Today is my cousin Shirley’s 90th birthday. She is a cousin by marriage since she married my first cousin once removed, Russell, who also is my godfather. Russ passed away a few years ago as did his sister Rosemary, the Saint. Shirley, Russ, and Rosemary were prolly the three nicest people I have ever met. His mother-in-law and his father-in-law didn’t particularly care for him. They were Lutheran. Shirley converted to Catholic when she married Russell. They weren’t very happy about that. Nevertheless, Russ had them over for Sunday dinner all the time. Russ loved everyone. He had an outgoing personality and really filled up a room. Russ and Shirley had seven children, 6 boys and one girl, and they were big boys. How they afforded to feed them is beyond me, especially since Shirley was a stay at home mom.

I completely forgot the birthday sequence. Her birthday is today, tomorrow is my ex-wife’s, and the next day is my mother’s.

A few years ago, I was in St. Louis and she told me a story I had never heard about her and my mom. Shirley didn’t know how to drive a stick shift so Mom said she would teach her. I don’t know how they wound up stopped on a hill. It was the hill on South Old Orchard going up to the Old Orchard section of Webster Groves. a nice steep hill. Mom told her to take her foot off the break and move it to the accelerator and release the clutch. Unfortunately, that sequence of events didn’t occur and the car went down the hill backwards and was stopped by a telephone pole. Fortunately, this was back in the 50’s (it was prolly our 1953 Plymouth) when they had bodacious bumpers on cars so I don’t think there was any damage. After that, Shirley decided she didn’t want to learn how to drive a stick.

Back when Mom and Rosemary were still alive, Shirley would join them for line dancing which she still does to this day. She even teaches it. They were a very active trio. Alas, after Mom died, Rosemary slowed down. Shirley didn’t and is still active. She even has a boyfriend in his 90’s. I met him. He doesn’t look or act like he’s that age. Neither does Shirley. Besides line dancing she also does water aerobics. Nothing like staying physically active.

She’s the last living member of our family’s oldest generation. Here’s hoping she lives a lot longer since I don’t want to be a member of the oldest generation. Maybe she can tell me a few more stories about Mom that I haven’t heard.