Pajama Day At Marie's House Today

I told Fran this morning I was going to wear pajamas to his mom's house this morning. He said, "that's fine, you have clothes down there and a shower."
Little did he know I had no intention on changing my clothes.
I have not been sleeping all that well lately. I have no idea why, just wake up at about three or four in the morning ready to start my day. About the time Marie is finished with her breakfast then I start to wilt.
This morning I just thought why get dressed. We weren't expecting any company and if someone came without calling they would get what they get.
My plan in place I dressed Marie in clean PJ's and we were ready for our day.
No one called and wanted to video chat, no one came to the door, and no one came to see if I had a name tag on and what we were wearing.
We were comfortable. It just seemed like when I jigged she jogged and our day went so smoothly.
I just had a thought. Should nursing homes implement pajama day? Would that be so wrong? Would the state inspectors care? It really presents an atmosphere that is laid back and easy going. Just think how much money CNA's and nurses would save. They could just take a shower at home, put on comfy pajamas and go to work. Just a note: I have seen many people shopping at Walmart with their pajamas on. I know because I may have bought a pair or two there myself.
I didn't care if I got dirty, she didn't worry about getting me dirty. We were cool beans! One of Marie's nieces's laughed one day when I said that. She said, "I haven't heard that in years!"
There is probably a State Reg about dress code, or company dress code, but this dress code sure worked well for us today. Now if I could just get her to not throw things on the floor when she is done looking at them. No, don't want any rules, I will just keep having Fran pick up her throw away papers and magazines. What a great day!

Her Last Birthday Celebration

Marie was unable to speak towards the end of her life, but at times was very aware of what was going on about her. She told me just months before she passed away that she had no idea that she would ever live to be as old as she was at that time.
When folks asked me why I thought she lived so long, I would just laugh and tell them what she ordered on her grocery list each week; lean meat, vegetables and fruits. She did love sweets though. I will never forget how she slapped my hand when I told Fran many many years ago that he shouldn't eat gum drops that she had out in her candy dish. She told me, "You just leave him alone, those are good for his digestion!" We all laughed especially her son, Fran."
There was guitar music and singing by her grandson, Chuck and his daughter, Libby. I could hear them singing and having so much fun. Fun because they all loved each other. They were family. It made no difference if they lived thousands of miles apart. They had memories and pictures. Pictures just in case they had forgotten their wonderful me'me of so very long ago. Yes, she lived to be one hundred three years old. She was able to go outside and have her picture taken with her family. She even had a little cake and ice cream to celebrate her birthday.

Spring Break Visit

Marie's family was aware that her health was failing. Three of her granddaughters and their children came to visit on the Spring break from school. Marie's great great grandson, Orion was also able to visit as well.

Memories were made at that visit. Marie was well enough to visit and enjoy the children. She told me that she was impressed with the children's behavior. "They were respectful of my home."
Many pictures were taken that day. Here are a few of them. Sometimes the children liked to go in the camper and watch movies or play video games.

Tina Lizotte And Her Me'me

When Tina visited our house with her family for Marie's hundredth birthday she sat at this very computer and downloaded pictures she had taken for me. I was sitting at the kitchen table watching her. I decided to ask her some questions. I said, "You are very fond of your grandmother, aren't you Tina?" She turned to me and smiled and said, (I will paraphrase this for you. It has been a few years.) "Oh yes, I spent a lot of time with Me'me when I was little. She always let me "help" her do things and explained what she was doing at the time. She had love for her family with no exceptions. If you did something wrong when you were little she explained why it was wrong and not to do it again.  She knew all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Loved them unconditionally."
I know this to be true. In her later years, I lived just across the road from her. I was married to her son, Francis. We visited back and forth a lot.
At the age of 102 she told me what her great great grandson's name was and where he lived and who  his mother and grandmother were. She was intrigued with Tina's twins. She had their pictures in her living room, photo books and in her bedroom. She kept everything that her grandchildren sent her.
At the age of 102  her grandson, Robert had some heart surgery. She had me pray with her at every meal until she was made aware that he was going to be alright. She always told me that her family was very important to her.
This is a picture of Marie and Tina on her 100th birthday.

