Last week was mixture of sad and happy events. A few weeks ago, my Aunt Janice passed away. She was 92 years old and was my father’s youngest sister. Her passing was the end of an era; her generation is now gone. My cousins and I are now the oldest generation. Her memorial service in St. Paul, Minnesota was the event that enticed all the cousins to arrange travel to the Midwest.
Ted was anxious to meet folks at this gathering too, so he arranged his travel plans to join us. I traveled with Kathy and Anna so I wouldn’t get lost. I haven’t flown for over 10 years (more like 15) and it was helpful to be with them.
So, last Tuesday I drove to Kathy’s house outside of Pittsburgh. On Wednesday morning we drove to a service near the airport where she left her car and we were shuttled to the airport.
At the airport, everyone was on their phones so it was pretty quiet in the boarding area. I had never flown Southwest, so their boarding procedures were different for me. I’m glad I had Kathy and Anna nearby. I did discover that I probably should get hearing aids if I really wanted to hear/understand the announcements!
All the instructions and procedures for an emergency sounded familiar, but of course, since it was the first time in many years I thought I should at least listen to them at least once. The guy to my right was reading the drink menu! Nobody else even looked up from their phones.
In contrast, on the way home I was just as bad as everybody else!
Thursday, August 3
Ted joined us Thursday and we traveled together to the Memorial Service.
The service was in Janice’s home church. It was a lovely, meaningful service with reflections from her kids and grandkids. Very touching.
After the service we had a brief reception where we got to know each other better. Marilyn, the spouse of one of my cousins, kind of adopted Anna and I watched while she showed Anna how to fold a dollar bill into a heart.
Of course, the required photo of the assembled cousins was taken. What a smiley bunch we are!
We ended the evening with all 25+ of us at an Italian Restaurant nearby. Always tough for me with Italian food and trying to avoid dairy products. I think I had a piece of chicken and some green beans. Anything else would have made me sick. Oh well, I came back to the hotel and had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
Friday, August 4
Friday was our day at the Mall of America! Kathy pulled out a list of all the stores in the Mall. She got us organized, first by going down the list and asking if we were interested in shopping there. By the time we left for the Mall, she had everything organized by floor and area, like North or West.
When we arrived at the Mall, Kathy checked the directions and we found the Guest Services counter. I was a proud driver of a scooter! It really helped me survive 8 hours of shopping with my two girls!
I actually didn’t hit anything. Luckily the Mall wasn’t crowded.
The Mall of America is four floors of stores! It is one mile around each floor, with an occasional repeat of stores, like the ones selling Minnesota t-shirts and coffee cups. It is an impressive collection of shopping venues.
Some stores were familiar, like North Face and Old Navy.
Most stores were new to me. Anna had scoped out the toy stores so they were on our list to visit!
Of course, this soft “grilled cheese sandwich” is going to come home with us!
Some store names were obvious:
This one was interesting:
Many kids stopped by this store…only to realize all these “confections” were SOAP or bath bubbles, etc. Very clever!
We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. It certainly looked like a jungle with giant elephants and gorillas around the perimeter and jungle vines hanging down. Lots of screeching and chest pounding. Every 10 minutes we experienced thunder and lightning as a “storm” passed by. A bit over the top, but the food was actually very good!
At the end of the day, Anna had a chance to check out the amusement park in the middle of the mall. She loved the rides!
Saturday, August 5
We checked out and made our way to the airport. Luckily, we ran into one of the cousins and had a chance to really visit over lunch. That was nice. Of course, Kathy and Anna had one more picture they just needed to take at the airport!
Based on all this, if you are in the area of the Mall of America, check it out. You might find something you can’t live without!
Loved this! Thank you for sharing. I’m so glad we were able to get acquainted. Your family is great and we love Ted for driving us up north. I think you should keep him.
I loved getting to know everyone. So glad Ted helped get you up north.
Really wished I could have been there to meet distant relatives. I was only 10 years old the last time I was there with Grandpa and Grandma (and sister Pam) in 1980. Thanks for sharing your experience!