Week Two:


This weekend was a tough one. I met my family back in Pennsylvania to help them move my grandparents into an assisted living facility. It was an emotional weekend for all of us. My Grandma has been in and out of the hospital a lot this past year and my Pap Pap finally came to the conclusion that it is too hard for him to take care of her anymore.
We moved them into a nice apartment where someone will check in on them periodically, but where they will have their own independence for as long as they need it. They are taking it pretty well, surprisingly. I think it may be a relief to them to downsize and have part-time caretakers. It is still hard to see people who have taken care of you for so long need to be taken care of by you now. Part of the cycle of life, I guess, but still not an easy change for any of us.
I am sad that in a few months they will be selling their home. It is going to their cleaning lady, who lost her family home just before Christmas to a fire. So something good will come out of it. And I know they will take good care of it. They are a young family with two girls and my Grandma is very happy that they will be moving in to it. Its a win-win for everyone.
It is just hard to say goodbye to a place that holds so many childhood memories for me. I can't imagine how hard it is for them. They have lived there for 27 years.

One awesome thing that happened was that my Grandma passed out everyone's Christmas stockings to each family. She made each of these from scratch as every family member was born into the family. From her own children, to their spouses, and to each of the grandchildren. The greatest part was that she had a friend type out the story and the tradition behind these stockings. It was so amazing to read. She started by saying how her Grandma had started the stocking tradition and talked about how much joy it brought her over the years to hand-sew each and every one. They are all so beautiful and uniquely shaped. What a wonderful treasure I will have. And I am so happy to have the story saved. It went right into my Project Life book. It makes me happy that I am recording my memories now for my kids and grandkids in the future. I hope they will enjoy looking back on my life and reading all the details about what life was like before them. It made me appreciate this memory keeping hobby I enjoy so much more than I already do.

Another highlight of the trip was going through my Grandma's teacup collection. We used to have tea parties every summer with all the aunts and cousins, when we'd all be back there together. It is one of my fondest memories of my Grandma and cousins. My sister and I were in charge of dividing up the tea cups between all the granddaughters. We each scored some of our favorite ones. I am happy to add them to my own collection that my Grandma has been helping me build over the years, as she used to gift them for Christmas and birthdays.
The weekend ended with a fun sister road trip. We drove from their place to Pittsburgh where Jordan flew back home from and enjoyed each other's company. Lots of singing, laughing, goofing off...and many failed attempts at a self-portrait in the car. Those pictures make me laugh!
And here is Week Three. I already shared it on Instagram but thought I'd share it here as well.

Nothing special, just a recap of the weekend and all the movies Matt and I went to see that week. Thanks for looking!