grandparents

Now that June is over, I feel the need to remember some of the things I missed this June, and every June since 1992. June is my grandparents' month. Specifically, my mom's parents. We called them Grandovie and Papa Jim. Papa Jim died in 1990, Grandovie in 1992. They weren't even old yet - mid 60s. My mom was in her early 30s when she lost both parents; I was in 1st and 4th grade, my brother barely remembers them.

They meant the world to us.  They came through when my parents split up.  They taught us lessons.  Somehow, even after all these years, I still feel their love.  I also feel their absence.

I was truly blessed to be able to wear my Grandovie's wedding gown, pointed satin sleeves and all.  There's an old photo that my mom keeps in a frame, taken of her parents on their wedding day.  Brian and I had the photographer take one of us very similar to that one.

I think of them every day.  I often wonder what it would be like to be able to pick up the phone and ask my grandmother or grandfather something - anything - and see what they say.  I also wonder how different my life would be if they stayed in it longer.  I know one thing - if I were on the flip side, thinking about how it would be without having them around, I would be thinking that I couldn't have made it without them.