Celebratory Luncheon at Gyotaku

I posted last week about the genealogy Mom and I worked on for Art's Auntie G.  Needless to say, Auntie G was beyond thrilled, beyond satisfied, beyond happy.  She said she'd held that piece of paper for 12 years and tried unsuccessfully to find someone who might be able to decipher it for her.

A couple of years ago, mom and I worked on Art's mom's family history and presented it to all of that side of the family.  That one took us months and months of work because there was so much documentation Uncle F had found.  Uncle F is Auntie G's husband.  We gave albums of photos and DVDs of all we had translated and discovered to each of the cousins.

Therefore Auntie G knew mom and I could do this.  However, she was hesitant to trouble us with more daunting work.  I confess I was initially exhausted just looking at that sheet of paper too.

Now that Auntie G is getting older, I believe she just needed to have this done for  her children so she asked Art to approach us.

We brought the completed work over to her house and I was able to show her all the connections she had through her mother. Auntie G says she will now be able to clearly explain to her children and grandchildren who she's been talking about all their lives.

As we were leaving her house after explaining everything, she handed us a card that she said merely expressed her thanks and nothing more.  When we returned home, we found a beautiful letter of heartfelt appreciation and a generous gift.  Too generous!  Art called her immediately to say it was unnecessary, but she insisted vehemently that we spend it.  She wanted to especially thank mom.  So we did.

I bought a whole bunch of face lotion, etc. that mom had been needing and then took mom out for a celebration lunch at Gyotaku, her favorite restaurant.  Mom had said before that she was happy to do it, and didn't need any compensation, but she had to admit this was sure fun.

And it was.