as we continue to settle into summer~

     Good morning to you, our dear friends and family and no matter what part of the country you are reading this from, I am thinking of you.  Each of you.  All of you.  The calendar says that today is already the 8th of July and with the speed that each day seems to fly by us, it won't be long until school begins once again.  I am ready for that to happen, believe it or not :)  This has been a very different and challenging summer for me and with the best of intentions, I have fallen short on a lot of things that I said I wanted to have already accomplished.  Some times are like that, you know? 

     Yesterday I tried to go through many of the boxes that we brought back on our final trip out to Kansas to clean out my house there before renting it over the weekend.  Mike Renfro is a pretty good "packer" and he almost made everything fit in there that we needed to bring home.  My good friend Ron came over at the last minute and took a few of the big things to his house to store until I can pick them up some time in the future.  When we pulled out early in the morning on Sunday, Mike's Toyota was packed to the "gills" in one of the most interesting arrangements of critical mass that I have ever seen.  Every available space was used, any nook or cranny that was visible to the naked eye was designated for something from my old house.  We made it home in good shape and the load only shifted once and in that one time the only thing that moved forward and conked me on the head was my pillow.  I say that's a pretty good record but I'm not interested in moving all that stuff again to see if we can do even better. 

     It's kind of strange, but I always think that I have found everything that I can that has any meaning or special significance to me from all of my material belongings back there.  Seems like I always find something new, something that I have long ago forgotten or cared about.  Just last month I brought out the dozen journals that my mom had written in as she chronicled her life for a 10-year period of time.  I had forgotten they were still there and since it had been years that  I dared to even read them, it was like opening the most marvelous Christmas present ever.  Back in the spring I was going through a carton of stuff and found a cookbook filled with recipes in her own handwriting.  One of those recipes was the one that she always used to make my birthday cake each year with a special notation to the side that read "make this for Peggy on her birthday".  Just this last and final time, I came across two photos stuck in the very bottom, side corner of a box that I was just about ready to throw into the trash bag.  Thankfully one of them was face up and I noticed that the pictures were of my paternal grandmother, Bessie Scott and the other one was an image of my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Brown.  Geesch!  I nearly threw away part of my family history, my heritage as a Kansas girl because in my haste to undo the very last box, I was in a big fat hurry.  My mom told me time and time again when I was cleaning out her house there (the one that later became my own) that I should be very sure to go through every box, each envelope, and shake out every book or magazine before discarding them.  I'm glad that I listened to her and came across all that I did.  I haven't found a gazillion dollars or anything but I've located things worth way more than that.  I have found myself in those boxes and that means everything to me.

     You know, come to think of it I did find some money inside a book as I put the last of the stuff into the box to move back here to the Western Slopes.  A check, written out for $10 and dated September the second of 1980 fell out as I was doing just as my mom had always admonished me to.  I was shaking out the book to see if I had tucked anything inside and sure enough I had.  That check written, by my late-grandmother Bessie to my mom on the occasion of her birthday had been folded in half now so very long ago.  Mom never cashed it and the story behind the writing of that check still brings a tear to my eyes and it makes my heart to  swell because of it.  Do you mind if I tell you the story?

     My grandmother came to live with us on our farm near Haven back in 1974 and lived in a trailer just across the driveway from our house until late 1980 before needing to move into a long-term care nursing facility.  She was my dad's mom and I can remember how fun it was to have a grandparent living so close by.  It was a special treat to be able to spend so many hours with her in what would be her last years of life on earth.  My mom loved her very much and always took special care of the woman who was her mother-in-law but seemed more just like her second mother.  Times were tight for my grandmother and she made do with the little bit of Social Security money that was allotted to her each month.  It makes me proud to realize that because of  Bessie Scott's thriftiness and my parent's help with a place to live that she survived on less than $200 a month.  I loved that about her, the realization that you don't have to have everything in order to live a good life.  I strive to be more like her each and every day. 

     Well, about that $10 check.  I will never forget why it was written and will equally be aware of why it was never cashed.  My mom turned 60 back in 1980 and Grandma Scott wanted to give my mother a cash gift to honor her and to say "thank you" for all that she had done for her.  Grandma tucked the check into an envelope and mailed it to my mom from her room at a nursing home near Newton, Kansas.  When mom got it and read Grandma's sentiments that she would like for her to buy something very special for herself, it nearly made her cry.  She realized that for Grandma to send her a gift such as that was a huge sacrifice and even though $10 doesn't sound like much from today's standards, it really was a huge amount for a sweet little old woman whose finances were next to gone.  My mother tucked it away saying she would thank her for so doing but that she would never be able to accept such a gift.  The words that she told me as I was sitting alongside of her at the kitchen table, I will never forget.  They stuck with me and the message she sent me was loud and clear.
 
"People need to do things for others because it is a good and right thing to do, not because they are going to be paid back ever for it. " (wisdom from my mother, the late Lois Brown Scott)

     Those two women taught me a lot about life, like mentors who didn't even realize that they were so being.  Each of them went through their own struggles but they stuck with it, survived and thrived in spite of all the challenges that were lain before them.  I miss them.  I love them still. 
    
     Well the day has begun and for now it looks like it is going to be a beautiful day here along the Western Slopes.  The mountains are finally nearly barren of snow and friends I have to say that I didn't think I'd see that happen before August.  Hang on a minute, will you?  I'm gonna run outside and take a picture of what it looks like here today so you can enjoy it as well.  I'll be back in a flash!

The view out of our window this morning~
No snow on the mountains, no wind to blow the clownfish windsock, no hummingbirds at the feeder and no clothes on the line.  All is calm and peaceful here in Montrose County, Colorado

Have a great day out there friends and family.  May your day be filled with happiness and peace.  Thank you for being my friends.  Take care of yourselves and of one another.  I kinda like having you around :)

With my mom and my grandma on Labor Day weekend, 1978.  Two women who helped to shape the way that my life was to become.  Their blood runs in my veins and I am who I am in no small part because of them.