THIS ONE'S FOR GREAT AUNT LORETTA

My great aunt Loretta passed away this weekend. Her health had been waning for about a year, but it was probably most compromised by the fact that she drank a lot. Of alcohol, I mean, not fruit smoothes. The sad thing is that I know my grandmother harvested a lot of contempt and judgment for younger her sister for being an alcoholic. But then I think about poor Loretta, who was called a whore by her dying mother for falling in love with and marrying a divorced man. If those were my mom's last words to me, I'd drink like a fish. Why do people do these fucked up things to each other?

I remember going to her house when Pit Pat and I were little kids. She would always bake these magnificent popovers and teach us Lithuanian words. She had a lot of pride for her heritage. She will be missed.