A Celebration & a Farewell

Happy Birthday Grandpa!
There are a number of family birthdays in March, so this year we traveled to Ohio to celebrate one - Grandpa's.  Grandpa turned "37" (his words, not ours) on March 14.  Fortunately the weather was lovely and Anna caught a flight to Dayton with her parents to Columbus to celebrate with Grandpa.

The weekend was a Northwest Ohio road trip.  After picking up Anna and company in Dayton, Grandma and Grandpa drove to Columbus so that we could see Uncle Tim's new house.  Uncle Rod and Courtney joined in the festivities as the family took Grandpa out for steak on his birthday.  While one would think having the family together would have been the best birthday present for Grandpa, his greatest joy of the day was attempting to fix Uncle Tim's sub-pump with Joe.  This required a trip to Home Depot and a lot of engineering discussions before realizing that a new sub-pump was needed.

After spending the night at Uncle Tim's, it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  There was more discussion about the sub-pump on the way home and on Monday morning Grandpa and Joe went to the hardware store, where Grandpa purchased a new sub-pump.  That afternoon it was back to the airport, where Grandma and Grandpa dropped of Anna and her parents before driving back to Columbus so that Grandpa could install the sub-pump at Uncle Tim's house.  We can all rest easy knowing that Uncle Tim's basement will be dry.  Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Anna's 1st recital....and Ms. Rosa's last recital
Sadly, March 14 marked the passing of our friend, former neighbor, and Anna's first piano teacher Ms. Rosa (or Grandma Rosa as she was known to Anna).  Rosa immigrated to the U.S. from Argentina and was an energetic person with a zest for life.  She never met a stranger and had a gift for making you feel like you were the most special person in the room.  She taught piano for 62 years, often saying that she had the best job in the world.  Anna practices on Rosa's first piano in the U.S. (we bought it from her daughter) and was the recipient of lots of music from Rosa when she retired. 
Rosa always had cookies and candy for Anna (and everyone else for that matter) and was constantly giving her gifts.  She and her husband Bill would occasionally serve as babysitters for Anna (usually on Joe and Theresa's anniversary).  We were fortunate that we got to see her one more time the week before she died.  Despite her illness, she still had candy and a present waiting for Anna.  She was a wonderful person and we are fortunate to call her our friend. 


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