Beautiful weekend in Minnesota! Thank goodness, because we have yard work to do today. Dad is going to deal with gathering leaves for the city pick-up this coming week (always a crap shoot, betting on whether the piles of leaves get vacuumed up before they kill the grass) and I'm going to clean and put away lawn furniture. Much better to do all of this on a fair weather day in the low 60's than in the low 40's, as often happens.
Yesterday Dad/Larry/Paco and I went to Spring Valley so brother Mike and I could continue the work on cleaning out Gpa Charlie's house. The basement was our main target, and we got a LOT done. There's still plenty to do, but we made significant progress. When we got home last night (after a stop in O-Town to have pizza with A, T, M, and W) I sent Mike an email, sharing my sudden realization that his ability to maintain a higher level energy for filling boxes and carrying them upstairs than I could is because he is 12 years younger than I am! He countered by saying he felt 12 years older by the time he got home. I guess we're temporarily even.
Going through the accumulation of my parents' lives in the house on Hillcrest Drive, I was reminded that I lived an ordinary life as a child, in an ordinary family in a small town. There was nothing special about where we lived or how we lived. I have no complaints in that regard--it was a happy and safe place to grow up.
While Mike and I were mostly focused on separating items into throw-away, auction, keep, or leave for Mark to go through next week, Dad/Paco/Larry took time to look at some family documents -- birth, baptism, and marriage certificates, a will or two, military papers, etc. -- which I plan to take time to review when we're done with the clean-out work.
There were no big discoveries as we sorted and tossed, but there was a nostalgic reminder of what we've heard over and over since Gpa Charlie's death ... that he was a solid citizen, a good friend and neighbor, and a person admired and respected for his work as a teacher, coach, and community member. We found out that Gpa Charlie had once been named a WCCO Good Neighbor. Who knew? Newspaper articles, certificates, and plaques -- symbols of his dedication to school and community life in a little town in southeastern Minnesota are gathered in boxes now, sitting on a table in the basement of his house, memorials of a life well lived.
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Dad/Larry/Gpappy also went to the cemetery to take a photo of another memorial to Gpa Charlie and to Grandma Bene. My aunt Mary Lou sent an email recently, saying Marguerite's daughter Diane (and son-in-law Martin) had been in MN to visit, and took Marguerite to the cemetery in SV. Marguerite told Mary Lou that we'd gotten a different headstone, but Mary Lou was skeptical. Of course it's the same headstone--designed by Mike and Margot.
3 comments:
This is nice, Mom. I'm not at all surprised that Gpa C. Reps was once recognized as a 'CCO "Good Neighbor"! These days they give the winners a free meal at Perkins... If Gpa were still around, I'd nominate him again so he could get more than just a plaque :)
And one more thought...do you suppose Elisabeth feels her true age when she's around ME, like you did around Mike yesterday?! HA!! You're old, Liz.
Jill, I read what you wrote. I haven't cried since Dad died, and the tears are flowing now. I have never been more happy to have an ordinary life than I am right at this moment. I didn't realize what extraordinary parenting it takes to make that happen. I love you Mom and Dad!
This is so sweet, Mom. Evan and I strive to give our girls an "ordinary" life and are glad to have had some great examples of how to do this.
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