And then there were three...

Ever since I can remember, there have been 4. 4 generations. 4 women. There was Nanny, the queen bee, the "elder." My great-grandma Nanny was full of spunk, energy, always adorned in leopard print, and the queen of crazy. There was Mema, my grandmother, who had only a portion of the energy and crazy that my Nanny had, but always ready for fun and some baking. There's my Mom, the quietest of them all, much more subdued - like the crazy skipped a step, but one of my very best friends. Then there's me. The baby in the 4 generation tree. Even though I'm quickly approaching 30 *shudder*, I'm still the youngest. The crazy train definitely came back with me!
The 4 of us were a wild set to begin with! Our close group would go to lunch together, sometimes the three of us traveling to see Nanny in Waco, or when Nanny lived here, we'd visit various places around the Metroplex. Hilarity always ensued, as Nanny would say a word I'm not sure sailors even knew, Mema would be shocked, and Mom and I would die laughing. Or maybe we just had girl talk over some chocolate, talked about upcoming weddings (that would have been mine several years ago), or just chatted about what was going on in our lives.
And the pictures, there were always the pictures! We took them at every event! Any holiday, birthday, lunch, or whatever we were all together for, a picture documented it. How lucky was I to have that much family!In early April this year, we lost my Nanny. She was a couple weeks short of 95, and although she lived a long good life, it doesn't always make a loss easier. As we gathered that warm April day to honor the life of my Nanny (all dressed in leopard, I might add), I had the sad realization that there would no longer be the 4. We wouldn't meet for lunch and talk about Nanny's latest leopard bra purchase, or talk about the silly things our husbands did, or just be there to love on each other. There were three.

Today, two months later, we had our first outing as "the three." Mema, Mom, and I met for lunch (and yes, pictures were taken) and shopping. We talked a lot about my Nanny today. It was as if the table was missing a person. We talked about things at the stores that she would have liked, talked about antiques that looked like would have been in her house, mostely just reminisced with each other. Is it different? Yes. We miss our Nanny, but I'm so thankful to still have two wonderful women that I can be with as part of my family.