Went to Mom and Dad's With Dawn and Randy to warm the place up and get things ready for Mom and Dad to come home for a week or so over Christmas. It was an odd feeling being there without them there, and looking for things ect. We decided that every house should have a "top drawer in the hall" drawer - that is where everything you ever will need is. and just below it 'the toy drawer' ever bored just pull it open... it is about 3 ft. deep, there is something in there to entertain. As I went around in the house looking for things, it was amazing the memories I ran over.
This was the only house i lived in growing up. Born there, well - not literally, I'm not that old- stayed til I married. The attics are somewhat emptied, or just moved to a handier spot... The upstairs still echoes of BB pellets, music from the past, wrestling around and laughing, the boy's smelly socks smell has left. It seemed so empty and quiet though, neither of us liked the feeling... it was reassuring knowing that we were getting it ready for them to come home! and not packing it up, but yet we know that life can change quickly for any of us, with one phone call.
So, it was with memories of my family that I left with, driving out to visit Doug's grave before driving home. I had to think, all the gifts and hooplah that goes with Christmas that makes it joyous and fun, it seems the memories I remember and cherish are not the gifts received necessarily but the stories around them. The year Dave really tried to get me a special gift, an albino hamster. he had the cage set up and all... he kept it by the old furnace in the basement to hide it from me... if you know hamsters... too warm... hamster died... :) The boy's BB guns were a hit for years, BBs ran around that upstairs bedroom for years after they got married! Doug's HAMM radio, and him learning morris code. Pool games with Dad in the basement. Always a fresh supply of comic books. Dawn's 'art room' became my bedroom. and then the grandkids started coming, with a whole new batch of stories and memories.
So, I am cherishing remembering the memories that have already been made, some stories have ended, but I want to soak in all the memories being made, stories being written. it's not just the gifts, but the stories they bring, and the reaching out and touching the lives that they include - those are the priceless gifts of life.
Footprints in the Snow
A time of reflection of memories held dear.
A time of wishes
A time of wonderings
A time of coldness and still.
A time of Peace
A time of tears
A time of prayer for those still here.
A time of missing
A time of musing
A time of crispness and chill.
A time of calm
A time of knowing
you were loved.
jacki 2010
