The Merry Widow

I'm down in Vancouver (not BC) Washington (not DC) hanging out with Grandma Martha. We had a lovely afternoon sitting on the back deck, eating melted cheese on crackers and chatting about everything from Donald Trump to Italian-style meatloaf.

I've learned a lot. For example:

• Her parents almost named her Meta. 

• In Pittsburgh, a friend of her friend walked downstairs with a gun in a towel (so the kids wouldn't see) and shot her husband dead (her own husband, not my grandma's or my grandma's friend's). 

• She thought about being a nun but backed out for two reasons. 1) They wanted to know her dad's annual salary, which bugged her and 2) she heard the food wasn't very good. 

She talked to me for a long time about this particular track on a CD my mom made for her—'The Merry Widow'. She wanted me to hunt through the CDs and find it. I was worried I might not be able to. There was so much build up! 

"There's a song called 'The Merry Widow'. See if you can find it, will you? Yeah, look over there. Is it there? The song is called The Merry Widow. The Merry Widow!!!!"

"OK, I'm looking..."

"Try to find the one with The Merry Widow."

I went over to the CDs. I picked up one and read through the tracks. No luck. I picked up another. It had a big yellow Post-it on the case with large black lettering: 'THE ONE WITH THE MERRY WIDOW' Crisis averted.

Now it's almost bedtime. She's in her room watching Bachelor in Paradise (close captioned) and I'm going to take a bath. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. We're going towel shopping, either at PJ Maxx or Bed Blankets and Beyond.

I'll leave you with a snap of Martha Alice when she was just 26! I'm loving the dark nails.

Sweet dreams,
Margaret