my uncles…

my beautiful grandparents moved out of the house that they had lived in for, well, forever. all of my uncles grew up in this house, my grandparents raised 5 boys in this house in south Omaha. I cant even imagine the stories these walls could tell. in October, before the new owner took over the house I went with my dad & uncles for one last visit & to get some photos of them, in their parents home, the home they all grew up in. I was so happy & actually very honored that they asked me…

my favorite part of the day was to hear the stories. the stories of these men as boys. all of the sports stories, football, baseball, basketball in the yard.

I guess we are all guilty of it. we grow up never really thinking that our parents were ever children just like us, even more than that, who ever thinks about their grandparents as young kids, young love, before the war, before their 5 boys, they were young people in love just like the rest of us have been. I don’t know why it has to take until we are older to realize that our parents had to grow up & their parents too.

watching my uncles laugh about old stories, stories about getting in to trouble & what their parents were like, that is what makes me happy. I am learning about myself that I really want to know where I come from. where do my parents come from. is that the reason I am the way I am. do I see them in my kids.

we went in the back yard & they were throwing around the football, telling stories. I snapped some pics & then said “run a play” I had no idea that they actually had plays, to run. I was laughing so hard, they were so cute & they ran these plays, in their back yard that they played in as kids & ran these same plays. awesome!!

they had brought some old photos & we tried to recreate them… pretty cool.

I got to see the “time out” corner in the kitchen. hilarious, seeing these grown men telling me about their time outs they would get as kids & how they remembered spending alto of time in this corner of the kitchen. ha.

I know that I have always been sentimental & overly emotional but as I get older it just keeps getting worse. seeing this home thru my dad & my uncles eyes & hearing their stories, it only makes me want to know more. I imagine my grandma, making dinners in this kitchen for her family. it must have been loud with all those boys in the house, they all had their sports & their music lessons, it must have been a very busy house. I bet she stood at her sink, looking out the window after dinner & smiled. I bet some days she was overwhelmed, I bet some days she was unsure but when you are in this house you feel that it was full of love.

my grandma is my grandma but my grandma is first their mother. just like me, she must have worried about her kids at every stage. she is so soft spoken, she truly has a heart of gold, how did she make it through raising all these boys with so much grace? she is so inspiring to me.

they are both so inspiring to me. I have been learning more about my grandpas history & his war history. my grandpa is a hero. not only to his family but he is a hero to this country.

I really believe that my grandpa should be on the world news. his story is incredible & people should hear it. how do we make that happen???

a few weeks after this we gathered to celebrate my grandparents 72nd. wedding anniversary with their family & friends.

incredible. one word, incredible.

I love this shot of my nieces & my daughter watching their great-grandparents dance. do they get it? do they understand what a triumph it is for these two people to still be standing, together, in love, celebrating with their family & friends 72 years of marriage. do they get how much these two people have been thru together. I don’t even know the answer to that but I do know that they have been thru it all together. the highs of bringing children into this world, the joy & the hard times of raising those kids. the joy of grandkids & family & holidays & celebration but also the lows of sad times & loss. to be able to go thru that with one person. to have one person see you thru all of those moments & to get to a point in life where you can look at someone & know that they truly have loved you thru it all. the good, the bad, the tears & the laughter, that one person was there to share it all with you.

do they understand how truly rare that is.