3 weeks

Exactly 3 weeks from today I will be moving back to DC. Whoa.

It's been one crazy week. Plans for Passover, stomach bug, oversleeping one morning (oops), and death of a family member. In between all the madness was finalizing travel plans (to my parents house, to see my sister graduate, and then to DC), crazy spring weather, another friend getting a job (hurray!), and just the day-to-day stuff. Needless to say, there hasn't been too much crafting (but there has been lots of TV watching). Today I basted and started to quilt the Supernova quilt, as I want to get it done before I leave in a few weeks. It will be staying here with my sweetie. :)

My grandmother - my last living grandparent - passed away on Wednesday. She had been in a nursing home for a number of years with dementia. I made peace with her illness and ultimately the loss of the woman I actually remember from my childhood a long time ago. She died peacefully and painlessly after a long, fruitful life at the age of 91. She was always creative and quirky: visits to her apartment in Queens were filled with singing showtunes at the piano, wearing crazy hats, plenty of delicious sweets (Seven Layer Cake and other classic Jewish desserts) and crafts of all kind. She mostly painted but was always into art in general, buying me many a gift from the Met's gift shop. She definitely has influenced my own creativity and I'm sure she's so proud of my developing skills as a crafter and the person I've become in general. The funeral will be on Sunday (we're Jewish so Easter has no bearing on the plans, though we're not very religious so Passover doesn't dictate where/what we can eat after) and will be small. My grandma was filled with hilarious phrases and quirks - I look forward to sharing wonderful stories about her life with family and friends in a few days. She embodied so much of what is familiar about New York City Jewish culture (not to mention she was a constant source of Yiddish phrases) and always made me feel like living in NYC, even though she lived in a nursing home outside the city, bonded us in a small way. I know she's still singing along to "Carousel" and "Guys and Dolls" somewhere...

To Edna, and all her creativity. 1919-2011. xoxo.