Rasmania 102

My oldest cousin on my mom's side, Carma Clyde Russell passed away this past week.  Although she was 88, her death was unexpected.  Every time I've seen her lately she has seemed healthy and much younger than her years.  She was my first cousin, but I often thought of her as an aunt, since she was only 13-years younger than my own mother.  Her children were close to me in age.  She had a baby when she was 44 who was both autistic and down syndrome.  She has cared for him with her husband for 44 years.  They didn't take him out much because I think he was difficult, so I wasn't well acquainted with him.  Carma looked alot like my mom, but she was an auburn red-head like my grandmother.   Carma Clyde Russell obituary Hyeji had her first Junior High choir concert and we were able to attend.  It's hard to believe we have two twelve-year-old grandchildren now. Time certainly runs fast, and it seems to run faster as we get older. Hyeji's choir concert at Viewmont High

Roy was traveling most of the week for business.  He had a conference in Maine.  It's a long flight and a lot of work, so it was not ideal for me to go with him.  Therefore, I had a calm week with lots to do, but not lots to report about.  My children, however, had more fun than I did as they traveled for their winter breaks from school.   Elise and Andy took a short two-hour drive to our old stomping grounds in Atlanta.  They visited the two homes we had lived in and even talked to the owners.  She knew the people next door to our home in Cumming, Ga. because they were still the same neighbors that we had 25 years ago. Our first home in Georgia on Crab Orchard Drive.  The Andy and Elise Jackson Family They went to our favorite restaurant in Roswell and said it was  still as great as they had remembered it.  We went there often  enough and even returned after we moved so they said they remembered us  (partly because the restaurant was right by the theater, so we went often).