My g’ma and papa had a dream to move to the country and retire; so they bought 10 acres, cleared it and lived there. My papa was a hardworking man, so he never actually retired. By day, he built custom cages and bred exotic birds; at night he worked as a prison guard.
I spent every summer with my grandparents. After my papa left for work, my g’ma would make hot cocoa; then we would sit on the covered porch he’d built for her, sometimes for hours, and talk about everything. It was so peaceful, you could hear the frogs and crickets chirping; meanwhile the water trickled from the pond he crafted, and the occasional bats flew overhead.
During the day, she would sit at her dining room table to watch the birds. Out front she had brightly colored …show more content…
There were so many disasters that kept happening. It was like every time I took 1 step forward, something would set me back. First a pipe busted under the house, saturating the ground for several days. By the time we got there, the ground was flooded and the house had started to shift. We spent every weekend at the property mowing for a whole day, then cleaning for the remainder of the weekend. Next, a water pipe that had been closed off for 15 years or more busted open. Then rodents started taking over. The final disaster was a tree falling ON the house. It demolished the deck, damaged the roof, her bedroom window and foundation. We spent two weekends cutting the tree off the house. I could barely afford to pay all the bills, I felt like I was drowning.
We finally decided to sell out to the neighbor across the way. We packed a whole U-haul full and I told myself, I would sell some things to recoup the cost of moving expenses. We moved it all to the downstairs of my house. I was unable to go through the boxes, because that meant I had to deal with the fact that I sold her property. I displayed her hummingbird decorations upstairs so I could always have her with …show more content…
We lost all of her antique furniture and her leather couch set. Every time I let a piece go, I felt like I was letting a piece of my g’ma go. There was so much damage, we had to move out of our home. We found an apartment that was one third of the size of our house, which meant more letting go. We moved in and crammed the rest of our stuff in a storage unit.
I finally realized it wasn’t her stuff that made us close, it was our bond. I decided to get a tattoo to memorialize my g’ma, a hummingbird. A beautiful, free spirited bird who doesn’t stay in one place too long. It comes in your life for a moment, just long enough to create a beautiful, magical experience and then moves on. It represented my g’ma and the bond we shared.
As I continued to let go of my g’ma’s things, I realized her things were also letting go of me. It turned into a freeing, positive experience. I felt free from the responsibility that had been put on me as a child. I no longer had to hold it all together. Maybe the flood took away the things I couldn’t have let go of. Now I hold her in my heart and she is literally with me every step of the
I spent every summer with my grandparents. After my papa left for work, my g’ma would make hot cocoa; then we would sit on the covered porch he’d built for her, sometimes for hours, and talk about everything. It was so peaceful, you could hear the frogs and crickets chirping; meanwhile the water trickled from the pond he crafted, and the occasional bats flew overhead.
During the day, she would sit at her dining room table to watch the birds. Out front she had brightly colored …show more content…
There were so many disasters that kept happening. It was like every time I took 1 step forward, something would set me back. First a pipe busted under the house, saturating the ground for several days. By the time we got there, the ground was flooded and the house had started to shift. We spent every weekend at the property mowing for a whole day, then cleaning for the remainder of the weekend. Next, a water pipe that had been closed off for 15 years or more busted open. Then rodents started taking over. The final disaster was a tree falling ON the house. It demolished the deck, damaged the roof, her bedroom window and foundation. We spent two weekends cutting the tree off the house. I could barely afford to pay all the bills, I felt like I was drowning.
We finally decided to sell out to the neighbor across the way. We packed a whole U-haul full and I told myself, I would sell some things to recoup the cost of moving expenses. We moved it all to the downstairs of my house. I was unable to go through the boxes, because that meant I had to deal with the fact that I sold her property. I displayed her hummingbird decorations upstairs so I could always have her with …show more content…
We lost all of her antique furniture and her leather couch set. Every time I let a piece go, I felt like I was letting a piece of my g’ma go. There was so much damage, we had to move out of our home. We found an apartment that was one third of the size of our house, which meant more letting go. We moved in and crammed the rest of our stuff in a storage unit.
I finally realized it wasn’t her stuff that made us close, it was our bond. I decided to get a tattoo to memorialize my g’ma, a hummingbird. A beautiful, free spirited bird who doesn’t stay in one place too long. It comes in your life for a moment, just long enough to create a beautiful, magical experience and then moves on. It represented my g’ma and the bond we shared.
As I continued to let go of my g’ma’s things, I realized her things were also letting go of me. It turned into a freeing, positive experience. I felt free from the responsibility that had been put on me as a child. I no longer had to hold it all together. Maybe the flood took away the things I couldn’t have let go of. Now I hold her in my heart and she is literally with me every step of the