A couple of weeks ago, my family headed south to pack up my grandparents home after two years of vacancy. It really is a monumental task. We try to explain it to people, but there's really no way to do that completely. You'd just have to see it for yourself. Just to give you a taste or to explain a little, I'll show you how my mom answered the door when I arrived to help pack...
You just never know!My grandparents built that house when my mom was five I think. Mama said that anything that came into the house never left. And I believe her! We spent the weekend going through every item in the house. Remember, Nonnie has Alzheimer's and there were things stuck in places you'd never imagine. So, it was important for us to make sure nothing valuable was hidden in a random purse, pocket, or drawer. As we went through things, we laughed. We cried. We told stories. We listened to stories. We dressed up.
You just never know!My main job was to go through my mom's old room. This was also the "toy room." Lots of memories here. The main one I remember is playing the Shirley Temple record on the record player every time we visited and singing and dancing to "Animal Crackers in My Soup." Ahhh! I'm singing it now just thinking about it. Each item brought back memories of childhood. The fun of playing with toys at Nonnie and Pops's. How neat to play with Mama's old toys or see her old books with her childhood writing! And it was all still there.
You just never know!Kristin's favorite thing to do (and only she is small enough to do this) is to go through all the closets...dating back to the 50's...and taking clothes that have come back in style. In fact, she wore one of the outfits to work the next day.
It's all still there.I moved on to a hallway closet that apparently became the catch all for all random items...plus the official storage area for greeting cards. Oh, the things you can find in that closet!
You never know!
Nope. You really don't ever know!
I mean really. Would you have expected to find these things?I made my way to my uncle's old room, which also held a closet full of my grandmother's and great-grandmother's clothes and accessories. I took the liberty of putting together a wonderful ensemble of what appeared to be a pastiche and kimono.
You never know!That room also served as Nonnie's office where she kept all files and important documents. She worked in the city clerk's offices for years and wrote EVERYTHING down! If we didn't know what something was, we would turn the item around and Nonnie had most likely written the explanation on the back. We found lots of hand-written treasures as we sifted through the paperwork.
All the grandkids' awards and accomplishments complete with the year
A priceless personal folder...
...filled with stories untold.As we continued fiddling around the house packing and looking and laughing, we saw things we hadn't thought of in years!
Like a height record on the door facing of the kitchenSaturday, Dustin arrived. His first stop? Pops's closet! He began frantically and excitedly pulling out outfits and shoes and hats that only he could pull off and look good in! Ha! He pulled out full pajama sets and velcro shoes. Good bid day outfits. Good party attire. Good everyday wear too, I'm sure! Hilarious!
You never know!He began to make himself quite the pile of items to take home too.
His first selection was the striped jumpsuit. He's probably wearing it now! Ha!Then, it was time for the men to load up furniture that was to go home for me, Kristin, Dustin, or Mama. When things got a little tense or light fixtures shattered, Dustin was our comic relief.
You never know!The rest we sat around on the floor or on a random counter top. The estate people came by and told Mama and me that we were organizing and cleaning too much. So we stopped!
STUFF everywhere!In the meantime, Dustin found more party attire...
Nonnie's old wind suit. From the 90's no doubt!We got sentimental occasionally, which is what prompted this photo. Because this was probably the last time all the grandchildren would be at Nonnie and Pops's house at the same time. It was a sad moment if you thought about it too long. But, we kept laughing as we saw more things that we just never knew existed! Some that we wished we hadn't seen! Ha!
The grandchildrenJack came by Sunday to help Clancy with a few things. His job was to first go through the hunting closet. A big task! But, that's nothing for this fireman!
You just never know!When the last piece of furniture or memorabilia was piled into the "hillbilly" car, we headed out of the driveway taking with us the memories. The good memories. The crazy memories. And there were many! Both of my grandparents are still here on this earth. But, there is nothing that can take the place of a childhood with grandparents. How many of us take those moments for granted? When Nonnie began showing more signs of Alzheimer's, I remembered saying, "When she can't scratch my back anymore...that'll be a sad day." I remember the day I realized that she wouldn't be able to scratch my back again. I was sad. I've never seen anyone who can scratch a back for as long as she could. And in the most recent years, she would forget she'd been scratching your back so that would just add more time to her scratching. There's nothing like Nonnie's back scratches. Just moments. But taken for granted. And missed so much. I recently read a quote that said, "Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." So true!
Sunday, Mama and I went to the nursing home to visit Nonnie on our way out of town. We had a great visit. She was more alert than we'd seen in a while. We still didn't hear our names, but if we got very close and looked directly into her eyes to ask a question or make a statement...she would answer. Sometimes in her own way. But an answer nonetheless. This meant she was acknowledging us. We spent a good couple hours in the room talking to her and Mama lotioned her up. I left to get a chair at one point, and when I returned I saw something that once was a "small thing" in life. Nonnie scratching Mama's back.
You just never know!You just never know when the small things in life will turn into the big things.
Mama and Nonnie
