Day 44

"Home is where you grow up wanting to leave, and and grow old wanting to get back to."

~John Ed Pearce

Grateful for home

2516 East 7th Street.  Superior, Wisconsin.  Grandma Hancock with a lapful of grand kids.  The only one missing from this picture is Michael, he was a thought in heaven here.  Gram's house built me.  I know it built my Mom.  I know my Dad has a house that built him, too.  Whenever I think of Gram's house, I think of it smelling so good.  I remember the candy dishes, the little tea sets that she would have coffee for us...the cookies, the goodies, the love.  The endless hugs and smooches on the face, cheeks, ears, wherever she could plant one.  And Gram, she had the best skin.  So soft, and I loved it when I sat with her.  She made everything in the world ok.  She raised her four kids by herself...Grandpa Hancock died when Mom was only 4.  What a woman.  If the walls of that house could speak...

Here the cousins gather at Grandma Hancock's house...this time, complete with Michael.  Bless his heart, he lost Gram at such a young age, and she was his world, too.  Gram loved each and every one of us more than life itself.  I don't know many other families that are as lucky as we are.  And this house, we all got to sit in this house, and ask for what we would like from Gram.  I still have the smell of her house in the hutch in my dining room...and I rarely open the drawer, because I can't bear to lose that smell...of Gram...

And time goes on, and here we all are together again, in Superior, WI. to lay an Aunt, a sister, a Mother, and a friend to rest.  Here we are together again, at home.  Superior, WI. and Duluth, MN.  We are all together, laughing, sharing memories, and are there for each other's tears, smiles, fears, etc.  We are blessed to have this "home"...

I love you all.  I have learned...through Gram, Mom, Dad, Aunt Jean...Uncle George, Uncle Tom,

Aunt Dar, Uncle Steve, Uncle John, Uncle Bobby, Uncle Roger...

That no matter where you go, home is always there...its a place you can go back to, to remember, and to hold in your heart and your memory forever.

Home is somewhere you can always go.

Thank God for those memories.

Thank God.

<3