A piece of love

E has managed to break two backpacks beyond use this school year.  This time I decided I wasn’t going to buy a new one so close to the end of the year and would just dig out an old one.  Both my husband and I used to take backpacks to work so I knew we had some floating around.

She had running club early this morning and I like to make sure she has everything ready to go the night before when she needs to be out of the house early.   So at 10 o’clock last night I found myself in our storage room searching out one of these bags for her to use.

I found one and to my absolute delight something I haven’t seen in many years inside of it; my baby blanket.

Now I knew I had it somewhere but it is one of those things that you don’t truly remember having or think of unless you find it.  My MaMere made it for me, my mother’s mom and a woman I remember very fondly.

I went from grumbling and cursing under my breath wishing I was anywhere but digging through the storage room to standing there with a smile on my face and happy memories floating through my head.

I don’t remember using the blanket but I’ve seen it in pictures and know where it comes from. It smells a little musty, the white isn’t quite as white, the pink not so bright and it has come apart in several places but there is something undeniably special about it.

It was made with love and somehow after all these years it remains silky soft, it is a reminder, a symbol, of a person whom I loved and who loved me in return. She may no longer be here but she left some very important things behind for the people who will always carry a piece of her with them, for me this is one of them.  

95th Birthday Celebration!

It isn’t very often you have five generations together but this weekend my family did just that.  My grandfather will be turning 95 tomorrow and he had children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a great-great grandchild come out for his birthday brunch.

I tried to explain to my kids how unique an experience it is to not only meet your great-grandfather but to have him around long enough to not only hear some of his stories but be old enough to remember them.  I believe I only met one great grandparent, and by meet I mean have a picture of me being held as an infant by one.

I still enjoy listening to my Grandfathers stories even though I’ve heard most before I don’t mind hearing them again and every once in awhile a new one will pop up. When I was a kid I always looked forward to seeing my grandparents because I loved being partnered up with him to play the card game 2 of spades.

We were almost unbeatable together, I’m sure we lost once in awhile but we were always the team to defeat. I’m sure it had more to do with his play than mine but I was always pretty lucky. I still have great luck when it comes to most card games and certainly some of it must be skill learned from my grandfather.

You can’t predict growing up what things you are going to remember fondly, the things that will make you smile. My grandmother on my Dads’ side passed away when I was quite young and of all the things to remember about her I remember a specific drinking glass. 

It was a small glass with hand painted roses on it and was always the one she gave me to drink from.  I also remember she smelt like lilac and that she was soft and warm when she hugged me.  To this day catching a hint of lilac will give me a warm comforting feeling.  It’s not much and as a child I certainly didn’t think to myself one day I’m going to remember these cups and that scent.

I don’t know in the end what my girls will remember of their great-grandfather after he is gone but it’s nice to know they will almost certainly find something that makes them smile when he is brought to mind.

I was glad to wish him a happy birthday yesterday and I hope there are many more to come and a few more memories made.