Beneath the Wraps

        My first week at the Myrtle Creek Ward was on Father’s Day.   Several members introduced themselves to me and Roland.   During Relief Society I was sitting with a sister who thrives on family history.           A sign up list had been passed around for an activity that would take place in a three weeks time.   The sister asked if I had pioneer ancestry and would I be willing to share something from my history.   Sure, I guess.   I do have pioneer ancestors.           When a received a reminder call, I realized that I didn’t have any stories.   As mentioned on previous posts, family history is not my forte – and I don’t do all that well at Church history either.   There is definitely need for improvement.         I do remember my mom telling us about an ancestor named Priddy Me...

Dear Lucy and Heather,          I am sending two gifts that were made by your Grandma Kim.   I am sorry that you were unable to know her in the flesh.   She would have been thrilled about having granddaughters.   You appear to be the first in a long line of men – with your Grandpa Lynn being the baby of five boys and Grandma Kim having had four boys and no girls of her own.          Long before we celebrated Christmas in July, we used to go to Aunt Gertrude’s house each Christmas Eve to eat dinner and exchange gifts.   Aunt Gertrude told me that Aunt Lucy (who you may be named for?   - I know your middle name is after Aunt Gertrude) started the tradition several years before – though I do not remember having met Aunt Gertrude’s father or any of his sisters (Aunt Lucy being one of them)          After your Grandpa Lynn had h...

My mom was a teenager in the 50’s at a time when the cinemas offered either beach pictures or lame science fiction.   Some of those science fiction movies indicated the possibility of man one day traveling to the moon.   Of course that was never going to happen.   Mom didn’t believe that traveling to the moon would be possible.   Yet almost two decades later (1969) Neil Armstrong was the first man to step foot on the moon on the moon.    The moon travel is just one of many realities that started out as science fiction.   The cast of Star Trek used cell phones long before they were introduced to planet earth. Before mom got dementia, she believed that it was possible for time travel to be invented.   I did not agree with her reasoning, but now I wonder. As mentioned before, I have been taking a family history class – more for Roland’s sake than my own.   We have been challenged to find a particular ancestor to find ancest...

On Christmas Eve, I opened a gift presented by my granddaughter.   The name of the book is “Grandmothers Are Like Snowflakes . . . No Two Are Alike” by Janet Lanese (who I believe refers to herself as “Grandma Jan”) and had started reading it before I went to bed and continued after I got up and after we opened presents.    It’s got a bunch of great thoughts and little proverbs and I started reminiscing with many quotes that I read – starting with myself. Some quotes come with full names.   Some are quotes taken from children in which first name and age of child are given.   One of my favorite quotes came from an eight year old named Tammy.   It says, “ I love my grandma’s wrinkles.  Every one tells a story ” – which is where I got the title of this post.      I don’t feel much like a grandma.   I haven’t been with Ester much to make a connection in which we are both comfortable in our roles.   She’ll be three in...

     I’ve always been an advocate of journal writing – but especially now that mom has passed.        After we put my mom into assisted living and were cleaning out her house in order to sell it, my brother, Corey, took mom’s journals with him to Las Vegas and has been transcribing them ever since.   He also took a couple of boxes of photographs. There have been several parts of her journal which have corresponded with unlabeled photos or have provided memories that have had us thinking, “Oh, yea.”      Other passages have given us more insight to our overly quiet dad.   And lately – mom’s emotions about caring for dad mirroring our own with caring for her.   It’s been a rather interesting journey.        Some journal entries often seem boring and it feels pointless to even write about.   Journal entries written by teens can often sound funny or dishea...