Opinion - Edie's kids

It had also been that long since her four daughters - Judy, Karen, Bonnie and Kathy - all got together at the same time. That was until the last few weeks here in Saratoga Springs.

You see, I refer to Kathy as Mom, and the others are Aunt Judy, Aunt Karen and Aunt Bonnie. Currently, Mom lives in Saratoga, Judy calls Montana home, Karen is in Massachusetts and Bonnie resides in Oklahoma. With the four women so spread out, it’s been difficult to get them all together.

My mother and father were able to pull the reunion off in a crowded house over on Glenwood Drive. Just to up the ante or auntie in this case, Karen brought her granddaughter, Taylor, along. Add in my sister, Lisa, her husband, Cory, their baby daughter, Maya, their beloved dog, Nike, and there wasn’t a spare room or space. Also, my other sister, Tami, showed up with her baby daughter, Anna, to surprise us all. Are you confused yet? Not as much as I was once the four sisters got in a room together.

I don’t recall if it was during a game of Mexican Train dominos or while devouring one of the 100 or so pies from Grandma’s Country Restaurant in Colonie we ate, but I heard words come out of my mother’s mouth that I had never heard before. They were the kind of words that would make even the late great comedian George Carlin blush. Since this is a family newspaper, I cannot print them in these pages nor would I ever want to.

I blame it all on her sisters for they have forever tarnished the once saintly image I had of Mom. I can only imagine what my grandmother would say about it all, though I heard a few curse words slip out of her mouth when we worked together at the Gideon Putnam Hotel during the mid-1990s.

Bonnie was the first to arrive and soon after, the laughter began and it didn’t end until they had all left. It was refreshing to see the four interact and reminisce about years gone by. While many families are divided these days, these four are united and their love for one another was very apparent.

As you can see in the picture to the right, my mother was the youngest and her older sisters still kid her about being “adopted.” In the other photo is a picture of the “fifth sister” - my Aunt Mary - whom they visited in Schenectady. Earlier this year, my Uncle Frank - Mary’s husband - passed and thinking of him also brings back a lot of great memories.

Which brings us back to Grandma Edie - the matriarch of this side of the family. She would be so proud of how everyone’s doing and we all miss her dearly. She was a beacon of bright light through the mostly good and some bad times for each of us. When I look at my Mom and my aunts, I see Edie in each of them. When I look at my sisters, I see Grandma. Now with my two new nieces - Maya and Anna - I’m seeing her once again and such is the cycle of life. I would give anything to have her here to hold her great-granddaughters. I bet she would also bring along a bar of soap to straighten her daughters out. I can’t wait until the next time they crowd a home.