picking up pieces « cookiecrumbstoliveby

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Voltaire

Today Dad turns 86.
The picture above is of a birthday 82 years ago when dad turned 4.
His mother, my grandmother, Nany, was also born on March the 10th—She was 32 when dad was born providing, most likely, her most memorable birthday gift. Dad was 7 years younger than his big brother, my Uncle Paul who we lost several years ago when he was almost 90, making Dad the baby of the family—with my grandmother doing just that, pampering, babying and sheltering Dad throughout much of his young life.

Nany would turn 118 today—it’s most difficult for me to wrap my brain around the fact that she’s been gone from my life now for so long. She was the formidable one of the family although she stood at just a tad over 5 feet. I’ve written a couple posts referencing her, but she deserves her own story, of which I’ve promised myself to write. She died two years after I was married, the same year mother died. That year, that dreadful year of 1986, Dad lost the two most important women in his life, each within just months of one another. Mother died of cancer at age 53. Nany died from the complications of a stroke at age 88. That left Dad and I, picking up the pieces, all while forging ahead as best we knew how.
I suppose we’re still picking up pieces, he and I—it’s just that the pieces are a bit different these days. . .

Here’s Dad in a piecemeal football uniform, alongside my uncle, his older brother. After breaking a finger, Nany nixed the football, making him quit. Throughout the remainder of his life, he was never the athlete—however, he loves watching, to this day, his beloved alma-mater, The Georgia Tech Yellow jackets, playing football.