When I was younger, I could I remember anything...

...whether it had happened or not. Mark Twain After much deliberation, last week I started taking a new drug called Plaquenil. It takes a while to start working, but I got my fingers crossed (which probably inhibits circulation, duh) that it will help both the Sjogren's and the Fibro. It is a quinine derivative, used by Walter Reed to fight malaria at the Panama Canal. Ironically, with all the sweats, chills and fits I get, I'm always wailing about feeling like I have malaria. So there you go. My sweet Aunt Sarah died, at 97- she's the last of her generation and the only link I had to my Mom. It was very sad to lose her but she was very tired. She told me last week," enough already, it's time for me to go." This is a photo from 2 years ago- she's pretty smokin' for 95, no? The funeral yesterday was wonderful- we surviving cousins discussed how now we are officially the older generation. One of her great grand-sons, the apprentice rabbi, led the prayers. Sarah would have kvelled. Linda, one of her granddaughters gave a eulogy, a beautiful summary of her life from which I believe I will quote, cite and recount. Sarah and her 2 sisters (the youngest of which was our very own mom) were born in Poland and lived in a shetl not unlike the one in Fiddler in the Roof- oy what a piece of dreck movie. Actually, Sarah was born in the same town as the father of Art Speigelman, the guy who wrote those Maus books. (there is a the map is on the back of the first book) So my grandfather and his brother emigrated to US where the streets were paved with gold hoping to make the money to send for their respective families. Then, WWI broke out. My grandmother had to take care of her 3 daughters and also her dead sister's 2 girls. It was ungood. There were cossacks and cholera but not much food. They finally came to America in 1920.My grandfather brought bananas to their reunion, but they had never seen fruit before and chewed on the peels. And so they had a brother, grew up and prospered.They got married but they all lived within walking distance of each other. They were all a huge part of my childhood. As a kid it was special to me that we shared the same Hebrew name, Surah. I'm really gonna miss her. Linda printed copies of Sarah's mandelbrot recipe for everyone. It was a beautiful day, the weather was great. She would have loved it.

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