I Can't Say Pontaluna

Once upon a time in a family land where there were no nieces, nephews, or grandchildren, my sister had a sweet little baby girl.
I instantly fell in love and they reluctantly let me babysit. Well why the heck wouldn't they be reluctant? This child was too little to live, but I didn't want to be the one to tell my sister.

But live she did, and by live I mean LIVE.
Ang collects life, not just life's moments, but life itself.
Everyday.



I've been sequestered upstairs all morning rifling through scrapbooks. It was the summer of '75. Life was good. I had a brand spankin' new Canon TX(wish I still had it) and baby Aidan Angela was the perfect model.

I have a ton of pictures (anyone want an iChat folder full?)celebrating the June/July birthdays on the porch, the driveways, Winona Lake, and DeerPark Funland, but---I kept coming back to this one ...




Can you say legacy?
I hope your day is filled with nothing but more memory making moments. You deserve it.
Happy Birthday Honeyween.
(One of the made-up words spoken about at Ang's mom.)



Keep writin' upon the doorposts.

The title? One time, as newlyweds, Grover and I were babysitting the under 2 year-old Angela. We found it quite astonishing that she could repeat almost any word we threw at her. So we bombarded her with our proficient vocabulary and she repeated them all in perfect dictation. I'm sure the little thing was thinking she might have to say every word in the English language but we pressed on, "Can you say Pontaluna?"
She sighed and may or may not have rolled her eyes. In a tone that sounded similar to; hey-guys-this-is-gonna-be-the-last-one she proclaimed with disgust but spot on accuracy,

"I can't say Pontaluna."

Our stories will be forever intertwined and for that I consider myself to be the quite fortunate Aunt