A Trip to Grandma's House

When we were just little kids, Grandma and Grandpa Dev lived in this home in Springville. It has recently come onto the market and a grandious dream I've always had is to own this house. It was fun to go in and look around. It seemed so much bigger when I was so much littler! The one big disappointment was that the trap door to Grandma's cellar had been covered over. I always wondered what was down there. She alway told us we couldn't go down because there were BIG spiders! But I could remember seeing her with an apron on in the kitchen, the red rose linoleum on the floor and the smell of coffee brewing. The big old heater in the living room with the big pink rug and grandpa's library where he would give us candy if we'd been good. Remember the cigarette tree? And running around on the lawn with our cousins, Stephen and Brian with Cherries draped over their ears pretending they were earrings?

The bonus for me though was getting mom to tell us stories on this trip, she put a time line and locations to stories we had heard bits and pieces of over the years. She told us about her sister Sue, I can't imagine how hard that memory has been to live with, but can feel how devasting that memory is and how difficult it would be to lose a sister. Love you mom and thanks for sharing your stories and memories. I hope you'll tell me more.

It was a fun weekend with many peaks and valleys. I'm so grateful for my family, even when we are so dysfunctional it is hard to remember why. I'm grateful for my place in this world and for the opportunity to have such close relationships with different members of my family, it is rewarding and it certainly fills up the space where I hoped my own family would be.

I'm accepting contributions towards the "Restore the Devenish homestead" project!