Finer Things Friday: Memories

"Don't cry because it's over, be happy because it happened."

This is my new motto, for now at least. I found this last night and it fits my current situation perfectly. I am sad over the loss of my father, my mom, my grammy and my poppy; all of whom I have lost in the last 6 years. 

My grandmother was first, then my grandfather (both my mom's parents, but they were divorced). I spent most of my childhood at my grammy's house because both of my parents worked 40-60 hour weeks. I was very close to her and I have many, many wonderful memories. When she made me practice piano I would adjust the timer so I had less time, thinking that she wouldn't realize it; she never said anything. Now that I am a parent I laugh at and appreciate her humor in the situation. 

My poppy came and went during my childhood. He was a loner and traveled a lot. He never had much money, if any at all and at 2 points during my childhood came to live with us for about 2 years each time. He finally settled down in Idaho several years ago (we live in Oklahoma) and only called every month or so. Finally his landlord called my mom and told her that he was doing very badly so we convinced him to come "visit" and the plan was to just move him here. His landlord agreed to ship us his stuff after he got here. She was very nice. 

So what is my finer thing today? That I have a lot of wonderful memories of my parents and grandparents. That my children are old enough to have at least some memories of my parents but young enough to not remember how much it hurt when they were gone. That I have a wonderful, supportive family including all of JD's family. 

I made a vow on the day of my dad's funeral which was also my mom's birthday, to keep in touch with all of the family friends. I don't want the loss of my parents to be the reason that I don't see or talk with any of them for the next 5 years. There are friends of my dad's the he has known since elementary school. They all live here and they are all very supportive but until 3 weeks ago, I couldn't have remembered what name went with  what face if my life depended on it.