Marie's Family Spoke French

Marie Aubin
Age 8

Marie Aubin
Age 5

When Marie was a child she spoke only French because that was the language that was spoken in her home. Her mother and father both were from Canada where French was the common language. Her family went back for generations. I think she told me clear back to the 1600's that she knew of. She has the Family Book or the Generation Book full of pictures and programs and invitations. It has grown in size. The picture of Marie at the age of five is the youngest picture of her that I could find. There were some unmarked photos of babies. She may be one of them, but I actually doubt it. She labeled the majority of her photos.


Her father was a stern man and was the head of the household. He was determined that Marie would speak English and therefore learn her catechism in English. That was very very difficult for her, but by sheer determination she did just that at the age of eight years. I left her writing at the top of the photo of her in her First Communion gown. The Catechism book that she is holding was given to her brother, Charles Aubin shortly before she passed away at the age of 103 years two months and fourteen days.
She had another prayer book that she kept by her side until the last day. It had her son's obituary and picture in it.
Marie is sitting in the back seat of this old car at the age of three.
Her mother's father was a fireman. His name was Joseph Antil. She was very proud of that fact.
Here is a picture of her own writing in her catechism book. It names the church where she received her First Communion.
She was very proud of the fact that she learned English at such a young age. She had every reason to be.

Joe's Visit In June

Joe and his family were not able to come for Marie's 100th birthday celebration in July because of his work schedule. So they came in June. Joe, Brenda and her daughter and her daughter's friend had a good time visiting with Marie.
They enjoyed her crocheted hats that she makes. Joe and his family all modeled her cute little hats. She makes them out of plastic shopping bags. Sometimes she asks me to shop at different stores so that I come home with yellow and red and gray bags for her to blend in. She cuts strip after strip of these bags in about 2" strips and crochets them together.
These pictures say it all. Everyone has so much fun wearing and modeling her hats for pictures.
She is especially fond of telling the story about her hats making the newsletter of a little grocery store that she shopped in years ago. What special memories.

She Stood Her Ground

Marie has told me countless stories over the last almost eleven years. Some have lessons for us to learn and some are humorless and some are fun. She does not complain about her hardships for the most part. She just states the facts that this did indeed happen.
She and her husband lived in a cold water flat four stories up. If you have read the previous posts, this particular apartment cost five dollars a month.
Their first child, Marie, was very tiny. She had been in an incubator for sever weeks. That incubator had to be borrowed from a Jewish hospital because the hospital where Little Marie was born did not have one.
Marie, being a normal mother was very protective of her new baby. Marie told me that the landlord was a "slumlord." He insisted on his rent and would not do any updating. She told me that she had been commissioned to bake a special cake for five dollars. That equaled a whole month's rent. She baked the cake in the evening and was going to frost it in the morning.  The next morning when she went into the kitchen the cake was black with ants.
Those of you that know Marie personally know that the ants were the last straw. It was not only the lost five dollars she was very upset about, but she found ants in her baby's crib.
She found the landlord and explained to him in no uncertain terms that he would exterminate the building or she would tell the Housing Authorities about the way he took care of his tenants and his building. He was unhappy but had exterminators come to the building. That was worse than the ants in some respect. Her family could not tolerate the spray they used, so they had to go to her parents for awhile until "the dust settled" so to speak.
When she got home the ants were dead, but she decided that she was going to wallpaper the walls and have a fresh start. It seems that there were fifteen layers of wallpaper; behind each layer of paper were dead bugs.
She went to the basement and there were bags and bags of trash that had been left to rot and accumulate.
There is a lot of the story missing, but I wanted to tell you about some of the things that she had tolerated and worked through to get to 102 years of age.