Bit of an echo in here this morning!

[LadyA]

Golly. I'm all alone on here this morning.

Online: LadyA and 0 guests.

Bit creepy, with silence echoing all around! Think I'll just shut the door quietly and tiptoe away. Have to go collect mum anyway. Today is her 81st birthday, and I'm taking her down to see her twin sister. Her sister always comes up to mum to spend their birthday together, as they are the last of their family living. But, her sister is 81 now too, and it's a long drive. So I thought it would be nice to take mum down for an hour or two. We're lucky to still have mum. Her cardiologist told her many years ago that he'd do his best to get her to 65 or maybe even 70!! She's just had a pacemaker fitted in January.

 

[Margaid]

I was here at 8.50 Lady A but it is very quiet. I expect everyone is enjoying the good weather and not bothering with their computers. Unfortunately I have lot of documents to deal with and deadlines fast approaching.

Good to see your mum and her sister are still going strong - doctors don't always get it right!

 

[bigyetiman]

I was driving a bus, and it might be a glorious day, but Lakeside shopping centre is packed

 

[Marigold]

I hope you had a good day with your family, LadyA. I bet your Mum and her sister enjoyed it. Are they twins, or just born at opposite ends of the same year?

 

[LadyA]

I hope you had a good day with your family, LadyA. I bet your Mum and her sister enjoyed it. Are they twins, or just born at opposite ends of the same year?

They're twins, but not identical. Mum was tiny when they were born, and my aunt was 7 1/2 lbs! All through their lives, mum has been thin and May has been heavier. Mum is very fair skinned with hazel green eyes, and May was black haired with almost olive skin! They were the youngest in their family, and sadly, their dad died suddenly when they were only four, leaving my grandmother with five children (one had died at the age of 4 of pneumonia). I can't help thinking that it's going to be so dreadful for whichever one is left, when one of them goes. Their siblings all died fairly young, and there's just been the two of them left now for well over 20 years!

 

[Marigold]

Gosh, it was pretty lucky your Mum survived at that low weight - I don't suppose there was much by way of medical support for tiny babies in Ireland in those days. I'm glad she made it, or we'd never have known you. Your grandmother must have had a really hard time of it, left with all those children to look after on her own. So I'm sure they both really appreciate your help in getting them together sometimes.

 

[LadyA]

Mum told me that when they were young, sometimes kind neighbours would leave "gifts" on their doorstep. Maybe some vegetables or a couple of rabbits. They always had enough though. Their sisters were a lot older and were working so that helped, and then the Widow's pension had been introduced, so my grandmother would have had that, although it wouldn't have been much. The family fared well enough. My aunt May, mum's twin eventually worked in the same firm in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, that features in the movie "Brooklyn"! I took mum to see that at the cinema, and she was delighted, because the clothes, and the town were in the movie exactly as they would have been when she was in her late teens/early 20s. She married in 1958 (and my sister was born nine months to the day later!! Mum said great interest was shown in her expanding figure by the neighbours, as they waited to see when the baby would come! :mrgreen:

My grandmother died when I was 12. I remember her as being terribly thin, and chain smoking. My other grandmother did too. Of course, smoking was encouraged in their youth for it's "relaxing" properties, and the dangers to health weren't realised.