10 January 1912

Faye is my step mom, and she is 95 tomorrow. She has two sons, and one of them is 75 and the other is 73. I met them all when I was fourteen. My mom had just died, and I had gone to Kansas for the summer. During the time that I was in Kansas, my dad met Faye; she was 62 then. When summer was over, and I came back home, my dad told me they were going to get married. I got upset, locked myself in the closet, and cried. They didn't marry that year since Faye had other boyfriends, and she didn't want a teenage daughter. I totally understand now. My dad finally remarried, and then his second wife died. Faye was still friends with my dad's relatives, and they told her about Anna dying. So, Faye called my dad up, and they went to dinner. Two weeks later, they went to Vegas and got married. He was 75, and she was 73. They had ten lovely years together. After he died, Faye said: "no more men".

Before we took off for our cruise, Marscat and I were down in Los Angeles visiting Faye at Christmas time. When we came back from the cruise, we cut our stay short so we could get a jump start on the drive back home. Because we left early, we also missed the Christmas gathering of Faye's relatives. Two days after the gathering, we found out that her oldest son Norm went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a double dose of CA: pancreatic and liver. Bad decision to miss the Christmas gathering.

Faye sometimes forgets to tell me of the parties. I missed her 90th. Marscat says it because I live up here, and they don't want to imposition me. Still, I feel left out. Today, Faye told me that Norm is going to the City of Hope for some cancer treatment, and then they are dropping by her house for cake and ice cream. Well darn them for not telling me.

I still feel pretty bad about not seeing Norm. Who knows how long he has left or how many birhdays Faye has in her. So, I bit the bullet, logged onto Jet Blue, and bought myself a ticket to Long Beach.

I'm not missing another party!