I’m so glad you liked it. I’m sure you have a few excellent relatives with equally amazing stories. I’d love to read about them, too.

If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, you might appreciate this Gandalf reference. (If your not a fan, it’s still a valuable anecdote I think.)

So anyway, Gandalf the wizard and Frodo the hobbit are sitting in the terrible underground mine. And Frodo is feeling pretty crummy about his situation. Here’s the quote:

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” J.R.R. Tolkien

I often think of this scene when I think of my grammy. She didn’t pick the time she was born in, but she sure decided how she wanted to make the time count.