I Suck At Hanging Out With Nana

yesterday was quite an event-packed day. in addition to the commute home, karen and i went to visit nana.

i suck at hanging out with nana. the last time i saw nana was easter. okay, so maybe that isn't that long ago. anyway, nana had surgery performed on her shoulder. it turns out that while she was pitching for the boston red sox, she tore her rotator cuff. i'm just kidding about the red sox part. she had surgery on thursday and was returning home on friday.

anyway, karen and i went to visit nana to make sure she was okay. we even stopped off at brigham's ice cream to pick up some ice cream for her. as it turns out, aunt denise was staying at nana's as well. (aunt denise made a pot roast with barley... it was very delicious... some may even call it "legendary".)

needless to say, we had a very enjoyable time at nana's. as much as i joke that hanging with the voelkels (the maiden name of karen's mother) is a "rigamarole", it actually is entertaining. after all, where else can i learn about the interesting family gossip, history, and religion? plus, the look on nana's face was priceless when she had learned that karen's cousin (karlene) drank whiskey.

nana never liked alcohol. if prohibition were still around, she would be all for it. karlene, as far as i can remember, has always been the straight arrow. she never liked the taste of alcohol until this year when she had whiskey. yes, it's odd that whiskey would be a non-drinker's choice of alcohol. anyway, karlene always felt odd when she was with people who were socially drinking because she never had a particular drink she liked. thus, whiskey!

anyway, when nana heard that about karlene, she was astounded that her straight arrow granddaughter was imbibing. in fact, i think she's going to pray for karlene now... which added to the list of other things she was praying about. (as it turns out, nana prayed that uncle paul would return a call to aunt denise back way back when after she had called the cops to report the possible disappearance of her then 23 year-old daughter during aunt denise and uncle paul's first date. apparently, her prayers worked.)