The Way of the Crab(b)

This past weekend, I attended a family reunion. Since it was on my mother's side, it was a big deal. Since I have not seen my mother for almost 18 years, I felt pretty good that I was included in this party. My mother never goes to the reunion, so I was not worried she would be there. My grandmother's maiden name was CRABB. There were 6 children born into the Crabb family, my grandmother being the youngest. Now she is the only one left. She will be 88 years old in December and lives in a nursing home in Marshalltown, IA. My aunt Kay(my mother's sister) and my uncle(her husband), are so wonderful. She is the total opposite of my mother. She is a fun loving no holds barred woman...how much I love that and never fully appreciated that when I was a child growing up. My aunt and uncle live in Marshalltown and never left, so she has bared the brunt of living in the same town as my grandmother all these years. My mother left town. I am not the only one my mother has abandoned. She has done the same thing to my brother and her own family, my aunt and grandmother included. I know that she is waiting for my grandmother to die because she thinks she is getting some money. I have a feeling she will be greatly disappointed.

So, every year some member of this entourage throws the "CRABB REUNION". This time it was one my mother's cousins, Sharon...whom I didn't know or remember. These people I am sure I have not seen since I was quite young. I walked into the church where it was held and Sharon says "You're Julie, right?" I said yes, in shock. She says, "I knew it was you....dare I say, you look just like your mother." Great I thought LOL

This CRABB REUNION is a big deal....they have minutes written down and how much was raised from the sale of the CRABB FAMILY COOKBOOK and everything that went down the year before. It's very organized. The decor was CRABs everywhere and there were door prizes. I was the first one to win, so I picked out a rainbow neon colored stuffed crab LOL No one would ever know just how appropriate that was! LOL It was a nice time as I sat with my grandmother. People have laughed who have known my grandmother, when I say her maiden name was Crabb. My grandmother, a staunch German, all her life has been quite a cold woman...though she has mellowed as she's gotten older. She's told me she loves me and cries when I visit her in the nursing home. She's always been pretty bossy, it's her nature and all my life, I've been used to getting up and doing this and doing that. So I was on bathroom patrol with my grandmother. She is pretty weak and I know she can take herself to the bathroom, though it is hard for her. So when she asks me, I can't refuse. I have to laugh and wonder why I always get these jobs! Who ever thought all those years ago I would end up wiping my grandmother's end? LOL

My aunt has been interested in my writing and has wanted to read THE PURSE, or finish it. I brought it for her and gave it to her. She is going to try to finish it by Christmas as after that she and my uncle go to their house in Arizona for the winter. She wants me to get published so I can stick it to my mother, since she obviously thinks I would turn out to be no good at all. It's a good feeling to see all these other people that are a part of my family...people I've never really known. Life goes on....