Memories...

A box was given to us recently.
It was a box of Grandma's things.
Grandma had simplified a lot over the years, giving away the most special things to her loved ones while she was still living.  She was always very intentional about the things she gave to us.  Often times they came with special instructions or a note with some background information.
She gave this Bible to "Michael".   

She had given it to Richard, and it traveled with him when he was in the service during World War II.
The minister read from this Bible at Richard's funeral, and Michael read from it at Grandma's funeral.
She also gave us her spectacles from when she was a little girl.

We display these on the dresser in the guest room, next to the Bible, and resting on a kerchief that also belonged to Grandma.  It was given to us at her funeral, as we tearfully followed her coffin out the door to the graveside service.

So...back to the box.  We were given this box.  There was a very special dress with the box (which will have a blog entry of its own someday).  There was also some jewelry...some seasonal figurines...

There was a blanket...

...which, for now, still smells like Grandma.  It was one of her lap blankets that rested on her chair.  Grandma was always cold.

One of our guest rooms is completely furnished with antiques.  Each piece of furniture was given to us by someone in our family.  The dresser in that room is where we display and store our most precious family treasures.

It was special to go through the box and smile as we remembered again.  

There was also a book:

It was a book that we had given to Grandma, and now it has returned to me.  And this book, believe it or not, was the reason I started my blog.  Life was busy, and Grandma was always interested in hearing everything we'd been up to.  I created the blog primarily so we could print it off and give it to Grandma.  I don't know if there was ever a time when we visited that she didn't make mention of how often she paged through this book.  Her eyesight was failing in her last several months, and it was sad when she could no longer enjoy the pictures like she used to.

Funny the unexpected things that hit you hardest.  Everything in the box brought a smile, but for some reason this book brought stinging tears.  Still does.  

Nobody could ever care about the trivial details of our daily life like Grandma Hamlin did.

So, the purpose for which this blog was created has passed.

Once again, a new season.  There are a handful of people who care about our family vacations or our household projects, and I will still post about some of these.  And, I guess we shall see if the Lord has a new purpose for this blog in the months ahead.