As the days grow longer here in Greenville (with regard to the sun) and my time here grows shorter (with regard to the calendar) there are a lot of "lasts" happening right now.
I'm going to be honest that I'm more of a "first" kind of girl than a "last" kind. I don't like the lasts more than anyone - but at the same time, its fun to make "final memories" of different kinds.
This week we had our LIVE AMAZING RACE FINALE PARTY - afterward we realized it would be the last AR ever shown (at least by me and heather) in the College Ave. house. We had a good time - people brought "Amazing Snacks" and we were all pretty happy when the "hippies" - who I like to call the "Kooks" (in a loving way!) won. See picture above.
This weekend Donna(who works here for me) is off work - I'm off work next weekend as I travel to Seattle (yay!) for Lori and Eric's wedding (double yay) and then continue traveling with my aunts to Spokane on Saturday to visit the graves of their parents, my grandparents. All that to say that I'm in at work today, doing some of Donna's normal Monday morning cleaning and filling one of the hot tubs so that I don't have to come in quite so early tomorrow - she usually comes in at 3:00am on Mondays.
I'm looking forward to Seattle. I get to see some of my favorite people in the entire WORLD on Friday night at the wedding, and dance the night away with some of my friends who know how to have a great time anywhere they go. I'm spending the rest of the weekend with my family.
I don't know if I've ever visited my grandparent's graves. Surely I must have when I was younger. My grandma Lois died of cancer when I was very young - maybe 2nd grade, and my grandpa Arnold died of cancer as well, when I was in Junior High. I was too young when Grandma Lois passed - to me she is still the smiling woman who made us clothes, wore wigs (i know now because of the treatments) and invented "peanut butter play-doh" the edible version of play-doh that I still wish I could make. Grandpa Arnold has more "real" memories for me - I remember staying at his house with my brother one summer and going to gymnastics camp. That week grandpa burned dinner (BBQ chicken) badly enough that my brother wouldn't eat it... and it was a monumental battle of the wills - eventually I think we went to McDonalds. I remember my grandpa making "mickey mouse pancakes" - now everytime I have chocolate chip pancakes I think of him.
I'm glad to go with two of their daughters to visit their graves. I'm glad that for the first time for "Memorial Weekend" I can be there to remember them in person. I also wish, though, that they were still alive. That they could see their grandkids in person, hold them and hug them. I wish they could travel to Seattle and see my aunts and uncles; that one christmas they'd be in Phoenix with my family and my mom's parents. I used to grieve a lot over the fact that they didn't get to see my and my cousins grow up. I was so sad that they had to miss it. As an adult now, I'm more sad that they missed seeing their kids grow older. The two youngest (who I'm going to Spokane with) were barely in their 20's when their mom died. They must have been around 30 when their dad died. When I think about what that would be like - to not have my mom when I moved across country, when I had the flu and she sympathized or when I was making huge life choices; to not have my dad when I needed answers to questions about taxes and money, to listen when I had good news and encourage me - to take GRE practice tests with me - I grieve for my aunts and their loss, for my dad and his loss.
I'm thankful it seems, for "firsts" AND "lasts" these days. May God have mercy on us all and help us to remember those who have laid the foundations for us as we celebrate memorial day next week.
Love, Tiffani
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