We returned Sunday from our "quick" weekend trip to Colorado.
Weekend+Trip+Colorado=Tired Family. I am 100% glad we made the trip. Every moment of the 2 days we spent there was worth the 2 days of travel.
The place we visited, my grandparent's ranch, is such a special place. Many of my favorite childhood memories were made at that ranch. I played with my cousins...jumped on hay bales, rode horses, explored the field, gathered eggs from the chicken coop, climbed the boulders, kicked over anthills, tubed down the ditch, climbed the huge willow tree...the memories are truly endless.
My grandfather passed away when I was an early teenager and my grandmother is no longer able to live on her own at the ranch. Each time we go to visit, it has a very different feel. Though much of the house looks thesame, the ranch has steadily weathered away. The chicken coop is boarded up, the corral falling apart, and the willow is no longer the great climbing tree it used to be due to a fallen limb.
What truly made the ranch special, was the family that would fill it during our visits. That is still the same. Though grandma isn't there in the mornings in her slippers and pink robe, there is still laughter...still talk around the table...still kids (my cousins'and my own) running around.
My dad and his siblings made a tough decision last weekend. They decided that the ranch sitting empty is no longer the best thing. They have decided torent it to one of my cousins and her family. So, that meant that grandma and grandpa's belongings needed to be sorted through and divided up. What a heartbreaking thing to do. I have been a witness to this tough process a few times now...Kyle and his brothers going through his mom's stuff...my mom going through my Grandma Elsie's stuff...Virginia and her sister going through her mother's stuff. It's such a bittersweet thing...sifting through memories...stuff. To call it "stuff" seems so heartless because the memories attached to the stuff are absolutely priceless...the most important of things. But it's impossible to hang on to it all. So the trick is to save a few precious things and part with the rest...hanging on tightly to memory, but letting the thing go.
I will truly treasure this visit. Some great treasures were found whiledigging through things...artwork from my grandfather's childhood, my grandfather's baby book and shoes, sweet photos, sweet cards. Each item sparked a story. It was such a neat time to hear my dad and aunts and uncle relive their childhoods. Stories I had never heard. That is the "stuff" to treasure. My family's history.
Before the digging and packing began, I snapped a few pictures. I wish I had some pictures of it back in the day...it was quite a place.
The house
The bunkhouse, chicken coop, and corral...oh, and the gorgeous mountains. I've always called them "Grandpa's Mountains"...they are actually part of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.
The willow tree we used to climb...it has seen better days.
The wood-burning stove in the living room.
The wash stand
Grandma's spoon collection...I'm not sure what it is with grandma's and spoon collections, but both of my grandma's had them.
These shelves, bells, and tea cups will be gracing my dining room wall soon. My own little piece of my grandparent's house.
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