found drama

Just back from Maine where we helped my maternal grandparents to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Grandpa didn’t want the pageantry of a full-on cake, so we talked him down to cupcakes:

(The cupcakes in lieu of cake.)

It’s been a little hard for me to come to grips with it. I was certainly eager to help them celebrate 50 years (!!!) but my Grandpa has been pretty sick these past couple of months. I’d been trying to “head in the sand” it a little bit but my mother in her wisdom assigned me the project of coming up with a slideshow for the event. Burned down to DVD, I managed to fit 218 photos into about 20 minutes without it being too tedious or boring. More so, I then took it upon myself to get the scans over into a little book (thank you, iPhoto) that folks could inscribe their well wishes.

(Their best man from the wedding makes the toast for the 50th.)

A bit trying, emotionally but we all got through it. Even if I did almost lose it when my Grandpa stood up to announce that he was leaving. “I’m getting to old for this sort of partying.” The man has an awe-inspiring presence. Such a charm and charisma – – it’s no wonder he’s managed to keep my Grammie around for 50 years.

That said, the highlight of the weekend came when the photographer snapped a picture of my Grandpa and the best man. Grandpa was explaining the connection to the photographer. “This is John Gallagher. He was the best man at my wedding.” Then he pauses a moment, eyebrow raised. “Actually, no. I was better.”

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