Sisters

I know I am delinquent in posting lately. Lots has happened and I will have to catch up when I get my camera back. I forgot it at my in-laws house. I have been reading other blogs a lot lately as I have been pretty bored at work, and many are a lot like journals. They express thoughts and life, and I wanted to do a bit of that. So today I am going to talk about my sisters. Last night they came to visit me. It is funny how we miss each other now that I don't live with them. We didn't see each other even then, but I guess there is a comfort knowing that you all live under one roof. I am always telling them to come visit me, and Cortney wanted me to come with her to a performance at UNLV she could use for an assignment in one of her classes (I know it is crazy that she is in college, I can barely believe it!). So we decided that we would hang out that night. Michelle had to work so she couldn't come with us to UNLV. Cort and I met up at good old McDonalds to grab a snack, then tried to navigate the crazy traffic that plagues Maryland Parkway especially in the evening. We spent the time catching up and just chatting. When we got to ham hall we saw a lot of lavishly dressed individuals. A further investigation found everyone going to this performance was in evening gowns and tuxedos or suits. Being in jeans and flipflops we decided that this was not a good idea and that Cort should just go to a jazz club or something for her assignment. This worked out great because we got to go to my house and hang out. We played trouble and had a jolly old time. I even put Cortney the writer to work and asked for her assistance on the primary program I have to write/put together. We didn't get very far. Later Michelle came over because we were going to go run/work out in the fitness center in my complex. As you may have guessed this did not get accomplished as we began watching the office and talking about our family. Soon our conversation turned to our dear grandpa who passed away a little over 2 years ago. This is a pretty deep wound for all of us as it was very unexpected, and I am tearing up just writing this. We all miss him so much! We don't often talk a lot about what we remember of him so it was so great for me to be able to stroll down memory lane about my sweet grandpa with my sweet sisters. They each have different memories of him and we laughed and cried together. I want to share a memory from each of them. I hope they don't mind. Cortney had the great blessing of "living" with them for a few weeks the month before he died. While she was staying with them they all went camping. She got to spend so much time with our grandparents and has lots of great pictures that I am a bit envious of. Anyway the memory she shared was one day while they were camping she decided to write a note to both my grandma and grandpa telling them how much she loved them and stuff like that. When my grandpa read it he came up to her and hugged her like he had never hugged her before and told her that she would never know how much he loved her until she had her own grandchildren. That was such a special and wonderful experience for her that she will be able to treasure the rest of her life that will bring fond and warm memories of him. Michelle remembered all the four wheeling and hiking grandpa would do with us. She also remembered when she brought out an especially annoying boy to visit them, grandpa would be the one to talk to him and not leave the room like Michelle and my grandma did. This patience must have come later in life for grandpa because I remember him cursing the Christmas tree one year and me wanting to wash his mouth out with soap, but my grandma convinced me that we shouldn't do that (secretly I thought we still should). We also talked about some of his mannerisms and what he was like. I was especially close (still am) with my grandparents. I am their oldest grandchild and even further my grandpa and I are birthday buddies! That's right I was his first grandchild born on his birthday. Talk about the best birthday present EVER! I got to go visit them twice while they were on their mission in New Mexico and went out to their house as often as I could. So I have a lot of memories to choose from. The one I will share is about the lake. Almost exactly a month before he died my grandpa took me and a ton of my friends to the lake. We had so much fun and he made sure we all got to wake board or tube to our hearts content. I think we wore him out actually, but my memory regards his life jacket. He would never wear it like one is supposed to. He would wear it like a diaper and float in the water. He looked so silly and all of us grandkids thought it was great! He would always make me laugh. :) Family is such a large part of my life and I am so blessed to have my family and to have been able to spend time with family that has already died. I am so glad that those relationships will extend beyond the grave. Hooray for Eternal Families!!!