I think my little girl cousins really believed they were princesses and my grandparents the king and queen of our very own kingdom. I think my favorite room in the house was the den. It had a wall of bookshelves, and this beautiful brick half-circle fireplace that went from floor to ceiling. My grandfather's camel collection lived there, and I adored every one of them.
Then, my grandad died on a rainy September day after a long illness, and my grandmother died the following May.
Immediately, their house was no longer a place where fairy tales we made. We did not live happily ever after. The magic was gone, and I haven't felt it again...
Until this week.
My parents have been in the process of building a house, and they finally were able to move into last week. The house is beautiful... not that their old house wasn't nice, but it wasn't special or beautiful (we called it the big blue barn-- Dutch Colonial with tanish/grayish bricks and blue siding!) The new house in a development that's sort of out in the country outside my hometown. There's a pond out back and line of trees, and my girls' bedroom overlooks this scene. It's beautiful.
When I went to pick up the girls, it surprised me. I could see the magical feeling my cousins and I once had about my grandparents' house in my children's eyes. R said many times she didn't want to leave. As I sat out on the screened in porch, my babies in tiny wicker rocking chairs by my side, I watched the wind in the trees and heard the birds singing in them. And I think I felt the magic, too. And peace. I miss my grandparents and their home so very much.
I think about my childhood and how much my grandparents shaped who I am today... and how much I adored going to their house... and I'm so thankful that my girls will be able to have a place that is a little bit magical for them, too.
1 comment:
this made me teary!
What a special connection of 4 generations- wonderful.
maggie
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