Party people

We celebrated Ben's birthday with a pool party yesterday.  It was a beautiful day and great fun and I can't believe I forgot my camera. =(

But here are a few of the cousins at the "after party."

Where was this "after party?"

Well ... the girls are sitting at the foot of their grandmother's bed...
in the hospital.
(everything is okay. notice they are smiling =D)

My mom is an amazing woman.
For many reasons, actually. Not the least of which is her ability to bounce back from difficulty.
She had gallstones. And it was severe and serious (especially because she's 93), and the doctor was talking operation, but she passed the thing (or things, I'm not really sure how that works).

Now, I'm pretty convinced that the process of passing a gallstone would have probably killed me.  Just writing about it is making me a little nauseous.  Come to think of it, I'm sure it would have killed me (but that's not important right now).

But, not my mom.  I say this with more than just a little awe.
Once she got through the painful part, she invited everyone to come for a visit and keep her company.
There were three more people in the room at this time, by the way. She was delighted to have her daughters and grandchildren present and she was cracking jokes and making us laugh.

My sisters and I are crazed from the stress. Manifesting itself in headaches and throwing out a back and lots of tears.
My mom?
She was more upset that Amy missed the commotion.

"Los paramedicos que me atendieron eran TAN GUAPOS!"
("The paramedics that tended to me were SO HANDSOME.")

Talk about glass-half-full!
Me? I'm a little partied out.

I need to go lay down for a little while. ;-)