Some say the end is near..

This Easter was an interesting day for me. One of those days that kinda put me in a reflective mood. Here's a little back story:

My Grandma has recently decided to sell her house. When my Mom told me this I was a little sad but it's probably a good thing. She is getting older (91) and I think she will really enjoy the new retirement community that she has picked out. But you know, it's always a little sad when you have to part with something that holds some of your earliest memories..

Like the time when I was 3 or 4 and my Mom was taking me over to Grandma's house for the day. I was wearing cowboy boots and probably some sort of funky hat. All I really remember was the boots though. Anyway, my Mom taught kindergarten so she would take me over to Grandma's during that time. On this particular day I had swimming lessons so it was her turn to take me. I just remember thinking "I hate these boots and I don't really feel like swimming today".. I was a trooper though, I swam for awhile and then decided to throw up. One of my earliest memories..

I also remember my Grandpa.. I really wish he would have lived longer cause as a kid I just remember him constantly pestering me but it would have been nice to have known him as an adult. He really liked to take the curved end of his cane and wrangle us in with it while sitting in his lazy boy. Don't worry, it was harmless fun but at the time I would just sit there thinking here he goes again with this cane business.. Shortly before my Grandpa died he recorded himself reading the 23rd Psalm on cassette tape followed by a personal message to me for my birthday. I am pretty sure I still have this but I honestly have no idea where it is. My Grandpa was also an incredible cook, his specialty in my mind were his pies. Of course.. I was a kid, I loved pie!

So back to the present day. On Easter my Grandma wanted to have all of the family come over for one last dinner at her house before she moves out. I was thinking it was just going to be a quiet and uneventful Easter dinner at Grandma's but she had something else in store for us. Awhile after dinner she handed me this pad with writing on it and asked me to read her will. I was a little freaked out but I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't really her will.. Just some stuff that she wanted to give to her kids before moving. The kind of things that they will all want someday when she's gone ya know. Anyway, she has decided to give these things to her kids now so she can downsize and she chose this moment to announce it. It was strange reading it but I thought it was cool at the same time.

After that she gave all of us Grand kids a small gift. These were little things like house decorations and such but all of them were things that she has had for quite some time. After this she brought out some wrapped gifts for all of her Grand kids too. I think this was what I really wasn't prepared for. She went on to tell us that in 1999 she got these together, wrote a personal note to each of us, wrapped them and then tucked them away for us to receive at a later date.

I unwrapped mine and found a book (see the pictures) from the year 1870. The book belonged to my Great Great Grandfather T.B. Stanton, and I think it's probably one of the coolest things anyone has ever given me. She made me read the note out loud to everyone, well all of us had to do this as we opened them but yeah.. You could say it was an emotional moment. It's just pretty cool for my Grandma to take the time to pick something out like this.. It really meant a lot to me.



So yeah, it's been a crazy month or so around here but it was really nice to have spent this day with my family. It really made me think a lot about where I am, where I'm going and how lucky I really am to have such a close family..

It was just one of those special days.. A day that puts it all in perspective.. Reminds me that I shouldn't let stupid shit consume my thoughts. One that reminds me of what I already have...