Another new year is upon us, time for me to sit and reflect upon the last year. Lisa on Location is in a wonderful spot. I'm busy enough to allow me the freedom to have some time that I'm not so busy. I've taken the past week off work and used the time to sit around with the family, hang out, go to museums, watch movies, attend a bowl game, stuff myself with food, and play with my kids.
One of the family activities we enjoyed was a visit to my husband's grandparents. I consider my husband extremely lucky because both his grandmothers are still alive (actually three of his grandmothers are still alive if you count his birth grandmother -- he was adopted). I lost all mine as a teenager and young adult.
Taking a step into the homes they've lived in for many years is like stepping back in time. My husband tells stories of hidden cabinets full of toys (still there full of the same old toys), sleepovers, many many Christmas dinners and lots of cousins to play with. The furniture and decor in these houses are frozen in time. The same lamps, the same end tables, the same tree trunk slice clock, the same photos on the walls -- all frozen in time circa 1960s and 70s. The only thing that's changed is the little ladies who occupy these homes, now older and frailer than ever before.
The new years keep coming. There's no stopping them. And if we're lucky, we'll be like my husband's grandmothers, watching them roll by, watching our grandchildren grow up and have children of their own. If we're lucky, they'll keep coming back to the home we built, keep bringing their children in to play with the toys they once played with.
The photo I'm sharing today was taken at my husband's grandmother's ranch in Nordheim, Texas -- population 323. Most people would look at the old ranch with weathered fences and half a dozen old buildings (former greenhouse, former dairy, former chicken coop, etc) and keep on driving. My children see it as endless exploring possibilities and way cooler than our suburbs.
My hope for the new year is peace, love, prosperity, good fortune and all that other stuff. But I'm also hoping for more frequent returns to the old. Because we cherish the past as much as the future.
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