For my family. Growing up Dodge. Today is the last day that I will spend with my grandparents. It is hard to hold the tears back. As I spend my last moments with them I am surrounded by memories. Memories I share with my family. Their house is like a time capsule, everything is just as it has always been. My nieces and nephews play with the same toys as I did when I was a kid. There still is the giant pink rabbit and assortment of gorillas. The bored games are missing parts and the puzzles have lost some pieces. They play in the same forts that my cousins and I built 25 years ago to protect our land from the hostile invaders. They stir their witches brew in the same cauldron we used to brew potions to make us famous and rich. The tire swings have been replaced but grandpas treasure of old iron remains. The yard is filled with my grandpas creations; shovel birds, kokopellies, dragonflies, deer, and a 20 foot t-Rex all pulled from his imagination. The wishing tree still stands strong and the secret Indian rock still sounded by our offerings 20 years later. Grandmas cards are worn put still ready to play 31, providing you have your pennies. The kitchen is clean and with baking items scattered throughout. We could bake a thousand persimmon cookies with all that she has. I learned to cook in this kitchen, the best gift a grandson could receive. The sewing machine is there with everything you need to make a costume or a quilt. I remember my grandma teaching me how sew and how proud she was when I made my corners match. Sorting through her scrap fabrics to make a work of art was always fun. Her craft cabinet looks emptier from all the crafts we have done. My favorite were the bird nests we made for the Christmas tree. The living room still has the deer my grandpa hung with pride. As kids we used to decorate him and dare each other to kiss his face. Antiques and collectibles fill the walls and the cabinets. I spent hours as a kid arranging them and changing them out and they are still in the same spots I left them. My grandmas chair looks the same all covered in dust, its the same one she held me in when my mom passed away. The fire place is there where we used to burn our toes. We would put them on the levers to keep them toasty when it was cold. My aunt Sandys paintings cover their walls. Her paintings of the ranch are the best of all. Even the thermometer outside the front window has a story. Watching it as a kid wishing it would reach 32 so it would snow especially on Christmas Eve night. All the birthdays and holidays we would fill the house up. There are so many of us that we fill the living room and dinning room and kitchen and hallway on Christmas morning to watch the kids open Santas gifts. The last is the hardest as I wheeled my grandpa to his bed. We stopped at my grandma in her chair and he reached over and struggled to kiss her and whispered I love you grandma and she replied I love you grandpa. My grandparents have been married for 62 years and not a night goes by that those words are not said. All these memories remind me of how blessed I have been to have them for as long as I have. I would love to have them longer but am grateful for what they have given us. Growing up Dodge was a blessing I plan to carry on. Its just hard to think of a world when my grandparents will be gone.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:34:20 +0000
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