Follow Up

So, a friend just pointed out that my last post was really depressing and I never followed up on it... never fear, y'all, I'm alive and well!

Going to the house wasn't as hard as I thought. My aunt had cleared out just about everything, and most of what was left made me happy to see. There was a lot of really neat stuff from the decades my grandfather worked for Reynolds Aluminum, a fun old matchbook collection, guitars that my brother was really excited about, a very cool old radio/record player that was the size of a large coffee table, a solid chest of drawers, my grandmother's old stand alone sewing machine (with original paperwork), some Reichsbankmarks from Germany and a lot of other neat stuff.

There was also a letter that my grandmother had written to my grandfather that was disturbing (she was very ill for a very long time) but illuminating and I'm glad to have read it. He spent a lot of time the last years of his life wishing he could have done more for her, he told me several times he should have, but seeing what he dealt with I know that he did as much as he possibly could have. The kind of help she needed just wasn't available at the time, and even now isn't available in that area.

I met his neighbor Bradley, who is probably the only reason my uncle lived as long as he did, and finally met his "little buddy" Hunter who is 16 now. It was so fantastic to meet them, I can see how much Grandaddy meant to them and it's wonderful to know how much they meant to him. I feel like they're just another branch of our weird and wild not-blood-related family, and we're going to be selling the house to them for his oldest daughter and her child.

I'm at peace with that, it's helpful that the house will basically stay in the family, and Jeremy and I are hoping to go up there and help them clear it out since all the work will need to be done in a fairly quick manner.

I'm really glad that I was able to make the trip. I think my brother and I are going to have a good time living with what we have left and most of the smoke and nast has cleared from things since being taken out of the house. We are going to refurbish some of the stuff, then take the smaller items (like the Reynolds service pins) and make shadow boxes that can be hung on my walls or his. My brother and I may not be close like some siblings, but I like our relationship. There's no doubt that if one of us wants something the other will say take it-- I think these shadow boxes will pass back and forth between us for a long time.