81

My Grandmother turned 81 today. I took her to breakfast to celebrate. This alone was a Herculean task, because it required me to (attempt to) sleep during the night. How do you nutcases do it?

Anyway, breakfast was quite the trip. She was in rare form, which is something else. We went to IHOP, and they brought her a chocolate pancake with ice cream AND whipped cream on it. And they sang. The IHOP staff was very nice, except they originally thought she was my mother, not my grandmother. (I don't know whether that says more about her looks or mine.)

My aunt has a birthday on the 2nd, and last night we celebrated both days in a big family get-together.

(Originally my grandfather was on the 3rd, but I found out that he was really on the 2nd, and my Grandmother told him it was on the 3rd, because she thought spreading it out evenly was better. I just think she didn't want to share.)

I had a lot of trouble getting anyone interested last night that my Grandmother, at 81, was actually 3 to the 4th. Why aren't more people excited by prime numbers? Haters.

Most people hit 1 to the 4th (=1), and quite a few hit 2 to the 4th (=16). However, 3 to the 4th is a much tougher gig. (Nobody is hitting 4 to the 4th, or as people from Bangor Maine like to call it, 2 to the 8th.) I tried explaining this to my grandmother over breakfast, but I think she was more impressed by the sausage.