“Perhaps you were made for such a time as this.” ~ Unknown
Followers of the outhouse might recall meeting my cousin Lori Sanford back in January 2018. I think of it as a God thing that she researched her genealogy around the same time I posted about my Risner grandparents. That’s how she found me. Patrick and Rebecca Risner are our blood connection. Get your genealogy scorecard. Ready? Shero and Lori’s mamaw Imogene are first cousins, and the Risners were their great-grandparents. Their daughter, Minnie, married Douglas Adams (not the writer, unfortunately). Their son Orville was mom’s father, and their daughter Edna was Imogene’s mother. I called Edna ‘Banana.’ Nobody knows why. I had another Aunt Edna and had no trouble saying her name. So, there was Aunt Edna (Lykins nee Hamilton) and Banana (Leggitt nee Adams). Anyway, Lori wins the award for the most positive person I’ve ever met. She had a benign tumour removed from her brain just 13 months ago. She’d no sooner gotten over that than they discovered stomach cancer. She had her stomach removed about 10 days ago to avoid the very thing that killed our grandmother Minnie Risner Adams. Today, Mom was well enough to ride up the elevator to the Markey cancer ward on the 11th floor to visit with Lori. Independent of each other, they told me how much it helped their mental state to visit one another. We even watched the Derby together (this after watching the coronation of King Charles III while I did laundry earlier in the day). Lori was chatty, smiling, upbeat, and positive about her recovery. She’s also very honest and realistic about how hard this has been and how much agony she has endured, but her smile was infectious and beaming. She is a true inspiration, and I am exceedingly grateful that medical technology is able to help her in a way they couldn’t help our grandmother. Here’s to swift healing, cousin, and may we share a meal in fellowship soon. We’ll raise a toast to Minnie.
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