60 years!

My Grandpa and Grandma Larson celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last week . . . WOW.  I took a picture of this picture of my Grandma on their wedding day at Mom's last night and I couldn't stop thinking last night and all day today how she did it all back then.  6 kids, clean house, homemade everything, sewed and mended all the clothes, washed all the dishes, milked the cows and did farm chores . . .   

The only answer I can think of is she was a hard worker.  It didn't matter if she didn't WANT to do the dishes, or do the laundry, or scrub the floors or trim the fat off the roast, or dice the vegetables, or mend the same seam for the hundredth time.  You just did it.  Because you couldn't go to Costco and buy veggie trays and pumpkin pies, or buy premade, frozen dinners at the grocery store, or order your clothes from Old Navy when there is a huge clearance sale.  You did all the work and you didn't complain. 

But now, we can say we don't want to something, and not do it, and no one bats an eye.  We can get away with not learning how to cook a roast, or mend socks, or clean your own house or any of those things because we can pay someone else can do it for us.  We can tell ourselves we are just too tired to put stuff away or fold the clothes in the dryer, or we will wash the dishes tomorrow.  Because that is the normal.  It is easy and normal now to be selfish, self-absorbed and lazy, and put all the blame on something or someone else.

And make no mistake, every time I just said WE, I really mean I.  

But not today.  This is what I do, and I'm going to do it well.  I am going to take more joy in the doing, and the making, and the mending (instead of taking it to my Grandma to do!), and the sitting down and really playing with my kids.  Enjoy them and teach them.  And I have a hunch that the reason my Grandma got so much done during the day was because she wasn't watching TV  and there were no computers! 

And I know it's not going to happen in one instant, but I will try to take better care of myself, the kids, and Tom and the house.  I believe that is a sacred thing, to take care of your home and your kids.  Thank goodness I think that, because that is what I do.

So all that to say . . . I am so thankful for my Grandma and Grandpa Larson.  I know not very many people are lucky enough to live only a few minutes away from their grandparents and get to visit them a couple times a week.  I love going over there and watching my Grandpa play with Vince and put coasters on his head and get Grace to do it too.  And I love the way Grace sits right next to my Grandma on the couch and feels her arm, just like I used to do to my Mom.  They are so dear and special to me and still so much fun.

Happy, happy anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!