In speaking with my cousin Kim concerning stories in the past, Kim asked me if I would post my story, which I have titled "The Airplane".  Well, here goes...……..  I guess I was 8 or 9 years old.  Uncle George suggested to my mom (El) that he would like to take me up in an airplane. For those of you who didn't know,  my uncle George flew planes and was an instructor.  Well, it was decided that we all go up in the plane.  I had never been in any kind of plane before.  The highest I had ever been was looking out of my bedroom window on the second floor of our house, or perhaps going over a bridge in the car with my parents.

The plane was a 4 seater Cessna…….I think it was called a Cessna 360, although I'm not positive.  It had 4 seats and everyone could look out the windows. The airport was a small one located in Moorestown NJ.  We took off, all of us with our headphone and microphones attached to them so you could converse with each other b/c the plane was pretty loud. Uncle George was explaining all of the dials and gauges on the dash board as well as the steering wheel and how it gave the pilot  to raise the plane, lower the plane and turn left or right.  I was having a great time flying higher than I had ever been before in my life.  

Mom and Aunt Peg kept talking...…….hey El, I think that's so and so's farm...……….I think that's the motel we stayed at "down the shore".  (New Jersey, Philadelphia and Delaware citizens never said down the beach!  It was always down the shore)……….just saying !  That banter between the two sisters continued what seemed like forever, neither of the seeming to take a break to suck in some oxygen!  

All of the sudden it got perfectly quiet.  I thought they must have passed out from lack of oxygen.  Then I heard my Aunt Peg say and I quote, "Oh God in heaven!"  I turned quickly to see her looking at me with her eyes looking like the actor Marty Feldman. For those who don't remember who he was, just let me say his eyes protruded like a hard boiled egg cut in half and stuck on his eye sockets.  You see, I was flying the plane and neither my mom or aunt Peg noticed because they had been so engrossed in conversation trying to figure out all the landmarks below them.  After aunt Peg's religious response to seeing me pilot  the plane, my mom yelled her own religious retort...…...well it was half religious anyway.  It was something like this "HOLY ****" !!!!! At the time she was saying this, I decided to pull back on the wheel and bank the plane to the right so my mom's view was now just through the glass window of the plane, which would appear to be the floor of the airplane and the ground was all she could see.

The without missing a que, uncle George said " He's a young natural....I can't wait to see how he lands the plane"!  There immediately were harmonious screams from the back seats.  Of course I never landed the plane...….it was against federal aviation regulations, nor would I have even wanted to attempt that adventure.  Seeing aunt Peg and my mom crap their pants was good enough for me.

After landing the plane and going back to aunt Peg's house, my mom and aunt Peg immediately went to the bathroom, (probably to clean up their personal mess) and returned while uncle George make them each a "stiff" highball.  Uncle George nonchalantly made himself a scotch and I had a soda.  They are no doubt all having a highball and a scotch as I write this for Kim.

Frank Garrett  

I have so many memories! I feel like we were at Aunt Peg and Uncle George’s House all the time when I was young. I specifically remember being there in the summer and having cook outs in the back yard. I loved aunt Peg’s kitchen, and if it was just the two of us in there she would give me treats. Kim, you were the most beautiful big cousin! I loved coming over and watching you put your makeup on and then hang out in the family room watching TV with your mom and dad after you would leave to go do teenager things. So lucky to have you guys in our lives, and she was even luckier to have you. Love you all!!! 

I want to write some memories I have...they might be a bit jumbled and long, but I hope they make you smile! 

