Clare

on december 14th, clare edna eck wright marked her 85th year on this earth.  the mother of six children, and grandmother and great grandmother to countless more, she is a sweetheart and a spitfire.  to ring in her birthday and celebrate her awesomeness, her daughter brought her to lunch at her favorite establishment:  the biergarten on broadway.  it’s a tradition at the biergarten for the birthday boy or girl to take on the challenge of drinking an entire glass boot of beer.  even at 85, clare wasn’t going to be excluded from this rite of passage.  upon her arrival, a birthday boot was promptly ordered and clare got to work on it.  soon after, and much to her delight and surprise, the rest of the family (who had all been secretly invited) began to trickle in to share a stein, a story, and a laugh.  despite it being a wednesday evening, the biergarten was packed with other birthday-goers taking on the birthday boot challenge – they all wanted a photo with the grandma who was throwing her boot back like it was her 21st.

it’s no small wonder why she was flocked by many — this woman has a love for life and an unbeatable affection for her family.  she can whip your butt at cards, find the one four leaf clover in a field of green, sing along to any song that suits her regardless of the tune she carries, define for you the precise difference between a “dibby dab” and a “dollop”, and when she’s all done she’ll whip up a batch of coleslaw and a pan of homemade macaroni and cheese that will feed your belly and warm your soul.