I apologize for the delay in
writing. Granny and I spent an entire
eight weeks in Mexico
this winter. Fortunately, Ruby, you got
to spend a week down in Cabo San Lucas with us and Eliana and Gehrig, you were
there for two whole weeks. What a
blast! We hope you enjoyed it as much as
we did. But, now we are quite behind on
our other obligations back here in the real world.
When Granny and I were
driving down to Mexico ,
she introduced me to a new music station on our Sirius/XM satellite radio that
she had found. It is called Coffee House
and it plays a broad selection of eclectic music; everything from 1960’s and
70’s folk songs and protest songs to new age alternative and, like the name
implies, coffee house ballads. The music
is great and I liked this new station immediately. When I asked Granny how she stumbled onto
this station she said she just found it one day and fell in love with it. She said when she wants to listen to music these
days, Coffee House is her favorite station.
She was so passionate in that statement I asked her why she liked it so
much and she said, “I love it because it reminds me of Brittany ”.
Now, Ruby, you know that Brittany is our youngest
daughter and your mom. And as much as we
love you three grandkids, Brittany and her sister, Brandi, are two of our most
favorite people in the world. But I
guess hearing Granny say that the reason she listens to a particular radio
station’s music is because it reminds her of our daughter just struck me as a
significant indicator of love. Which
kind of brings me to my next Pearl :
Fortieth Pearl: “Keep Reminders of Those You Love Close at
Hand”
You know, we can’t always be
close to the ones we love. Eliana and
Gehrig, you live in New Jersey ,
over 2,000 miles away. Ruby, you live in
Austin , and
even though that is much closer to us, we can’t be with you as much as we would
like. Our daughters, your moms, and our
sons-in-law, your dads, are in the same boat.
Not down at the end of the block, so to say. All of Granny’s family (sisters, brother and
dad) live 100 miles or more away in other cities and my sister, your Aunt
Sandy, lives up in Oregon, as far away as New Jersey in the other direction. In our minds we can see you everyday and we
jog our memory with photos, phone calls, emails, Skype, old Christmas cards,
pictures you have drawn framed on our walls and now even music. These reminders keep us connected. They are an important part of our lives
because you guys are so important to us. So we surround ourselves with them.
Even though we cannot see
you, face-to-face, and hug you and give you kisses all the time, we think about
you often because physically you might live far away but emotionally you live
in our hearts…..every hour of everyday.
Love you bunches and bunches.
Grandpa Jud