Happy Pi Day

To all of my geek friends, Happy Pi Day! Until nine years ago, today was a fun day for me. Pi is the ratio of any circle's circumference to it's diameter. In schools across the nation...Pi Day is celebrated...I kinda miss Pi day. Then again, I am the woman who did long division as a "focal point" during contractions for her oldest son....I never, ever said I was normal.

In 2001, Pi Day took on new meaning for me...it became the day my world was irrevocably torn apart. Nothing's been the same since...a lot of good things have occurred...and not some not so good...but on this day nine years ago, I lost someone very, very dear to me...my grandmother Nancy Lee Cox Wells passed away at the young age of 70. She had survived heart surgery and lived with lung disease for many, many years. She'd had her hip and ankle broken...but when she died, she was full of life....errr, well you know what I mean. Her disease didn't beat her down...she wasn't on a breathing machine constantly (except for her oxygen) and she wasn't stuck in a bed unable to move. My dad, her ex-son in law, has the same diagnosis. He's 58 and I'd say at 58 he's in a lot worse shape than she was at 70.

I guess that is something to be thankful for. Grandma was a do-er...never one to sit still. The summer before she had spent over a month at my house...sometimes walking to Bingo Halls while Kip and I visited with his parents...never telling us that was her plan. It was the first time she'd come up and had money to spend....she kept winning at Bingo. She was the happiest I'd ever seen her...and I think she developed a secret crush on my neighbor Ray....who died the same day we moved back to Maine after 5 years in Connecticut.

She was, in many ways, my rock. I could call her for ANYTHING. I could discuss ANYTHING with her. She loved her kids, their spouses, their ex's, her grandchildren, their spouses and ex's...and her great grandchildren more than anything. It is from her that I learned what unconditional love really is...and what it means to give someone your unconditional love. She judged no one. She talked to anyone. And she loved every single member of her family, no matter what bad things they may have done.

Don't get me wrong, I love my parents and will be devastated when their time comes too. Losing Grandma has been the biggest struggle of my life and this year seems to be the worst since the first 4-5. But there is progress....usually I remember this day with a drink....or ten...this year, I simply had a margarita with my lunch. Perhaps this growing up stuff isn't so bad.

Happy Pi Day Everyone! Happy Remembrance Day to the Well's family.