Rose is nine

Rosie, one of my granddaughters, is nine years old today. It doesn't seem possible.

When Rosie was born Alan was going through his second round of high volume chemotherapy and aphoresis preparing him for his bone marrow transplants. So, while I missed her birth, I was able to get to the hospital a couple of days after she was born.

Rosie was the cutest baby. And I still thing she's adorable. She's very precocious. She reminds me of me.

I like to talk to her on the phone and I like to have her around, although she still tends to wear me out, without trying. And I say this, not because she is doing anything wrong, not at all. She is a wonderful, inquisitive child, but she just doesn't stay on one "project" for a very long time.

When she visits, though, she is thoughtful and helpful and very, very polite.

When my granddaughters reach the age of nine I have a tradition. I give them a charm bracelet and today was Rosie's ninth. I thought I had a bracelet in my "store" of charms and bracelets -- I get them when they are on sale at Macy's -- and while I had several charms which would have been appropriate for Rosie, I couldn't find a bracelet. So, I humbly asked for her forgiveness for my lack of a bracelet for her today, and promised I would get one just as soon as I could.

In fact, after her party, I went over to Macy's and found a bracelet -- a small one -- on sale at 75 percent off! So now I'm all set, I just have to get the charm on the bracelet and get it over to her.

Rose was named after my mom, but lately she wants to be called Evelyn Rose (both names) because -- well, because she does. Hard for me to change mid-stream, as it is for her mom. But we're trying. Evelyn is her mom's grandmother's name.

Her party was nice. She was so appreciative of all the gifts she received, no matter how big or how small. And she spent time enjoying each one as she opened them. From me she received an easy bake oven. I told her to freeze me a cookie or two and I would enjoy eating them when she got them to me.

So, that was Rose's ninth birthday day. Pictures are from her party. Obviously, Matthew didn't last until the end, poor kid, he was exhausted. He also was very helpful when I arrived, he carried the package into Rose and handed it to her, and it was a little heavy, but he did a good job. Then he let me have a lick of his ice-cream cone later on. But, he just couldn't hold up until the end. It was a good day.

ttfn