The Centenarian - Chapter 1

Hi there!

I'm willing to wager that most of you who follow my blogs have been wondering the reason for my long silence or, perhaps, even believing that Elvira has gone on to her eternal resting place. Nope!

I am happy to say that I had a marvelous birthday on Sunday, July 18th, 2010, celebrating one hundred years of my miraculous life on Planet EARTH in the company of my precious family. Angela took on the responsibility of planning this lovely day and was rewarded when late that evening ALL retired with smiling faces.

The reception was held at The Olive Garden in Danbury, Connecticut, a very nice restaurant catering to a superb Italian menu. After dinner, Happy Birthday was sung by my guests and some of the waiters and was followed with a Gift Certificate and congratulations from the Manager for my 100 years and also for being THE OLDEST BLOGGER ON eARTH, at least for the time being.. Then, to continue the celebration, Angela had reserved the Club House at the apartment complex in which I reside. An hour later, we entered a Club House decorated with streamers and balloons by my niece and nephew, Gabriella and Sal; the room was festively beautiful to behold.

Tom, my son, announced he had a surprise.....and what a surprise it turned out to be! He had produced a DVD and labeled it "THE SPERDUTO/OLIVER SAGA"......and when viewing it (as if in a dream), some of the events travelled back in Time. The great applause at the viewing-end of the DVD prompted Tom to say that he would endeavor to produce another one encompassing in more detail a more complete Saga of the Sperduto/Oliver family. So, for the past several weeks, I have been rummaging through drawers and boxes, gathering and mailing photos and negatives to Tom for his enormous project. I'm glad to say that I am presently working on the last box and it contains photos of my Italian ancestry. On the back of each photo, it will be necessary to note who is the person; that is, if I can.

After viewing the DVD, a beautiful cake with glowing candles was placed on the table for us to whet our waning appetites. As conversations began to fade, Floyd (my San Diego son) rose and gave a tribute to the Mothers of the world, directing his words especially to me, as well as to my own long-departed Mother Arcangela, his beloved grandmother. Oh! how I wish that he had written it down, so that I could have presented it to you now. It was so beautiful!