Fri, 7:56: Auntie Rose passed away February 19, at the age of 82. She was buying me "birthday lunches" at least three years before I officially started celebrating my "Birth Week," making her easily the longest-running, uninterrupted "Birth Week" participant, until now. From as far back as 2001, she helped me celebrate my birthday 19 years in a row.
The last email I received from her came on January 10, which was in response to my thanking her for the last thing I received from her in the mail: on January 9, with no accompanying note or letter, I received an envelope with "The Official Guide to Washington State Parks" brochure inside it. Auntie Rose had long known my original plan for this year's "Birth Week" theme was "Discover Pass State Parks Tour," and we long had it on each other's calendars that the state park we would visit together was going to be Fort Worden State Park in her hometown of Port Townsend, on Friday, May 1, 2020.
Obviously, that isn't happening. I had thought I would still go up there today and visit the park anyway, with her daughter Valerie joining me, just to honor Auntie Rose during the first "Birth Week" she's not with us ... and then COVID-19 happened. No state parks! I shifted my approach to this year's Birth Week, and have moved the state parks tour idea to next year. Hopefully I can still make an honorary visit to Fort Worden with Valerie—and Auntie Rose, in spirit—a part of it.
In the meantime, today being the day I *would* have spent with Auntie Rose, I thought I would share a retrospective of one photo each from the 16 years of "Birth Weeks" she participated in.
Fri, 21:26: Washington State stay-home order extended, again, now through May 31. AND WE WILL DO IT, because we love each other. ❤️ https://t.co/UKAom1ZDat
