Last week the postlady rang the bell to deliver a very unexpected package. I had no idea what it might be, but it had my name on it and I don't know about you, but when I get a package that I had no idea was coming ... I get really excited.
Keeping my composure while thanking the nice woman who brought it to me, I gently closed the door .... then bolted to the kitchen for a pair of scissors that would be used to tear the box apart to discover it's contents. Almost out of breath by the time I managed to remove all the tape, keeping my surprise safe inside, I use both hands to scoop out all the little styrofoam popcorn (This stuff drives me absolutely crazy when people use it for packing).
I reach inside and pull out a photo album full of pictures from my childhood that my Grandparents had taken and kept. There was also 15 cassette tapes full of recordings of my brother and me as we sang Christmas carols, birthday wishes ... and a range of other things ... that my Grandparents had recorded when we were small. Never really thinking of it until I saw the tapes, I can still vividly remember holding that little microphone, that I thought was the coolest thing ever, and belting out tunes so proud to be "recorded". Now I have the tapes.
My Grandmother passed away several years ago and I have missed her everyday since. My Grandfather passed away last year, and I was never notified of his passing until 2 months after the fact. A long story that maybe I'll someday share, but in a nutshell, my father is the only one left in that area and he's an asshole. That pretty much sums it up.
Anyway, a woman that was close to my Grandfather (an old family friend) and went over to play cards with him and visit and laugh in his final days, was cleaning out his house little by little as she has time. She ran across these things and instead of just throwing them away ... she packaged them up and sent them to me. It made my day, week, year .... life!
Here is one of the photos I found of myself at age 4 inside my surprise package. This is soooo something I would expect one of my girls to do when I take them to a studio and pay a pretty penny for a photo to capture them at a particular age ...
Can you say ... "Brat!" Yeah, maybe so, but my Grandparents loved me anyway ... even in THAT shirt!
