And while I don't know it's whole history, it's age shows. Which I love. I love the time weathered finish and the scuffs on the top. I love the simplicity yet classic character of its lines. I love that it tells a story. I love it so much, I even want to one day find one like it for the other side of the bed.
I'm sure it sounds silly, but this little vintage wash basin stand reminds me of a simpler time and a simpler way of living. One with more dirt and less technology. One with family farms and hard work.
A time that didn't encourage laziness, but rather encouraged life skills. Skills that didn't involve computers and social media, but rather involved people and physical labor and craftsmanship. This sweet little table fully embodies why I appreciate old things...they celebrate the things we've learned and the things we need to cling to.
Which brings me to the next old item that fell into my possession this week...
This screen door was on the house my family built for 30 years. It came down this weekend as my mom and stepdad redid their back porch and was passed down to me when I learned of its whole history. Not only did it hang on the house I grew up in built by my family, but before that it hung on my grandparents' home where they raised my dad, his brothers and sister. Which was a home they built themselves as they lived above the garage. So lots of obvious history with this door. Which is why I love the idea of doing a little rehab on it and hanging it on my home now. :)
Speaking of my grandparents, my PawPaw is now home on hospice which fills my heart with joy knowing he's back at home and not in a hospital. Isn't that what most of us wish for, peaceful final days at home? It was hard though to walk in his room and see the hospital bed and hear the oxygen machine in the background. The difference a week and a half can make is crazy.
This is my father's father. Growing up, I had my PawPaw and my dad and my Poppy and my Stepdad. So I had multiple male figures, but my PawPaw always held a special place. For one reason my dad did not live nearby most of my childhood and when I would see him, my PawPaw was usually (almost always because we would stay at my PawPaw's house when my dad came in town) around too. And since my PawPaw lived five minutes down the road, I saw him even more than I saw my dad. But mostly, above all else, my PawPaw is this symbol of peace for me. Through my parents hateful divorce, not understanding why my dad wasn't around more, my sister's rebellious years, my rebellious years, coming home from college, getting pregnant with Clayton and every hard moment after; my PawPaw has remained this beacon of peace. I could walk in his house and see his infectious smile as I was greeted with his classic "How do you do?" And for at least a little while, nothing else mattered. He never judged, he just loved.
He is one of the only people I know, if not the only person, whom no one has anything negative to say about him ever. Everybody likes him. I have an Aunt with children from a previous marriage who has been in our family forever and told me the other day that her child call him the "storybook grandpa". He is "that" man and it isn't just my bias. It's just my privilege to be a part of him. He has always been the role model of all role models. Hard working, honest, loyal and positive. He spent his life working hard at the telephone company; loving his family; playing with the grandkids and great-grandbabies; loving my granny; gardening and working his property; building and fixing things; raising chickens; picking satsumas and kumquats and enjoying them with the grandkids on sunny days; riding the grandkids around in the lawnmower wagon; taking naps in the middle of the living room floor on hot summer days; showing grandkids how to dig for worms for bait; and always always teasing us. He is just the rarest kind of man. He set nearly impossible standards for George :). Playing. George knows very well all about my PawPaw.
I am just so damn lucky to have had role model like him and will always consider that one of the biggest gifts of my life.
Not to say that my stepdad, Poppy and dad aren't loved or admired for their own unique charms, but I think they would all agree my PawPaw is just different than most men...or women for that matter. All the men in my life are so different from one another. So VERY different. But with my PawPaw, it was like he embodied the best of every man I have ever known with little to none of the negatives. So stinking thankful for his example!
Tribute over.
No comments:
Post a Comment