By changing nothing, nothing changes

Growing up I called this sweet lady Grandma Hall. Now that I have kids and my own mom could be confused with Grandma Hall we call her Grandma Great, which suits her perfectly. She is such an amazing woman, she is a spiritual giant, quick witted, intelligent, charitable, humble, and an extremely hard worker. Growing up we went to Grandma’s house A LOT. I have a many fond memories of my grandparents and the more I thought I realized I have a lot of fond memories of their house. I loved eating popcorn and chocolate cake, trading Halloween candy with cousins, eating Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner on the dangerously steep stairs, turning on the heat lamp in the up stairs bathroom, looking for chocolates in the basement, grandma washing dishes, eating radish sandwiches while grandpa played cards, playing Lagoon in the yard, visiting in the kitchen; I could go on and on about the memories I have at that house.  There are no pictures; you couldn’t capture the memories in a picture anyway.

When I heard that my grandma was moving I was so excited for her. I instantly thought it was the best idea and knew it would be good. Her house is 3 levels and this new one is all on one. I, ironically, think its good for people to move every 10 years to de-junk. She moved right next door, and couldn’t ask for a better location.

The first time I walked through the new house I was a little surprised with the sad feeling I had in my heart but I still knew it would be an awesome place for her. I even gave a couple lectures to people that were acting sad about the change. The real kicker for me was the last visit I had with grandma at her house. The house was basically boxed up and we had a fine visit but when I walked out of the kitchen to my car I cried. I cried for a while, and though I was by myself I was embarrassed. I still have all the happy memories so I figured the only possible reason I could be crying is because I don’t like things to change… ever. I like the security of predictability. It's a problem I was born with so I'm going to try to deal better with things changing. Meanwhile Gram’s new house is perfect. It has such a good feeling and we visit just the same. She was so sweet to let Josie pick out two necklaces and some clip on earrings from her collection!