the young woman on the left is my great aunt ella, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday. they tell me she was probably about 25 years old when this photo was taken. she quit golfing 8 years ago, and finally turned over the keys to her enormous lincoln a year later. ella has always been one of my favorite relatives, i can remember her organizing my brothers and i into a pseudo-squad of the sss to illustrate a point in the rise and fall of the third reich- her current read.
the young woman on the right is my first-born, who has been one of my favorite people in the entire world from the day she made her entrance into our lives. she also is 25 in her photo, taken at the awarding of her masters degree from nyu. her reading list is one that very few people will tackle in their lives, she is working on a doctorate in medieval literature. to say that i'm proud of her doesn't begin to encompass it all.
my mother thinks that the two of them look incredibly alike. i guess i can see it. mostly i like to think that the wonderful drive i've known in aunt ella will flourish in my daughter.
the romaniac ran in our local race for the cure a little while back. he received a gorgeous long-sleeve 4 color tee, which he instantly dumped on the couch. it was the bonus pink tee that he's insisted on wearing for days on end. while in negotiations to get it off his back long enough to wash, i asked him if he was sure he was a man's man, since that's what it takes to wear pink. "why don't you wear the other one you got?" he drew back, eyebrows raised and sputtered, "are you kidding me? that one has the word breast on it!"
