happy birthday, lempi!

Saturday was our dear pal Lempi's 95th birthday. Yes, that's 95 with a nine and a five. Since we were going out of town for Easter, we stopped by on Thursday to wish her a happy birthday.

Lempi is known for her fabulous pies and is well-loved by all the neighbors. On Valentine's Day a while back, she gave me a pie-making lesson. Banana cream. I think I've got the filling part down but haven't quite mastered her crust which uses real, honest-to-goodness lard of course. Mmm, lard.

Lempi has hung up her apron and hasn't baked in the past two years or so. She's still her same happy healthy self but doesn't remember so well anymore. When I see her, I get the sense that she knows she knows me and knows Ed as the guy who shovels her walk, she's just not sure exactly who we are at first. So I often bring up Elian's name and reminisce about the pie lesson. This usually works to jog her memory.

She loves Elian. She used to give him random tennis balls she would find in her yard. And on a couple of occasions, Lempi and Elian rolled the ball back and forth and he impressed her with his summersaults in her tiny front room and that is one memory she likes to bring up whenever she sees him.

This visit, Lempi was in the mood to sing. Although she couldn't quite remember the songs she liked, she kept coming back to "You take the high road and I take the low road." We got Elian to sing happy birthday to her in Spanish. And Ed broke out into a rousing rendition of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." When she told us how much our birthday visit meant to her, tears came to her eyes. I only hope I can be as full as life when I am 95. Hell, who am I kidding, when I'm 60.