Jibber Jabber: Grandparents

I took this photo in my grandparents back yard, my grandfather past away about 5 years ago and two weeks ago today my grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died early Friday morning at the age of 77. She had been a smoker since she was 17. Even after my grandfather quit back in the 80's he could never get her to stop. She was a stubborn woman and I often wonder if she kept smoking just because he didn't want her too. She would say that is ridiculous, but something tells me there is a little bit of truth in it.

I will miss their back yard, we often joked it was like snow white, it was not unusual to see yellow finches, cardinals, robins, doves, hummingbirds, bluebirds, and even a mallard couple that returned every year in the yard all at the same time. If you sat there long enough and quiet enough that is. My grandfather use to say there were Gorillas in the trees behind the house, he'd start laughing and say there was just one...it was a "Gorilla in the Mist". He also kept a pony in the attic (I believed this till I was about 7 years old).

I'm going to miss their infectious laughing, their yelling while playing cards, my grandmother flipping off my grandfather with her index finger (all the while smiling). I'll miss my grandfather talking about playing full court basketball when he was young, and I'll miss my grandmothers roast beef sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. She was never more than 100 lbs and somehow made entire meals consisting of nothing but starchy foods.

Today I feel bitter that they are gone and these are now only memories.