Grammy Memories

Monday I was up in Shumway going through all my grandmother's earthly possessions. She was an amazing woman. One of her joys in life was decorating her home each month with a different theme. Jan-Snowmen, Feb-Valentines, Mar-St. Patty's Day, Apr-Easter, May-Mother's, graduation, June-Father's, Summer fun, July-Patriotic, Aug-back to school, watermelon, picinini's, Sept-Fall football, Oct-Halloween, Nov-Thanksgiving, and Dec-Christmas. I would go help change the decorations each month while I was in high school. We had it down to a science. It was to the point that I knew just by looking at the box what was in it and where the items went in her home.

Grammy passed away 2 years ago. Most of her decorations have been up in my Aunt Kim's attic. The job needed to be done to go through all these boxes and throw out the things no one wanted. This was a lot harder for me than I thought it would be. As we were sifting through the boxes, it brought on a flood of memories of my grandmother and how she loved these decorations. I don't share the same passion for decorating that she did. As a matter of fact I'm lucky if I put some Christmas decorations up. However, I didn't want to throw hers out. I wanted to get the job done, yet wanted to save stuff. My mind won out most of the time knowing that I'd never use the decorations and nobody else wanted them either. We threw away thousands of dollars of decorations and a lifetime of collecting.

There were some other boxes of her memories and journals that we also found. I just couldn't throw away the journals of hers. She wrote faithfully everyday. It is her history of her thoughts and feelings. My aunts wanted them in the garbage, but I just couldn't. I managed to keep some of them out, but I know many did get thrown away.

This whole experience was tough for me, but I knew it needed to be done. After we finished, Nicole had bought some new flowers for my grandparents graves. I went to the Taylor cemetery and put them on it. I came to the realization that earthly possessions aren't important. Some day my children will be cleaning out my possessions and taking them to the dump. What is important is the way we live so that we can be together in the eternities. Nothing goes with our spirits when we die except the memories and the knowledge we have gained through our earthly experience. I'm sure Grammy was aware of what we were doing. Hopefully she has a different perspective from the other side and won't be mad when I am again reunited with her about us taking her cherished decorations to the dump.

I've posted a slide show of pictures from the ride up, Shumway, Snowflake Temple, and then of my grandparents grave. Hannah took most of the pictures. Enjoy!



Memorial Day 2008