Monday, July 25, 2016

Being Thankful

This weekend I got to visit my Grandparents in South Carolina.  It was a an amazing trip filled with memories of our kids spending time with their grandparents.  I was pretty fortunate that both my kids got to meet all four of my grandparents.  But being able to spend time with them and watching my kids talk and play with them was incredible.

This trip topped off a month of visiting all the grandparents in the month before the summer ends.  Two weeks ago Tim and I headed to Pittsburgh to visit my Pap.  Lori stayed home with Avery because she had Pneumonia and a double ear infection.  But Tim and I did our best to cheer Pap alone by talking and catching up.  Selfishly, I always think about how sad it is watching my grandfathers age.  I remember a time in High School my Pap could beat me in an Arm wrestling with his left hand (I'm left handed).  Its a selfish thought because I have to remind myself how lucky I am to still have them around.  But visiting Pap was great.  Checking out his new facility during the tour gave me comfort that my cousin put him in the best facility for him at this time of his life.  Having the conversations is always what is about.  Tim knows how important my Pap is to me and he purely loves just listening to my Pap's stories just like I did and still do.  Tim always wished he got to go hunting with him at least once.  But through his stories and our memories of our own, Tim can dream out them and make new stories with me.


Visiting my grandparents in South Carolina is always fun.  Aiken, South Carolina is very different from any other place my family calls home.  But it was just nice visiting and spending time.  We got to visit my Grandpa everyday at the nursing home.  he got to watch Avery run around crazy outside.  he got to talk to Tim about baseball, girls, and school.  My grandma is the coolest.  We spent hours catching up with her.  Telling us about her weekly brewery current event meet-ups, her new room mate, her dulcimer band, and her new cat.  My grandma is basically what a hipster wants to be.  She doesn't even know it.



We got to go see my grandma's Dulcimer Band play.  It was hosted at the Aiken Visitor Center.  The center is a re-built version of the old train station in Aiken.  Upstairs it had the history of the southern rail lines that went from Augusta to Charleston.  Avery and I spent a lot of time checking out the trains.


We also got to catch up with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dan.  They have always been wonderful hosts.  My aunt is actually the one who gave me the confidence to run a half marathon.  They both came up with my two cousins and ran the Crawlin Crab in 2014 to cheer me on.  It was two years ago on one hot morning that I ran with my aunt and she told me I should sign up for a half.  They picked a different family half marathon just to support me.  Clearly the running bug stuck with me.

Two weekends is never enough with family but I am so thankful for having such wonderful grandparents and family.  I would not be who I am without my grandparents.

Be thankful for your family.  Go visit them.  You might learn more about yourself.


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