Sunday, December 14, 2008

100?!?! Hot damn.

Check out the babe on the right.

That's the Grandma Noodles (aka, Grammy) who is celebrating her 100th birthday today!

That's right. Take a moment and think. 100. Years. Old.

Looks damn good, doesn't she?

She was born on Dec. 14, 1908, when Theodore Roosevelt was still in office. She's lived through at least six major U.S. wars, seen women get the right to vote, Prohibition, the Great Depression, the polio vaccine, Kennedy's assassination, a man walking on the moon, the Internet, a now an soon-to-be-sworn-in black president.

Today, she still lives on her own in Maryland (although she needs more help than she used to and begrudgingly gave up driving just months ago.)
I flew home for her birthday celebration this weekend and I informed her that she needed to take a sip of her champagne after she opened each of the massive pile of gifts stacked in the living room.

As you can see...

... she totally played ball. (Or maybe, being the only grandchild on both sides totally gives me magic powers.)

Since I played the Grammy's Birthday Drinking Game too, I was a little sloshed and got camera happy. Here's some of the highlights.

Grammy getting her special fancy pants citation from the governor of Maryland for being 100:


The quilt I made her:



A picture of her looking at old pictures -- in this one, she's with my parents on their wedding day, 40 years ago:

And finally, here's the coolest thing ever. My parents got her some custom-made M&Ms. She thought they were cool. So did the waitress at the restaurant who a) recognized my grandmother from the YMCA, where apparently they both work out every day and b) thought the candy was so cool she wanted to take a few home to her mom.

For the record, I was sort of loaded at this point in the evening, which explains why I excused myself from the table -- camera in hand -- with a plate full of M&Ms to go to the lady's room because there was better light for my picture taking.

Yeah. I know.


Yes. That's a picture of her. On the freakin' M&Ms.



So, here's a toast to good health and more birthdays for the lovely Grammy. And, you know, that longevity is genetic.



1 comment:

The Modern Gal said...

That is one spry looking centarian! She really does not look 100 years old. Happy birthday, granny!