I’ve been enjoying hanging out with my cousins, some of whom I’ve never met before, and it was good to see Aunt Peg look so happy. Last night at her birthday dinner everyone was misty. Her great-grandchildren all gave her gag-gifts, and by the end of the evening she looked like a well-loved version of Maxine (from the greeting cards), with pink plastic birthday sunglasses, and a birthday tiara worn over her birthday straw hat, and a joke ear horn. She’s such a good sport, and seriously, she looks 75, not 90.

She says she’s “beginning to feel old now.”

During dinner there were phone calls from friends and family who couldn’t make it here, and that was touching as well.

Today we are splitting our time between brunch with my family and the afternoon with Fuzzy’s family, and then tomorrow we’re leading my parents to Minneapolis to see Ira’s daughter.

I’m still not able to shake this cough, but I feel mostly better, though I barely slept last night. I’m in that, “I really wanna be home now” stage, but still enjoying myself, for the most part.

I miss my dogs.