Unexpected Family Reunion

My husband has never really spent much time with his family; other than with his siblings and parents and even that time is time spent sparingly.  The only exception being "the sisters".  The sisters are 4 cousins on Jon's father's side of the family.  Growing up these four girls and Jon and his brother and sister spent a lot of time together; Jon's grandmother lived with them.  Jon's Grandma and their Grandma were sisters.  When I started dating Jon (I was a senior in high school) I would go with the family to visit "Grandma Far Away" as she was called.  Jon started calling this Grandma that when he was a little boy to keep his Grandma's straight in his mind - one grandma lived close to him and this grandma lived about an hour away - thus "Grandma Far Away".  Anyways... Grandma Far Away lived with these sisters so when we would go to visit they would all be there.  To this day we still keep in close contact with Barb, one of the sisters; and the other three we see several times a year.


Last Sunday Barb called Jon.  She was very excited.  She is a nurse at a nursing home and had just found out that their great aunt, Olga, was a temporary resident there for rehab.  Auntie Olga was their grandmothers' sister-in-law and had been a big part of their lives growing up.  I had met Auntie Olga at our wedding and at a couple funerals.  Jon had just recently spoke to her last year to tell her of his father's passing away.  She had been unable to attend the funeral as she was not well herself. She is 89 years old and has difficulty seeing and getting around but her mind is sharp as a tack!


We made plans to go visit her and after work on Wednesday headed to the nursing home.  Barb had already stopped in to see her and said she remembered her and was happy to see her.  We arrived at the home and signed in.  Jon noticed that Barb's sister, Cathy, was already there.  As we walked into the room, Olga's son (Dennis) was also there.  Everyone remembered Jon (and even me!).  Dennis immediately called his sister and she said she'd come right over to see Jon.  She also had their other brother with them, Steve, so he would come, too.  Jon had not seen any of these cousins for 35 years or better.  They walked into the room and much hugging and talking and laughing ensued.  Olga was enjoying this impromptu reunion immensely!  Stories were remembered and there was much catching up to do.  Suddenly a visit that I figured would be about 45 minutes to an hour had turned into almost three hours!  My planned breakfast for dinner for that night was not going to happen.  I knew we would be stopping somewhere to grab a quick bite to eat on the way home.  We did end up at Rockne's and ate unhealthy burgers and fries; but boy did it taste good!


As we were leaving I stood beside Auntie Olga and said "Let's not wait another 20 or 30 years to see one another!"  Her reply was "Yeah, I won't be around then."  I chuckled and said, "I may not be either!"  She grabbed my hands and began to rub them, saying "Well here - let me give you some of my good long life!"