We have been keeping a low profile about the latest cFam news on social media but early yesterday morning we lost the GG’s beautiful sister Susie. She was 9th of the 10 children in the family. The cFam siblings have also lost two brothers, the 1st and 3rd of the children. (The Twinz of Terror are 5th and 6th, born a few minutes apart, the quintessential middle children.) This pic of Suz was taken a matter of months before I first met her. She was about 20 then and honest to Pete, if I posted the pic we took of her last April on the grounds of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota Fla, you would see that she had not changed much.

I’m not going to talk about her death, which was tragic mainly in that we lost her way too soon. I will instead provide a memory of my first encounter with her.

Susie was the first cFam sibling I met after I very tentatively began hanging around with the GG. I was 26 and very jaded about men in general. That’s too long a story to get into but when the GG invited me to his family cabin at Houghton Lake and ACTUALLY FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH TAKING ME THERE, I was thinking he might be a keeper. On our second trip up there (SECOND TRIP!), he brought his sister Susie. Cutest little redheaded girl on earth, who changed into a flannel nightie as soon as we got there and settled into the place like she owned it, rummaging the cupboards for hot chocolate and whatever. This reminded me of my own childhood in a way and it was another inkling that I was hanging out with the right guy.

We had the GG’s dad’s big old Impala or whatever it was and I rode in the front seat throughout the weekend. I could tell that Susie might be feeling a little left out about that. I knew it was because the GG had probably put his little sister *Susie* in the front seat for all kinds of joyrides and here I was, this strange woman riding in Susie’s seat. Years later, after Lizard Breath was born, Susie and I talked and laughed about her jealousy that weekend. That was when Susie rode with us and Lizard Breath to Florida to visit the cFam parents. Susie loved our baby as she did all of her nieces and nephews and we all took turns riding wherever. That trip was sooooo much fun!

Susie ended up moving to Fla and marrying Cap’n Ed, who is a native Floridian and just about the sweetest person on earth. They have been together for I’m thinking 20 years or so. It isn’t easy for me to get to Fla because of work but I am happy that we were able to get down there last April and see Susie for the last time. Although at that time I don’t think either the GG or I dreamed that it would *be* the last time.

Godspeed to our beautiful, beloved Susie and may Cap’n Ed find peace.

Love y’all — KW

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 7th, 2017 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.