The two most stubborn people I know!

There is almost nothing that will make me brave a drive into New York City on Memorial Day weekend. It is a very short list of things that would allow me to pile us into a car and pray that I-95 isn’t a parking lot. Ida Paley is on top of that list.

Sara’s amazing grandmother turned 102 on May 18th!! She lives in Queens, in the same apartment that she has lived in for SIXTY years! The opportunity for Cam to meet his great-grandmother was one we had been working on since he was born three months ago. We toyed with the idea of stopping off in Queens during our epic road trip back in April, but decided against adding a few hours to an already LONG journey. Sara had a rare three day weekend, and we decided to do a quick day trip down and back last Saturday.

I’ll save you the suspense. The drive was easy. Both ways. I, of course, feared the worse the whole time, and only when we were a few miles from home did I admit that the trip was a good idea. It was about three hours down and three hours back. Cam did great, Quinn was solid as always. The whole trip was routine enough that I can’t even complain thru funny anecdotes. We spent about three hours with Grams having lunch from her favorite deli, Ben’s.

The connection between Grams and Cam was immediate. As you can see from the picture above, and those that Sara posted on Facebook, it was all smiles from the moment they saw each other. Most of the afternoon was spent with Cam in the arms of his great Grams. She dressed up for the occasion and transferred her lipstick on his hands as she kissed him. Cam was mesmerized by his new friend, and just smiled and smiled.

He napped as we all ate lunch and we took that as an opportunity to get moving before he woke up. Saying goodbye to Grams is never easy. This time was no exception. We drove away thrilled that Cam was able to meet Grams and spend such a fun afternoon with her. He likely won’t remember his first trip to Queens, but we will. Thanks to iPhones, Facebook and hilarious blogs, he’ll get a chance to relive such a sweet memory one day.

Cam is blessed with such a loving extended family. He has met most of them in his first three months on earth. But no meeting has been as special as seeing him share smiles and laughs with his great Grams. More than 100 years of family history bridged in just a couple of hours.