"I am restless, I am restless,

...I am restless looking for you."

Normally we spend this weekend celebrating the birth and life of my uncle and grandma. This year was different though since we are missing a key component of the celebration: my grandma. It actually ended up not being a sad day though. We started off at the cemetery with my family including my dad's brother and sister (the matriarch now) and their spouses. The next time I go I'm going to have to take a picture of the cross there, because it is H U M ON G O U S. It's like 10 people tall and bright and shiny. Awesome.

My grandma was placed in this humongous maze of walls (she picked her spot out herself. In fact, according to my aunt she used to visit the place with her niece? cousin? every so often and hang out. They picked out spots right next to each other) and so we said "hi" to her sister (I'm pretty sure it was her sister-- and it was more like her sister's plaque...) and then went to my grandma's spot. My dad, being the awesome man he is, continued the discussion he had with my mom the first time they visited. How does everyone fit in the wall? Last time he actually laid on the ground trying to measure it, but this time he was too nicely dressed. While we were there we heard this incredibly creepy banging noise coming from the wall and my dad went around to the other side to investigate. He had us come over and there was this terrible scratching noise- it honestly sounded like someone was trying to come out! Echhh

From left to right: My grandma (93 at the time) and the aforementioned cousin/niece

We left my grandma and then went on the other side of the street to visit some other family members (it was kind of surreal- we were just making the rounds). My grandma's mom is buried just down the way from Al Capone so we stopped by his grave. There was a handful of coins scattered on his marker. Apparently people still leave behind coins, cigars, flowers, and booze for him.

After that we drove past my mom's old house as my mom told stories, and then we made it to my aunt's house (my dad's sister) for lunch. More stories were told, records played (including Pepino the Italian Mouse), pictures passed around, and way too much food was made and eaten (as always).

Overall it was a really good day, and then it was ended with 5.5 hours of time and a half at work. Hurray!

Lately I feel like my head has been in the past. Part of me just wants to know EVERYTHING about my grandma and it makes me sad that I didn't spend more time keeping track of all her stories in her mind. To me she is the biggest enigma ever-- a tremendously classy woman who loved and cared for SO MANY PEOPLE and yet a spunky girl who broke the rules from time to time and was a flirt. I love her sides, and I love how you can't just throw her into a category and be done with it.

My other grandma (my mom's mom) is the exact same way. It's really awesome.

Best parts of today:
-Being with family
-No dancing men at work (whenever I work in the music dpt it seems like the old men always end up dancing to the music and I NEVER know what to do)
-I'm reading Little Women. I never read it before, but I loved the movie growing up and it's reminding me so much of my childhood! The book is fantastic so far.
-THE WEATHER