A trip down Memory Lane

This week the girls and I are in Virginia helping my mother who fell and injured herself. She is also moving this week and combining two houses into one...

...My grandfather passed away 2 1/2 years ago. He left the house to my mother and her sister. Mom couldn't let go. The memories compelled her to divide her time between her home in the country, and her childhood home outside the city. Unfortunately, practicality has won out over nostalgia, and the home had to be sold. 

So here I am tonight, sitting in the bed that my grandmother tucked me into as a child, with snapshots of precious memories  flashing across my mind and heart- How fitting that I was able to be here on the last week this home will be in our family to say goodbye.

Papa and Nannie bought this house over 50 years ago to raise their two daughters. Although it is a modest home, and he was a successful attorney, they never felt the need to move on to bigger and better. They were content.

Many, many holidays, birthdays and family get- togethers were in that dining room. The living room housed the organ that my Grandmother played for me each time I begged. The tiny kitchen was where she made fabulous pot roasts and made-to-order breakfasts for each guest visiting. She was a servant at heart.

The basement had the pool table, where my sister and I would ride our big wheels round and round, all the while a competitive pool game was going on between the men of the family. Egg nog was served at the bar and a fire roared in the fireplace. My Papa's office was down there, and although he had important client documents all over his desk, he would always let me go in there to write on his legal pads, and type on his typewriter. We were spoiled and loved by our grandparents.

Today I packed the linen closet where my grandmother's sewing box once stood. She sat with me and patiently taught me to sew on all her washcloths. Her sewing box now is proudly  housed in my linen closet, but the memory is as fresh as if it were yesterday. She took time to teach me.

I said my last, tearful goodbye to my Grandmother before she died in this house. She was the role model for which I intend to grandparent myself someday. She was my hero, and in turn, we were her world. It has been 24 years and I still miss her.

Saturday I will say goodbye to this house forever. It is bittersweet. I am tearful and yet I know, that the lessons learned, the memories made, the love displayed, will live on.

And those memories will include this week as well: Caring for my mom like I saw her care for my grandmother. Hearing my daughter run down the halls I once ran as a child. Having my girls run to their grandmother's bed to kiss her goodnight, in the same spot my grandmother's bed once was. Having breakfast in the same tiny kitchen with the sun beaming in each day like it has for over 50 years.

Old memories. New memories. Treasured memories.

Farewell dear Parsons home- the memories within your walls are etched in my heart.