Slice of Life #25 ~ Be the Bridge

This weeks Slice of life is entitled "Be the Bridge".

As I read about being the Bridge, it made me think of last weeks post on Communications.  Of course now I am thinking of other things that I could have shared with Communications, in regards to my Grandpa and Grandma Dillon and my Great-Grandparents on my mom's side of the family that I knew.  These wonderful people have all passed on in the last 12 years or so.  I do have letters from each of these people that was sent to me on my mission, I am sorry to say that I didn't keep all of them, because they took up too much space, but I did keep some from each of them.  I also took the time to write my grandparents each week on my mission as well as my parents.  Some times it was just a post card, but it was something that I made sure I do.  I fell out of habit of this when I got home from my mission, but I was told later by my mother that one her aunts who had been taking care of my Grandma Winter (my mothers grandmother) while I was on my mission actually enjoyed getting my letters each week.  She said that of all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren I was the only one who would take the time to write.

As I sit here, I am thinking of  all my grandparents.  My dad is the youngest child in his family, so I am one of the youngest grandchildren.  But I had the opportunity to live close by or with my Grandpa and Grandma Dillon most of my life.  They even lived with my parents for the last 6 years of their life.   When I went away to college, it was always great to come home and see Grandma and Grandpa sitting in their chairs and being there to talk to and  to get hugs and kisses from.  When I decided to come home from college and go on a mission, the plan was that they would come down the end of Feb when school got out.  But then I got the call saying that Grandpa Carl Winter (my mother's grandfather) had passed away, of course the funeral was going to be the weekend we were going to move me home, so I made arrangements to take all my finals early and Dad and Grandpa Dillon and my sister Jaclyn came down to Phoenix, AZ were I was going to college to move me home.  Grandpa decided to come at last minute so that there would be two people in each car one to drive and one to help keep the driver awake.  So Dad and Grandpa drove the truck and trailer with all my stuff and Jaclyn and I drove my car back to Utah, and then we turned around and headed to Montana for Grandpa Winter's funeral.

My Funnest memories of Grandpa Winter was when they came to visit from Washington.  I was 10 or 11 years old as we were living in the house on 600 South in Orem.  I got up to get ready for school and pratice my paino lessons and there Grandpa Winter was sitting at my desk writing in his journal.  He told me that he wrote a page a day.  I have always remembered this.  I wounder what ever happen to his journals.

Grandma Winter died in July 2005.  I was pregnant with my oldest child.  But I had the opportunity to have her at my wedding the fall before.  She even signed the picture frame that we did instead of a guest signing book, so every morning when I get up I see this big picture on my wall and I get to see her signature, and remember all the good times we had at her home or when she would come to visit.

Grandma Cronce died in May 2002.  I don't remember a lot of things with Grandma Cronce, but I do remember going to her home in Montana on our way to Washington to spend one of the few Christmas's with my Grandma and Grandpa Alcorn.  But the one thing I do remember that I will always appreciate is when I was 5 my Grandma Cronce sent each of her grandchildren (my mom) some money.  My mom and Dad took that and bought a used piano, that gave me the chance to learn to play the piano.  I am glad my parents decided to use that money for something that we as their children could learn a new talent.

Grandpa Dillon and Grandma Dillon died while I was on my mission.  They died 7 weeks apart.  I have lots of  memories as I mentioned before.  Grandpa had a shop in his basement, I remember going and playing in his shop.  That shop was later tuned into a master bathroom for him and Grandma when I was about 14.  A month before I turned 16 Grandpa had some medical problems and gave up his driver's licence.  Since I was turning 16 Grandpa let me drive his car and I would take  him shopping each week.  Most of my sister's and I got to do that with him before he died.  Those were fun times, going shopping and getting ice cream for the freezer, and what ever Grandma had put on her list.

When I was 5 years old I was diagnosed with a hearing loss and have wore hearing aids ever since.  Grandma Dillon sat with me and taught me to read lips.  She was always busy cooking, crocheting, or even quilting.  Since I am one of the youngest grandchildren I remember Grandma quilting quilts for my cousins for their weddings.  She also did a baby blessing dress for each of us.  She actually started this when my cousin that is younger then me.  I also have a Barbie that she did a dress on for me and a poncho that that she gave me for my 8th birthday.

I am glad to have these wonderful people in my life.  I miss them all now that they are gone, but
What fun it has been for me to walk down memory lane.

We have some family reasons for naming our kids to help us remember some of the great people in our lives.

We gave our son Dillon his name since it was my maiden name.  His middle name is Archibald.  He is named Dillon Archibald after Dan's Grandpa Bolstad who is the inventor of scotch tape.Our daughter Jennilyn's name is Jennilyn Annette after the tradition of my mom's family of giving the oldest daughter the mother's name as the middle name.  Ruth is named after my Grandma Dillon.  Her name is Emily Ruth, but since I have a sister named Emily we decided to use her middle name as our daughters name, she is Ruth Lois (Lois is my Grandma Alcorn's name).  Irene's name is Irene Marlyn, Irene is both of Dan's grandmother's names.  One is Irene Marie and one is Irene Marget, and both of their last names started with the letter "B".  Marlyn is my mother's name.

The pictures are some that I had scanned in.  For some reason's I don't have many of Grandma Dillon.  And I don't have any of Grandma Cronce.  The baby in the pictures are me.  The one's from my wedding are with my Grandma Winter, Grandpa and Grandma Alcorn, and my mom in the one.  In the other is with my grandparents and Dan's Grandma Burke.
Click on them to see them better.


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