The Giraffe...... | LoLo Forever

Hey there LoLo fans........ It's been a hot minute (sorry).

After my mom died, like right after, my brother made the proclamation that we would move ALL of Mom's things out of her lovely apartment within a 2-week time period. Considering Mom left us on December 12th, it was to be all broom swept and LoLo free by Christmas. It was an ambitious endeavor and considering Scott is older than me by 4.79 years, I didn't have a choice but to comply. Looking back, I'm glad we did things his way because I would've procrastinated until 2023 had well-settled in. Procastination is my jam, seriously. The top item on my to-do list for the past several weeks has been to update this very site and,

yeah. So, mad props to Scott Ault, my brother, for mobilizing the troops (Michelle, James, Nick, Cate and Kristin) over to Grandma's apartment to pack it up and get it out. Scott rented a uhaul and with various personal vehicles, we had LoLo's stuff packed up in under 18 hours about a week after she died. I would like to take this time to sincerely thank my brother for managing us all through this. Thank you Scott Ault.

So, onto the giraffe. This giraffe was a favorite of my Mom's. We know this because Laurie didn't like 'stuff'. At different times in our lives, Mom mailed us crafts we had made for her or cards, pictures, etc. and one year she even mailed me all of the Xmas ornaments she had given me over the previous 24 + years. Too bad she sent them right before my cross country trip from Tacoma, WA to Rochester, NY and they didn't fit in my Volvo station wagon (I still think about them). LoLo was organizer extraordinaire and she was forever adding to the 'toss' pile but she held onto the giraffe. If you're familiar with said giraffe, it's about 4.5' high and made of really light wood. When we were 'splitting' things up, I voiced my want for the giraffe, as did both of my nephews. I didn't think I would win at arm-wrestling as both young men would have bested me so I came up with the next best thing, we're going to take turns. Aunt Chicken (that's me) would have it for one full year, then James and onto Nick. Michelle thought it to be a decent compromise and this way my nephews wouldn't be disappointed. Here's the thing, I STILL HAVE IT (shhhh). I love this darn giraffe something awful but I am willing to hand it over to the next in line (James) just as soon as I receive the court papers. I'm kidding, of course, but I'm glad we were able to get our own pieces of LoLo during the 'after time', things that meant something to each of us. I have the little Hershey Kiss teddy bear that Ron gave to Laurie on their first Valentines. Cousin Deb got this amazing green glass ball that Laurie always proudly displayed on her coffee table that I think came from my uncle Tim. Each of the kids picked things that will make them think of their Grandma. It's still tough for us that she's gone but we can hang onto her stuff, like the giraffe (custody pending).