A visit to my old hometown putting to rest a great lady and the road to Inverness.

On the way to the cemetery this part of my home town is largely huge houses behind huge walls.

This past weekend my parents and I drove down to our old home town in CT to meet up with the rest of the family to bury my grandmother Dorothy's ashes who died last December at the great age of 102. As timing had it we actually buried her on her 103rd birthday kismet i think. I have a strange relationship with death I don't always think its a bad thing or maybe even often think its a good thing. My grandmother was ready to go and took the matter into her own hands and stopped eating she had made her mind up and god bless her for it. I think the notion of keeping people alive when they want to die is a form of torture people should be given a way out when they need one I know I know there must be religious and cultural reasons this isn't the way things are but I don't have that burden I am an atheist. Why would any God want us to suffer oh scratch that what a loaded question and I don't have the strength, time or knowledge to argue comparative religion right now.

After the service at the cemetery we all got into our cars and made our way to my Brother Dave's restaurant Cafe Mirage and had lunch together. As sad as saying farewell to my Grandmother (who last time I saw her on her 100th bday came over to me and patted me on my end and said you were also such a good girl) it was so nice to spend time and catch up with my extended family which of course in the modern world we live in I do not get to see very often. We enjoyed the beautiful food my brother had prepared had a few drinks and told great stories making us laugh out loud and wipe our eyes at the same time. A fitting tribute to be sure  she was a great lady.

the great grand kids

I will share my favorite Dot story. About 15 years ago or so some of the family decided we would rent a house in Scotland for a small family reunion. One day we decided we would take Dot up to Inverness where her father was born so my parents, dot and I get into the rental car and make our way North. Not very far into our trip the traffic comes to a halt due to a horrific car accident and we are stuck for hours in non moving traffic. My dad has little to no patience when it comes to things like this and the tension was running high. Thankfully my Grandmother by this point in her life was pretty deaf so my dad's mumblings and swearings under his breath were lost on her. My mother promptly found a xanax in her purse took it and looked at me and said i love you daughter but there are limits. Finally traffic eases and we make our way to Inverness after what felt like an epic battle. Nobody had the foresight to research things to do in Inverness so we found a pub and had a great lunch my father commented to his mother well at least you have now seen Inverness in which she replied oh I have been here before. Yes I thought my dads head would explode.

Grandma Dot on her 100th bday,