After a week of showers this coming week looks to be drier and a little warmer. Warmer than usual, but the hope of a cool front coming in on Sunday, looks for a return to fall. That would be so welcomed.
Over the weekend I began to look through the box Doug sent to me. There are letters written by my grandmother, a few pics, my grandfather's notebook containing several Sunday School lessons written out, a few pages of quotes he liked, attendance for their church Sunday School and his earnings as a bricklayer. I have enjoyed reading through his lessons and I was overjoyed to see his use of stories in his lessons. When I spent summers with my Grandma, she would let me go through the drawers in the secretary desk. I would pull the wooden arms out for the lid of the desk to open. In the glass case attached to the top contained theology books, commentaries and the like that had belonged to Grandpa. I also would pour over those books and the feeling of being close to him was palatable. He kept composition books full of quotes either handwritten or cut out of magazines and newspapers. Along with his notebooks are the five year diaries he wrote in. I wasn't too much interested in the ones before I was born, but I would pour over those looking for any instance where he mentioned me. He mainly wrote about the weather, work and health, but mainly the weather. His heart really can be found in his quote notebooks and his lessons he prepared to teach. He passed away when I was two or three years old. I have a couple of pictures with him back then as we sat on the porch. Occasionally, I would venture out in the yard, under his careful watch to bring him pretty leaves from the side yard. That home where my mom grew up and where my grandmother lived has such wonderful memories. The house is long gone, her property sold to a church. The apple orchard is gone but the hedge that divided their land from the Blackburns is still there, well according to Google Earth. Those memories from long ago sustained me in some of the hardest days and felt like an oasis that was the chaotic world that existed in our Houston home. To take a thought from a hymn oh what a foretaste of glory divine is what I take now from those summers spent in Illinois because now the foretaste is the the prophetic of today living here in the mountains. Those simple pleasures from back then have translated well into today. My grandmother never learned to drive so we were dependent on several of her sons to take her to the grocery store. Usually, it was my Uncle Robert, my mom's twin brother. Grandma and I loved these thin breaded beef cutlets and would eat them almost every night with Cooks Ketchup smothering the meat. We'd also eat copious amounts of JELL-O covered in whipped cream. On our visits to the grocery store, grandma would let me pick out a coloring book to bring back. She lived on a fixed income and that was a treat for sure but at a cost greater than I could even understand back then. Almost every afternoon found me under one of her big trees, with a quilt spread out for reading, writing and coloring, oh along with a snack.
My original thought of the above paragraph wasn't the bunny trail that we just took, it was this. I think so much of what I love today is in the DNA of my grandfather. Love a good quote and used to keep notebooks filled with them. Along the way of moving several times, I think those notebooks are long gone. I started handwriting Sunday School lessons to help me retain what I had studied. Of course, there were not computers back then and a typewriter would have been a luxury not afforded to a man making $16.47 a week as a bricklayer and raising a family. He inserted a lot of stories into his lessons and that trait has trickled down to his granddaughter. Listening to my grandmother tell his stories, he was a simple man that enjoyed simple things, like porch sitting. My grandfather died when he was 65. I have lived two years longer than he did, well at this point. He had a heart condition, not quite sure what it was, but maybe that trickled down to me as well. The propensity of a weaken heart, but with better recovery methods than back then.
I am trying to go through clothes and as I do, I am preparing for cooler temps that will arrive eventually. I have a good sized stack of things to go to Goodwill. I also did pretty good going through books this morning. It really comes down to, will I ever really take the time to read or sometimes reread a book. Took a box out to the truck today. We also have several blankets to go to a local ministry here that helps homeless people or help people get back on track.
Felt a bit restless and experiencing fitful sleep, so I got up. Read a little in my Bible and now finishing up this blog post from this morning. I am so thankful for that box that Doug sent. I am seeing really how our family traits, that are good, can be from a long line of long ago loved ones. I have never felt closer to my grandfather than I have lately.
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