Great Aunt Hallie

Today my Great Aunt Hallie arrived from Alaska. She is in Sandpoint for her 60th high school reunion. Hard to believe that she graduated 60 years ago. She is just a spit fire and full of life. Aunt Hallie is my Grandma Jean's sister. Grandma has been gone since November of 1996. It was so good to see Aunt Hallie. I was, however, unprepared for the range of emotions I would feel in seeing her. First of all Aunt Hallie and my Grandma look so much alike. Not surprising considering they are sisters. But since Grandma has been gone, I only have a few pictures of her and while my memories of her face are vivid, seeing Aunt Hallie made them so very real. I so wanted Grandma to see her sister today. I wanted to see them chatting and laughing while they reminicsed about the past. Those girls have some funny stories.

Aunt Hallie is planning a trip with her life time best friend Noonie. Noonie and her graduated from high school together and after they celebrate their 60th high school reunion are also planning to spend some time in Montana and Wyoming retracing some of their steps they took in their youth. Noonie also joined us for part of the afternoon as we vistited with Aunt Hallie.

Aunt Hallie and Noonie

Listening to Aunt Hallie and Noonie talk was such a treat. They teased each other like school girls. They talked about visiting one of Noonie's ex-boyfriends while they are traveling and such. I think Noonie blushed when we asked her about the gentleman. It was cute. But the cutest antecdote was when Hallie and Noonie compared the length of each other's eye lashes! I guess growing up neither of them had much for eye lashes. But as they have gotten older both of them have been diagnosed with Glucoma. Apparently it was caught early for both of them and no damage was done to their vision. But the medication they use to treat their glucoma causes their eye lashes to grow to great lengths! Both of them are just tickled by that "side effect" of the medicine. They spent a moment batting their eye lashes at each other. It was very sweet.

Aunt Hallie reminds me so much of Grandma. They have the same twinkle in their eye, they even have wrinkles in the same places around their eyes. The same placed apple at her cheek. Aunt Hallie even tilts her head to one side when she smiles. Here are a few pictures of her just snapped as she talked.



This one I made her pause and pose for me. She is simply beautiful.

I also love Aunt Hallie's jewlery. She wore turquois earrings, necklace and rings on her hand. The rings were sinply amazing and of course she told a story about one of them and where she got the ring. She told this story about a family member and the way she told it reminded me so much of Grandma's story telling. She just holds nothing back. Even things that most people would leave out of a story, she shares. Things that would probably embarass the person it was being told about. She does not do it maliciously. Just very matter of factly. Very much like my Grandma (and me). But anyone that knows my family well would understand that these stories are part of our legacy and history. It was a story I had heard my Grandma tell before. They both had a twinkle in their eye when they got to the punch line. I just LOVED IT.
It was also strange that this morning I had this weird desire to wear my turquois necklace but decided againist wearing it because it didn't match my tank top very well. I know now that I should have worn it. Aren't her hands beautiful?!?!

Here is a picture of my Aunt Terrie, Great Aunt Hallie, My Mom, & my Uncle Dick.

It was truly a blessing to see her face and to hear her voice. I am so happy that I had this opportunity to spend time with her. It really did make me feel closer to my family and sparked some memories of my Grandma that I have not thought of in years. It was a fabulous day.