Monday, September 22, 2008

The things she left behind.

I went to visit my grandma yesterday. It was the first time I had seen her since my great-grandmother's death.

She has been busy. Very busy. In addition to cleaning out her mother's home she had been cleaning out her own house. She also got a cell phone and a debit card.

AND...

A boyfriend.

There is a picture of him on her television. They knew one another when they were small children. They used to swim together and they were sweethearts when they were very young.

She also? Had a present for me.

She was cleaning out my great-grandmother's house and she came across this:



Note she had written the date at the top. I was six years old.


She kept that letter for twenty-six years.



When I die? I want someone to find letters from my grandchildren among my important papers.







(Also, did you note that even at six years old I was all about the turkey? Foreshadowing!)

20 comments:

mumof3boyz said...

My grandma died 2 years ago in August. While going through her things we found several letters that we had sent her and a few cassette tapes we made for her. It was so touching knowing that she kept those for so long.

Jana said...

Cute!!!!
When my dad passed away, I found some pictures I had colored for my dad that he had kept. It made me cry, but also happy.

Jana said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

My Granny keeps all our letters as well. She has an accordion file and each of us has our own pocket. When we visit she shows us our cousin's pockets and tells us whether or not we're up to snuff. Love that cranky old broad.

Anonymous said...

That's amazing. I'm not sure I ever even wrote to my Grandma...

I suck.

Tarasview said...

oh that made me cry... my grandma kept my stuff too and we found it after she passed. I was still an arrogant 18 year old teenager at the time and totally didn't appreciate the significance. I wish I knew then what a complete jerk I was being. sigh.

Anonymous said...

That is so nice and made me all misty eyed.

Dawn~a~Bon said...

that's so sweet!

HM said...

Ahhh doesn't that make you feel so good?? How sweet of her to do that!

Hm

judy in ky said...

Love your little drawings!

Frannie said...

such a sweet treasure to have!

Coal Miner's Granddaughter said...

That is just too sweet. It reminds me of going through my uncle's things (he was more grandfather than uncle) and finding all the cards and letters, and I mean all, I had ever sent him. Blew my mind.

Angie said...

that is too sweet.

yeah. . I'm still gonna *READ* blogs, just not compose them. : )

Karen said...

That is so sweet. My Gram died last year and I miss her so much.I have such fond memories of her growing up.

Karen

Tricia said...

My grandmother has for years collected all of my pictures, drawings, photographs into albums. She actually has one for each grandchild. It was quite sweet. You know, until she showed up with it at my door recently insisting that I take it now, as a hurricane could blow her house over any moment. Like that has happened in the past sixty years that she has owned that specific house. Then after she explained this to me forty times, she made me repeat to her the reason she brought it to me. Just so she was sure I knew it wasn't because she didn't love me that she was giving me my album. But it was kind of fun to see everything I had made!

Mikey said...

That is SO COOL!
Odd you post this, since we're on a major cleaning spree here, and debating what to keep and what to throw. I have a whole tote of baby stuff my daughter has done, and told the hubby, "someday, she'll be thrilled to see some of this"
and your post just confirmed this for me. So some things, we'll keep. It IS important. Just a few little things...
And your grandma has a boyfriend? Whoa.

KJ said...

That letter and the fact that she kept it is almost unbearably cute.

My grandma had a boyfriend at 87. They were adorable. She told me at dinner one night that she'd explained to him that she was too old for sex, and I almost shot my water out my nose.

SJINCO said...

Totally awesome! And cute! I love your train of thought .....

Emma in Canada said...

My grandad keeps all the stuff too, in a family archive. When he dies it goes to my aunt. My mum gets all the books.

Rachel (Crazy-Is) said...

How awesome to see that after all these years! I keep all of that kind of stuff, and so does my mom. She has things that my brother and I made when we were in daycare.