~Probably my most famous story is when I was little, I saw my grand mom chewing the meat off some chicken bones, and I told my parents she was eating the bones. So "Grand mom eats the bones" has been a story for decades. 
~When I was little and she would babysit me in her house in NJ, we'd sit in the living room together at night. She'd be in "her chair" that faces the TV and I'd sit on the floor...often because the only other chair that faced the TV was occupied by my Aunt El and that was "Her Chair". We watched Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and Unsolved Mysteries...which started a few years-long fear of Robert Stack's voice and going to bed afraid I'd be abducted by aliens or see ghosts.
~She always had this electronic keyboard that I would pretend to play...usually by just playing the sample songs. I'm pretty sure those sample songs are seared in my memory forever.
~My grand mom had this cat that hated everyone, Missy. You would say hi to Missy from across the room and she'd hiss at you like you were a demon. Missy loved my grand mom, but she either hated everyone else or liked you SOMETIMES...she even bit my grandpop on his butt!
~My grand mom used to take me grocery shopping with her when watching me, which was great because if I wanted a snack, she'd buy it for me! One time, when we were at BJ's or Sam's Club (I forget which one) she accidentally rolled over my foot with the shopping cart. It was not a big deal at all, but I made a huge fuss because I was being a bratty kid. She felt bad and bought me a new Barbie with a Pink Barbie convertible. I feel bad about it now, but at the time, I thought I should get my foot rolled over more!
~Every Sunday when I stayed at her house, I'd have egg juce (two eggs over easy), toast with butter, and these little Jimmy Dean sausage and cheese sandwiches. Sometimes I'd have a few strips of bacon too!
~When she babysat me at our old house in NJ, computers and the internet were just becoming popular. I would spend HOURS online (good old dialup) and playing games like Petz and Rollercoaster Tycoon and she would get so mad at me because I'd go to bed waaaaaay too late!
~We'd often have holiday dinners at her house and I can still smell the ginger ale gravy for the ham or the turkey roasting, which my uncle taught me to "sneak" tastes of. I became very picky and wouldn't want ham or turkey done any way besides her recipe. Biscuits had to be covered with "the chicken", this cloth chicken that didn't even fit over the basket anymore. I honestly don't even know where the chicken came from. (The chicken now lives in NH and still goes over the biscuits)
~With that being said, Grand mom always mentioned the gizzards tasting good and getting mad if the store forgot to include them in the turkey, and that always grossed me out!
~Aunt El burping at dinner, saying "Oh excuse me!" like we haven't heard it before, and her and Grand mom laughing about it like little kids.
~Grand mom would bake a poundcake for your birthday every year. It's buttery and wonderful! Recently, it got harder for her to make, so I followed the recipe and made mine this year...it came out pretty good, but it's never as good as when the original person makes it with love!
~We are ocean people, and we would take grand mom to the beach when she let us. It was nice to see her truly happy and relaxed when we wheeled her chair down this wooden ramp at Hampton and she could enjoy the surf, wind, and salt air.
~I used to keep pet rats and grand mom really took to them! I'd have to bring them down to visit her and she'd feed them pretzel sticks and pet them. It was really cute since everyone was hesitant about them at first, but EVERY member of the family (except I guess the dogs...) fell in love with them!
~Speaking of dogs...when we got dogs, grand mom helped out with letting them outside to do their business. Sometimes, this didn't go so well as they wouldn't want to go out, or get their leash stuck, or just be difficult. Before calling us to help, you'd hear her yell at them "Ooooh you little b*tch, get in here!" The one she RARELY did that to was Hank, who she called Little Tink and Little Stink. She just put up with him being a pain. Go figure!
~I used to play the karaoke video game. My mom told me that Grand mom really liked it when I played because she'd open the basement door and listen to me sing :)
~I was humming that really casual sea sailor song one time...the "dun dun dun dun dun" one (which really doesn't help if you don't know it, sorry) and when I got to the last beat, she just matter of factly goes "Sh*t." I look at her and she just goes "What?" and we all burst out laughing! So that's the song now!
~She was at my college graduation and was really proud of me for completing that!
~She didn't really understand why I wanted to go to Japan, but thought it was neat that I did.
~She always thought I had waaaay too much laundry and when I brought it and all my other stuff to do at home, she's say I was moving in. When I left, she'd say I was moving back out and to be careful. We'd give each other a hug and say I love you. That was basically our hello and goodbye ritual.
~We'd eat dinner and watch Forensic Files together.
~She either really liked my boyfriends or HATED them, nicknaming one of them dingleballs (he deserved it)
~She really liked fiction stories with Amish characters and we'd trade books. She has a whole stack I have to read...she read way faster than I could!
~She LOVED stuffed animals. I won a lot of huge stuffed animals from a Japanese claw game and she really took to them near the end...she basically adopted a huge Chihuahua I got my mom and she really liked a Kappa I won, although I don't think she knew what it was! I tried to bring them for her when I visited, including a little brown bear as the last one. She would always say to them "We have so many, but we'll always find room for you."
~When my mom was feeding her some Chicken Curry baby food (they're getting fancy with their flavors!) on Sun, she was complaining about it being too hot temp-wise and there being too much on the spoon, etc, but then she decided she really liked it, and in the end, she said "That's friendship." We're not really sure what she meant by that, but feeding a loved one sure is friendship!