I just got back from a weekend at our cabin. Built by my grandparents in the seventies, this dear place has been a refuge for the entire family. Since my grandmother's death last year, it's become a bittersweet place for my grandfather. With it's sprawling landscaping (all lovingly constructed and cared for by that sweet man), it's grown to be too much for him to maintain.
My folks have taken "legal" ownership of the cabin, though it will remain to be shared and loved by the whole family. The past couple of weekends we've sifted through years of collected treasures, artworks created by little cousins now grown adults, discovered decades-old baby clothes dotted with moth holes all the while reliving years and years of memories. Watching Malia explore the same landscapes that I tootled around as I child has proved such a marker of time.
Yesterday I literally chased my grandfather around the property as we tested each sprinkler line. He is loosing his eyesight yet his body and mind are as fit as mine. Our sprinkler tutorial reminded me how he holds so much institutional knowledge.
With the changing of the cabin guards, I didn't want him to leave. I wanted to freeze time. I felt like a little kid again, shadowing him in the yard as he did his chores.
It's remarkable having such a place, a time capsule of sorts. It makes my heart happy knowing that Malia will have similar, loved memories of her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, hopefully someday her own Hodges cousins. As bittersweet as this change has been, it's thrilling to start the new chapter. The cabin will continue to be loved and cherished by a new generation. I hope to be lucky enough to one day spend time at the cabin with my own grandchildren.
Until then, I am more than content looking back on the years and years of happy times and the years and years of happy times to come. xoH
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