May 25th

Today would've been my Aunt's 72nd birthday.
It is hard to believe that she has been gone for almost 5 years.
I still think of her often mostly about funny stuff that I would've wanted to share with her that I know she would've appreciated. I also just miss talking to her about stuff in general.
Whenever I drive by her condo in Amesbury I get the urge to stop by out of habit.
Whenever I drive by her old place in Rowley, where I spent a lot of my childhood years with my cousins, I slow down and do a "drive by stare". I don't know why I do that but I just do. Maybe I think I'll see my "younger" cousin drive down the driveway on his unicycle with a turtle hanging out of his pocket or the neighbor' s excaped chickens running down their driveway. My Aunt's family hasn't even lived there in decades but the memories still remain.
Funny.
My cousins had a memorial bench erected for my Aunt at Moseley Pines in Newburyport. I sometimes take the dogs up to that park for a walk. It's a nice dog walking park. There are poop bag dispensers and buckets for dog walker's convenience. There is even a "dog" drinking fountain.The pine tree forest keeps the area cool so it is a nice alternative in escaping the heat when you have got dogs to exercise. In the summer time there are free concerts there at night at the park as well. The area where the bench sits overlooks the Merrimack river.
I will occasionally go up there to sit and have a chat with my Aunt. Sometimes I will even bring a cup of coffee with me. It is very soothing.
It is my Aunt's birthday and every year I bring a small bouquet of flowers to put on her bench. I brought Riley and KD with me. This was the first time this year I took the dogs with me here. They were completely bonkers with all the new smells and things to dig around at. It was a change of scenery for them and a cooler place to go since the temps reached 90F.
I'm sure my Aunt must have thought it was hilarious seeing me trying to control these two out-of-control hyper dogs AND picking up their voluminous poop with a bag using one hand.
And of course, the bag had a hole in it.
I am sure she got a laugh out of that.
Happy birthday Auntie.