ELLEN LEE

      I have eight grandchildren;  Lisa, an English teacher, who at the present time gets to be a stay-at-home Mom, Joel, an Engineer, Tony, who works for a distributing company, Steven, a sophomore in college, Tim, a junior at UW-Eau Claire, and Jonathan and Charlie, who are both seniors in high school and Elle, who is currently living and working in the Boston area and works for I-Robot.  I love all of these great kids but the only ones birthday I can remember for sure is hers, 4-4-88.
      When she was born, I remember how beautiful her mother looked - Lora has her dad's family's warm Italian coloring, and I am also reminded of holding Ellen at Methodist Hospital where she was born.  Because they lived so close to us in Washington, I'm afraid all the Aunts spoiled her.  (She was a beautiful little girl - still is!)  This is her with her Aunt Maureen.

      When she was eight, Vern and I took her on a trip out West.  She was a good traveling companion.  We had many adventures:  getting stranded in Kansas in 100 degree weather with car trouble, donkey's heads coming in through the open windows at Mount Rushmore and she fell out of a tree at our destination in Colorado.  She called Mount Rushmore:   "the place with four heads".  I still call it that.  Once I looked back, she was sitting in the back seat.  She was sitting in the middle, sound asleep and had all three seat belts buckled around her.  How did she do that?
      Recently, she called and asked if I was feeling okay because I hadn't blogged anything for awhile.  I told her it was because I hadn't had anything to write about - I was having dental work done, pretty boring.  In that conversation, she was complaining about something in her life and I told her to put it in perspective, at her age I had four children - or maybe three and one on the way.  Now that I think about it, that was unfair of me, I should have just made soothing grandmother noises.   Hmmm, not good at that!  Too opinionated.
       When she was in High School, we always made it up north to see her in a play.  She usually played a comedy role.  Her Mrs. Bennett in "Pride and Prejudice" was classic. 
       Once while she was in High School or College, she had to write a paper on "What is love".  She called me.  I told her that love isn't the lust of young people, (I remember that) but that love is when you are recovering from surgery and your husband helps you take a bath and wash your hair and leads you back to your bed that he has put clean sheets on.  That is true love!  She said:  "Oh, Grandma, that makes me cry!"
       I love her, as I do the other seven.  If there was one thing I would change about her it is that she would realize her own worth.   She is an amazing women.  An award winning artist,  very creative, do you get the idea I'm proud of her? 
       Well, Miss Ellen, better known these days by her artistic name 'Elle', but she is still Ellen to me, I finally have something to write about.  Love you, little girl.