Published by Gretchen Staebler
I am a Pacific Northwest native transplanted to the southeast for 36 years. In 2012, I returned to my childhood home and fell in love with this corner of the country again. I am a grandmother, a storywriter, a teacher, an attention payer, a hiker, and a back roads wanderer. Check out my website (and my memoir) at www.gretchenstaebler.com.
View all posts by Gretchen Staebler
Daughter Off Duty 
Beautiful! Precious! Singularly spcial!
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Very precious. Indeed. I love seeing her enjoy her family. Especially her grandchildren. Especially her grandson, who doesn’t notice or care that she forgets stuff and can’t see or hear.
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It all looks so good,…yet why does it feel the way it does? I think of my 96 yr old Mom who died about a year ago now in her prime. I like her like that. Beautiful, full of promise, there to be the perfect mother, etc.
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Some pictures don’t tell nearly the story, do they? As I read the letters from my dad at the beginning of their life together (and read them to her) and look at the photos I posted last week, it just all seems so sad to me. How can she not be sad at the loss of youth and vitality and love? And yet, I’m not sad to be my age. When does one cross the line; I don’t feel loss? She loved her 80s! I think I don’t want to live beyond 90. I guess we don’t get to choose. My mom is pretty amazing.
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Wonderful.
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Yes, indeed. I just wrote this on another comment (I don’t know who sees what): I love seeing her enjoy her family. Especially her grandchildren. Especially her grandson, who doesn’t notice or care that she forgets stuff and can’t see or hear.
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Also, we walked to Staebler Point with her. She was thrilled. Best birthday present ever. I takes two people to get her there (and she doesn’t trust me after the fall in the garden a year ago).
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