Memories and Images

I was up late with the baby last night. I was trying to convince him that he really didn't want to eat 2-3 times a night. In the interim (read - while he was crying in his crib and I watched the timer slowly click down until I could go in and comfort him) I sat in the living room, which was pretty cold.

After all was said and done (Alistair won, I was too sick and tired to go more than about an hour) I headed back up to my room to get some sleep. I laid in my bed and I was absolutely freezing, no matter what position I was in, how closely I cuddled up to Brad, I couldn't warm up. I finally went to the closet and got out a few blankets to pile on to keep me warm. As I laid in bed trying to go to sleep, a few memories came to my mind:

The first was of laying in bed in my Grandpa Gerbsch's house. It was awfully cold there in the winter at night, but grandpa had lots of (scratchy) blankets that he would pile on. So, my nose and face were a little cold as I drifted off to sleep, but there was a heavy pile of blankets on top to keep me warm.

The second was yet another from my grandparents, this time Grandma and Grandpa Lipa. I was often sick as a child and had a really nasty sounding cough (my mom says that I bark like a seal). When I would spend the night with my grandparents, my grandpa would give me a shot of Nyquil (the green kind), slather Vicks on my chest, and send me to his very warm and cozy bed with blankets piled on top. I would settle down and quickly fall asleep, waking in the morning feeling much better.

These aren't big memories, but these grandparents have been gone for over a decade, my Grandpa Lipa almost 20 years. I will often get a fleeting thought of them, but I am thankful for moments (even freezing ones in the middle of the night) that bring back to me vivid pictures of the grandparents that I love so much, reminders of the people that they were, and the way that they loved and cared for me.

I miss you Grandma and Grandpa Lipa and Grandpa Gerbsch!