angry, she suggests the other side.  When I am unsure of myself, she restores  my confidence.
When she goes on a journey, she offers the use of her car. When I need to relax, she shares "her" beach. When I can't decide what to wear - she suggests an accessory.

My mother and I share a commonality.  We both got a sibling when we were 14 years of age.  And my sibling (Lester) and Aunt Beth share a commonality.  They both got a niece when they were 10.  I have since that time (45+ a few months later) felt that was a dear thing for Lester and Aunt Beth to share and I have believed that my Becca is blessed to have Lester for an uncle...

Just as I am blessed to have Pauline Elizabeth Nesmith Weitzel (and is that not the most charming name?) to be my aunt.  Happy Birthday,  PEN.

May your life be filled with enough sunshine

to make you appreciate the shadows