Exactly what I want

Today is J's mom's birthday. Because he's a wonderful son, we "drove" his grandparents up to the condo his parents rented in Williamsburg to celebrate. So we picked them up, Gramps insisted on driving while being instructed by his street pilot "Tilly" as he's named it, and he told us all about how his kids don't think he should be driving anymore, but by golly, he's a good driver. Have I mentioned yet that J doesn't have one single dull person in his family? They're all as colorful as the rainbow that we saw today after the rain let up.

At one point throughout the day, every single person that was there pulled me aside and said, "You're a good sport for coming to these events," or "I'm surprised you didn't run away after last time we all got together!" or some sort of poking fun at themselves and my willingness to endure their FFF (forced family fun). I seriously fell in love with his family on Christmas day, but it's been sooo much fun getting to know them better, and vice versa. Grams let me borrow some books, and apparently my Berkley alarm (I was the first one to hear her when she woke up from her nap) won me points. We were invited to February's ski trip to Vail, as well as a concert with his sister this summer during the beach house week. I love them, and I can't wait for J to get to spend time with my family in June.

I think I've mentioned it before, but J's grandparents are 92 years old, celebrating their 70th anniversary this year. It's so wonderful and at the same time, hard to wrap your mind around. On the drive up, Grams put it into perspective when she told us a story about how she and Gramps dated in high school, and then he left for Harvard, and she went to William & Mary. In 1937, the year before they married, Gramps saw a new movie that just came out called "Snow White" and he just loved it, so he rode a bus down from Boston one weekend and took his gal to see it. She said that someone gave them a copy of Snow White on tape a few years back, and how they're going to take it with them on their anniversary cruise this year, and they'll watch it again then. It filled me with a feeling of just how important these first few weeks/months/years are, and how I'm really glad that I'm keeping track of memories now.

As we got closer to our destination, she told us a story about somewhere in Jamestown she and Gramps used to drive up to the lake to "watch the submarine races," and then said, "You remember that, don't you dear?" and I saw her give him a wink. And after a moment, Gramps said, "Justin, watching the submarine races is what we would call it when we'd go park up there to be alone."