Artificial Limbs Flying Everywhere!!!

Tonight Ross and I joined my dad's side of the family to celebrate my grandmother's 95th birthday. My grandma (Thelma) lives at Imperial Plaza over in Bellvue, so we all met up with her and some of her friends in one of the party rooms there to throw down. I had myself a quality meatloaf dinner, and even had a balloon tied to my chair! My grandmother seemed really happy, and it was nice to see that she and her lady friends take good care of one another. One of her friends is named Helen, and she's just about the funniest person I've ever met.

Helen informed us that she had spent her whole life living 3/4 mile away from Imperial Plaza, so she's a hard-core Richmonder through and through. Ross and I could tell she was immediately by the way she pronounced "house." People who are Old Richmond say "house" in a way that sounds almost Canadian, but a little more slurred. Needless to say, once we made this connection, she was our favorite of the ladies joining us. But little did we know that our love for her would grow the more and more she talked.

Helen is one of those elderly ladies who seems to say whatever she wants, basically because she's old and she can. She told a bunch of stories over dinner, but my favorite had to do with old people on a cruise, fog, and a prosthetic leg. According to Helen, some friends of her took a cruise up to Alaska (or around Alaska, I dunno-I just know that my grandmother took a similar cruise a couple times-maybe old people like it?). One morning, this couple was strolling along the deck, making their way to the dining room for breakfast. As it was foggy, the deck was a little slippery. Unfortunately the older gentleman slipped and hit the ground with such force THAT HIS ARTIFICIAL LEG FLEW OFF AND SLID INTO A CROWD OF PEOPLE. In my mind, I pictured all of these elderly people being plowed over like bowling pins by this rogue, soaring leg. Needless to day, I almost died from the hilarity of it all, and Helen seemed happy to have given us all a chuckle.

Anyway, it was a good time had by all, and it was nice to see my grandma smile so much. Happy Birthday, T-dawg!!!!!