three nieces and a girls' night out

I have been blessed with a day in the company of women! Three of my nieces came by my house and visited with me. Then I rounded out the day with five new friends at Ruby Tuesday's for an evening of food, fun tales, and jokes. Who could ask for more?
Mid-morning yesterday, I had the first of three visiting angels - this was the stepdaughter of my eldest brother. She came full of concern for me, as I had called her in a panic last night about my need to disperse Mama's possessions to new homes. She gratefully accepted the many teapots, leaving a couple for another niece after conversing with her on my phone. She also accepted a framed studio picture of Mama and Frank, or Grammy and Pop as she knew them, as well as a few other loose pictures. I carefully boxed all the breakables and helped her take all to the car. What a relief to me!
The second angel was the daughter of my stepbrother. I had asked her if she would like Mama's Franciscan stoneware and, to my joy, she accepted. The stoneware is the Desert Rose pattern and is something Mama had wanted for many years. With her retirement check, she purchased service for eight: dinner plates, bread plates, bowls, teacups, and saucers. She included a covered casserole dish and two large bowls, as well as eight water glasses embossed with the motif and still in the box. This niece was thrilled to have something so dear to her Grammy! And I was thrilled to give it to her, to use with her young family for the years ahead. I know Mama would have been pleased.
I also sent her away with one of the framed studio portraits, as well as some of Mama's jewelry for my great-niece. I had wondered what to do with the jewelry. Most of it wasn't "real" stuff, just fun, pretty pieces Mama had collected over the years. I'm not much on wearing jewelry and neither was this niece - but she said her daughter was! Bingo! So I loaded her up with fun pieces for her daughter (and have some set aside for the daughter of my first visiting angel of the day).
My next visitor was a surprise! This angel is the daughter of my middle brother, the one who is most like me in appearance. She had ostensibly come by to pick up the remaining teapots, but mostly I think it was to sit with me and make sure I was doing okay. She went through photos with me and we talked and I showed her the picture of Mama laughing at the office party. I had thought it might have been her retirement party. No. "Grammy looks so young in this picture! When was it taken?" What does it say on the cake?" "What is that metal crown she's wearing?"
What?! I took a close, calm look at the Polaroids. These were NOT from her retirement party; these marked her leaving the mill as a department clerk to work as the secretary for the mill manager. These were probably 30 years old, maybe older, and featured her as the Wonder Woman of the department, complete with crown and cuffs fashioned by the fellows in the machine shop.
What a great burden lifted from my mind and my shoulders! The teapots had new homes, the stoneware had a family to serve, and a misunderstanding on my part had been resolved! Thank you, thank you, thank you, my three angels, my three nieces, three who loved my mother dearly.