JACK

Yesterday my mother called to tell me that Jack would probably not make it through the night.

I wonder if he did?

Jack....was married to my grandmother's youngest sister Jo. Jack and Jo had Debbie who had long red hair and could play the piano.

When I went to church with my grandmother, I sat with Jack and Jo while my grandmother played.   She always had mints and Jack always had a wink.

Through my young eyes, they were very old.  Like 100.  Jack had wavy hair with brillcream and Jo had pointy glasses and red lips.

Today I realize they were not old at all..in fact younger than I am right now.  Today I  imagine they had a life.  A life that was fun and interesting and much more than I knew.

My mother told me that Jo had begun to forget and even called the police on Jack as an intruder in their home.  This is what the vow means "for better or worse".

Jack is 90.  If I live to be 90, that means I have about 36 more years of a fun and interesting life.  I would imagine that 6 year olds think I am about a 100.  I have pointy glasses when I read and red lips. B has nice hair and black shiny shoes.  I imagine 16 year olds think we are about 100.

When they get to be our age, they will understand that this is really the age life gets interesting.  Good friends, good food, good wine, travel and maybe a bit of wisdom from lessons learned along the way.

My sister, Jack's niece, just bought herself a sparkly lace dress.  I won't tell her age, but she has about 39 good years left for a fun and interesting life.  I would imagine 6 year olds would be surprised that someone 100 like her would even care about a dress to twirl in.

But she did.

And now I know...so did Jack and Jo.