Wow

The things people can collect in a lifetime can be really amazing. Cleaning out Joe and Viv's house with my family yesterday was an interesting mix of astonishment at just how anal retentive Joe was (Joen found a log of temperature, wind velocity and barometric pressure - Joe wrote in it daily) and how many pairs of glasses they acquired and kept. But the best part? The last two letters Vivian kept that my grandmother wrote her before she died. It contained all mundane news including a request that Joe and Viv pick up a piece of carpeting from Menards that was on sale, but running my hands over the words I could feel their imprint on the paper and it made me long for that time a really long time ago when Grammie's hug could make you feel like she had the ability to bring about world peace. Maybe I hold a lot of stock in what I felt being around her, but I never got to know her as an adult so my perception of her is all about how loved and safe I felt being around her. I remember her as a slight woman, but her grip was so strong. When she died, I had to start working on my own grip, because you never know when the world will turn upside down and you have to hang on for dear life.