Hooray!!!

don't get too too excited - the enthusiasm is strictly for the purchase of my NEW LAPTOP AND FREE PRINTER!!!! woooo!!! I got a brand new pretty white MacBook!  Dad is cringing right now somewhere in Bakersfield.  He always frowned upon anything Apple and consistently purchased P.C.s.  Well, sorry about it Dad, but the mother board flipped out on the HP and it's somewhere receiving technical therapy and hopefully under warranty.  whatev.  I'm over it.  I'm on to cleaner, brighter, and better.  I'm sure many of you have seen that Sex & the City episode where Carrie's motherboard dies in her computer?   And the whole episode revolves around the theme of "mothers."  Miranda's mom dies from a heart attack and they have to attend her funeral in Pennsylvania.  And when our motherboard died here, I felt like I was wrapped up in my own little episode of "My Motherboard, My Self."  Between my Mom's tears, my own, and then the computer - sheesh!  It also got me thinking about one particular Mother I haven't paid much mention to in this blog as of yet, but who means so so much to me.  Mimi.  My mom's mom - who passed away just six and a half months ago.  I'm so grateful that she has not had to bare the weight of the pain our family has been hit with, the universe was working in strange ways the day it set a stroke upon her - while my Dad was in a coma.  But that's a detailed story for another time and page.  I'll let the birth of my new motherboard be a tribute to Mimi.  Below is what I spoke at her funeral service - words from a lucky, and grateful granddaughter.  

Put your shoes on Lucy don't you know you're in the city, put yours hoes on Lucy... I forget the rest!  Mimi, how does it go?  Angie?  Katie?  can you girls finish it?  hmm... mimi used to sing that to us... as we put ourselves together for the day - a typical weekend with Mimi and Goen.  Katie and I would sleep over, wake up and sneak into the kitchen to see Mimi behind the counter and Goen behind the paper, a little bowl of prunes in front of him.  After teasing and tickling and toast, we'd start our day.  We'd put our shoes on, we'd play outside, we'd go ride the marry-go-round at the mall while Mimi came and sang at this church, and we'd come back to Mimi making us sandwiches for lunch.  Lunch was followed by total immersion into Mimi's make-up, an all around free-for-all where Katie and I painted our eyebrows, cheeks, lips, anything that Mimi did that could make us one day as beautiful as she. (she? her? - I didn't catch the grammar gene.)  That was "typical weekend with grandparents: Mimi and Goen, Tradition #1."  Cut to a few days before Christmas Eve, a most special day, devoted to just me, my mom, and Mimi.  A trip to South Coast Plaza, every year for the past 22 years.  TWENTY TWO YEARS!  It started with Mom and I spending the night at 4440 Faculty with Mimi and Goen, then waking up in the morning and embarking on the most epic day of shopping ever, always starting at Nordstroms - so Mimi could buy a pants suit for Mom, meanwhile I'd try and pick out an "adorable" pair of shoes that she just had to buy for me.  Then we'd venture into the plaza - gaze at that beautiful tree - then hit the stores as we pieced together the presents for our family gift exchange on Christmas Day.  I went from sitting and crying on Santa's lap to sitting and crying over a bottle of Pinot Grigio split between the three of us, Mimi squeezing my hand across the table, and watching our eyes dart from generation to generation - sharing stories of our phenomenal family, Mimi's past, my future, and everything in between.  A precious once a year outing only my Mom, Mimi, and I can share.  the one and only time my mother liked to shop.  That was Mimi Tradition #2.  Nine months following Christmas, the matriarch and her Goen offspring gather at Alisol.  A tradition sparked by Cowboy Goen - where there's nothing but fun, family, and food on a farm for three days.  An amazing excursion I think we all looked forward to more than we'd admit.  For truly, every year on that first Friday - we all look at each other and say, "WOW! are we back again already?"  and three days later "it always goes by SO fast!"  And through the horseback rides, the lounging at the pool, the endless milkshakes, and endless bottles of wine, the late nights at the ranch bar, running up the tab with cosmopolitans, which got more expensive as we cousins crossed the 21-year mark... or didn't.  And through every moment - she was sitting there - enamoured and engaged, watching us, and admiring with endless pride the remarkable family she created.  That "Mega-watt Mimi smile" in turn spread across every Goen girls face, that vibrant, cheek to cheek smile that made me feel so so so special.   That strong, charismatic, and contagious break of laughter - rings through all of us.  That was Mimi's ultimate tradition.  To laugh, cry, smile, and be together.  We are her passion, and the only other passion of hers that can hold a candle to her family, is music.  So Mimi, in accordance with your will, I hope I fulfilled the part of "Brief anecdotes and music, music, music."  Let her music, tradition, and passion carry our Mimi through with us, for the rest of our lives.  To the most magnificent grandmother.  I love you.