An Auntie Carolyn Sighting!

Although we have much more to report on, the news that many of our readers are waiting to hear pertains to our visit to see Aunt Carolyn on her birthday. We were out the door from our Big Bear accommodations promptly at 8:30 AM, having eaten our breakfast and dressed for church. The road down the mountain to Redlands and San Bernardino was soo serpentine that Bubby referred to it as the "curviest road in the world." Not sure about that.

We arrived in West Covina with about 40 minutes to spare, so we decided to stop by the old homestead on Grovecenter Street just to see how things looked. We will post the photos of our drive by "shooting" very soon.

When we got to the church, thanks to Tom Tom, we were immediately recognized as the children of Jasper and Edith. It seems that in the process of redefining boundaries many of the old Baldwin Park II ward members ended up in the Orangewood Ward, where we were attending. A member of the bishopric immediately spotted me as Grandpa's son. Unfortunately it has been so long since we have seen many of these people and we were unable to place some of them.

There was a lovely spirit in the testimony meeting, and we sat right next to Aunt Carolyn. We actually sandwiched her so both Bubb and I could maintain maximum contact. It was sooooo very good to see her, talk to her, and even squeeze on her a little bit. Best of all, she is very involved in her ward, and doing wonderful acts of service among its members.



While this is not the greatest photo of Aunt Carolyn, we couldn't pass up the chance to photograph her with my cousin Donna Marie (Uncle Leo and Aunt Donna Miner). She looked great and seems absolutely ageless.

We stayed the whole block and had many chances to remember Granny and Lumpy with the former members of their ward. While I was in High Priests, the Group Leader, mentioned that his wife visiting taught with Granny. He said he had been the beneficiary of some of Granny's sage advise, via his wife, just that week. Upon his telling me that story, one of the other brethern in the quorum announced, "Jasper Eves was my mentor in the Gospel." They did good in The Church all of their lives. We have a great legacy of service to live up to. It was an exceptionally fun day today, and we had lots of chances to remember Granny and Lumpy and all of our fun times together. It made us miss them more than ever.



Although it was Sunday, we decided to have lunch together at a strip mall sushi spot. The food was fine, the company much better. We talked for nearly two hours just enjoying being together. When it was time to go, there were hugs all around, and we parted company. We all promised to do a better job of staying in touch, however, since Aunt Carolyn is anti-email, it will be a challenge. I do have her cell phone number, though . . .

We drove south for about 90 minutes and arrived safely in Oceanside. We are installed in our digs, unpacked and ready for a ton of fun this week.

Buboppy