Treasures

I had a really wonderful weekend, which may seem weird since I traveled to California to attend my Grandpa's funeral. But it was such a positive, powerful experience in so many ways. I will do my trip in multiple posts, most likely in the next few days, but I did want to get some of my experiences recorded now, since they are fresh in my mind.

This stuff may not be interesting to most of you, but I learned a lot about my family over the past few days and I want to remember it and save these stories and thoughts for my kids to know.

My Grandpa has always been in really, really great health. In fact, he celebrated his 80th birthday ten years ago by hiking to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite...for the 40th time. Literally. His health started declining at the beginning of this year and things happened rapidly from there. So although his death certainly didn't come as a shock (because of his age), it still did seem rather sudden and doesn't seem quite real, because the last time I saw him he was the same as he has always been--healthy, active and sharp.

One of the things we did while I was there was go over to my grandparent's house and help to sort through their stuff. (My grandma is also in poor health and in hospice.) I found so many treasures. I really, really wish I had had more time to look, but I only had about 30 minutes.

My grandma kept EVERYTHING. She literally had file folders on everyone that was important to her. Each grandchild had their own folder filled with every card sent, thank you note written, picture drawn and photo taken. I had no idea that those things meant so much to her. It makes me think I need to spend more time doing those things for the people in my life that are important. I love that my grandma also had file folders on Steve Young and David Archuletta. :)

I also found some of her memories from High School! She kept all her dance cards. She had postcards, graduation tassels and programs from school functions. It was so much fun to look through.

One special memento I found was a telegram sent from my grandpa to my grandma when they were still dating in 1941. He was in the Navy and wasn't going to be able to go out to her house to meet her while on leave. The telegram reads "Darling: I can't come there. Will you come here please."

They were so much in love. That is one thing I always knew about them. My grandpa was always so concerned about my grandma. One story I heard this weekend was that they met all those years ago at a dance. My grandma was dancing with another boy and my grandpa cut in and as he put it, "they have been dancing together ever since." At the end my grandpa had to be put into a home health care facility and it was decided to move my grandma in there with him. When my aunt told my grandpa of the plan he got really panicky and said,"You can't move her in here!!" When my aunt asked him why not, he said, "Because I can't walk right now. How am I going to take care of her?"

My aunt found my grandma's wedding dress which was so neat to see.

One of the COOLEST things I found were a stack of probably 50 letters. They were written in the twenties from my great grandfather to my great grandmother. At the time she was living in Utah and he was traveling with the railroad, just trying desperately to earn enough money to send home to her and my grandpa. They are so sweet. Most of them just talk about his work on the railroad, but they all end with him telling her how much he loves her and misses her and Wayne (my grandpa.) In one he wrote, "Remember I love you awful much."
How sad that we have gotten away from letter writing in our time. These letters, telegrams and mementos are an absolute treasure to me. Even though I only had a few minutes to look through this stuff, I felt like I opened a window into my grandparents' lives and got to know a side of them that I hadn't known before.

More to come!