Happy Birthday, Aunt Gene!

Today is Aunt Gene's 85th birthday. What a great person she is!! She's always had a "glass half full" attitude. Growing up in a single parent household during the depression, she says that they were the happiest people and had everything they could ever have wanted. She finds great pleasure in the simplest of things: the Cincinnati skyline from the Kentucky side, the ducks at a local park & birds that nest outside her window. She says that she looks in the mirror and says to herself "Who is that old woman?" -- we look at her and are amazed that she's 85! She still walks 1/2 mile on most days and just recently gave up swimming (temporarily) because of some minor health concerns. May she have years and years of continued good health & happiness.

Years ago, Danny had to write a descriptive short paper on someone's hands. Here's what he wrote about Aunt Gene. I've always liked it because it fits her so well:

Geneva has had the same hands for 80 years. The same wonderful hands that held a tennis racket through her youth and won countless state championships. The same hands that typed gracefully on a typewriter at P & G’s headquarters are now weak and full of arthritis. The same hands that wore an engagement ring, but not a wedding ring, for war does odd things to the minds of fiancés. She still has the same hands that held two nieces when they were born, and five great- nieces and nephews, as if they were her own grandchildren. These are the same hands that held many young hands while crossing the street. These are the same great hands, that have hugged and embraced friends and family.

These hands have never missed church, unless they must. These are the same hands that finger through the Bible page after page. These are the same hands that fold and team up with the knees for a daily discussion with the Lord. These hands also hold the hand of Jesus, as they walk through the garden, in Aunt Gene’s daily walk with Christ.

These are the same hands that have never cooked a meal before. These are also the same hands that very rarely labor to benefit themselves. These hands are also the same kind and loving hands that have very little desire to spend time, love or money on themselves. These hands will never be forgotten, for they have touched a great amount of peoples’ hearts, minds and souls.