Another Birthday to Celebrate

My wonderful Grandma would've been 85 years old today. She was an incredible woman in so many ways. At the same time, she could be very frustrating but I loved her all the same.

One of the things I miss most in this world is our Sunday lunches at her house. We'd cram 12+ people around one dinner table with about 15 different dishes of food and just laugh and catch up, talk about inappropriate things, and just enjoy each other's company.

She would start preparing food the night before and continue cooking right up until lunch time. On many occasions she even forgot that she cooked something and had left it in the microwave.

When I was little she would walk all of us grandkids down the street after lunch to this pond and let us feed the ducks. I really wish I had a picture of all of us walking down the street with bags of bread in hand.

Grandma worked at "the shop" as the book keeper, bill collector, personal chef, accountant, etc. In her teeny tiny office she had a wall of pictures, mostly of the grandchildren, but she also had some pictures of customers' kids, second cousins, third cousins, and some I didn't even recognize. There was also a picture of Jesus that she would acknowledge every time she walked past it. When the shop closed we all just assumed she took the pictures down and did give it another thought. Life went on and Grandma lost her 3 year battle to cancer in 2008. My Mom and Uncle had the honor of cleaning out her house after she passed away. When they got to her room and shut the door, they saw this:

She had transferred almost all of those pictures to the back of her bedroom door and none of us knew it. It brought me to tears when I saw this for the first time.

My awkward phase made it onto the door and even a picture of Thomas that I added after he was born.

Rose Cannova was many things: a great chef, devoted wife, cunning business woman, smooth talker, a mother, and most importantly to me, a Grandma.

Happy Birthday Grandma! I love you.