Tale of my visit to a Grocery store today [View all]

[Mira]

My day started with my cousin in Vienna sending a round-robin letter to many family members, reminding them that it was my grandmother’s 128th birthday and for us to remember that we all would not be here had she not lived.

I was in the grocery store later on, and as I left, pushing my cart, a maybe 35-year-old African American woman danced out the door behind me, she was one happy person, dressed to the nines, a little tipsy, and making tango dance steps as she sang “ Happy Birthday to me - Happy Birthday to me”.
I stopped and gave her a hug and congrats, and she said she was now blessed.

As I put my stuff in the car, I remembered my grandmother. I stepped up to the people-loaded van into which she had disappeared and asked if they had the birthday girl in there with them. She called to me and affirmed it, and I told her I had spaced that it was also my grandmother’s birthday. She was 128 years old today but did not make it this far and sadly died.
But, I added, thank goodness Trump and Musk’s social security checks were still arriving on time.
The entire van population erupted in laughter. The kind of laughter where they knew what I was talking about.

I did not ruin it and tell them she was born in Serbia and died in Vienna.

Happy Birthday, Oma.
I’m the oldest of her thirteen grandchildren.