Skip to main content

Empty

My favorite place in the whole world for a very long time was my grandma's house in Aitkin. It to me was a sanctuary from everything going on in the crazy, crazy world especially after we moved back to Minnesota. I could go to her house and everything seemed right with the world and I was in a 14 year old cocoon reading John Irving under the trees while grandma sat in her chair in the lawn drying her hair on a Saturday afternoon.

Since grandma left us almost a year ago I have waited for the day to come when her house would be ready to be sold to another family where little girls would hide in the storeroom and sit under the maple trees.

Last weekend I searched as I do every week for her house and this week I found it there. I was taken aback at first almost scared to click on the button that would unveil my sanctuary for the world to see. When I finally did, I found only a house, with bare floors and strange colors.

There were things so familiar and some in front of me for the first time. In the end I felt sad more than anything and wanted to wish back my click and leave it the way that I remembered it in my memory full of life and not so empty.

Comments

Karen said…
Oh, Susan. It looks like the perfect sanctuary, really it does. Maybe close your eyes and go back to it the way it was and you'll forget about that click.
8:53 AM
Susan said…
I think I will. Love that place, widh I could just buy it and be there forever. However, the commute would stink.
8:55 PM
bobbione8y said…
i'm sorry it's empty...it's a beautiful house... i do kind of want you to buy it and maybe let me live there :)

what a wonderful place to remember, though, eh?
3:56 PM
Anonymous said…
What a special place! Thank you for sharing this. I can practically see you reading a book under the tree. And your memory of your grandma drying her hair in the lawnchair made me :)..
4:30 PM
Anonymous said…
I feel the same way about my grandma's house. When she died, I took pictures of all of the rooms before anyone could start picking their favorite things. It's nice to look back and verify that my memories are intact. And it's even cooler when I see some of her stuff in all of my cousins' houses. We're lucky girls that we had such amazing women in our lives.

nikki
4:33 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gainfully employed

I heard back last night from Cargill , I start back into the world of the gainfully employed as an independent contractor on October 8 th . My old client, who will now be my new client, Jeff wrote: I'm thrilled we get to work together again. This is the most important project our business unit has taken on in a lot of years so I feel a lot better knowing you're going to be part of it. OK now I'm nervous. Eeek - the most important project? Whoa, better bring the A game, but you know I am excited - scared - but am ready to go. I have so much to do before the 8 th , gotta get the list together to make the most of my kid free week (now that litte man is at daycare in the a.m.). Let's see: 1) Paint basement. 2) Purge house of clutter - how can we accumulate this much crap? 3) Goodwill and library drop off - Maple Grove Library is taking donations until Oct. 6 th !!! 4) Get the yard ready for winter - should I plant more bulbs? 5) Put basement back together - IKEA run ma...
9 comments
Read more

Z is like for Zodiac

Shelly and I went to the movie Zodiac last night. The theater was nearly packed with mostly men and couples, so it was a bit obvious when two teenage girls talking on cell phones walked into the movie 20 minutes late. Shelly turned to me, "Why would you even come to a movie like this if you are 20 minutes late?" I agreed especially since they had already missed the first victims meeting their demise and the opening which told the viewer this was a true story. You just had to know they were going to be lost the rest of the movie, plus the only reason they were probably there was to see Jake Gyllenhaal . The movie was very good, one of the best I have seen since The Departed , I read the book and the prime suspect was much creepier on the screen than I imagined in real life. At the end of the movie, Shelly stopped by the ladies room and I waited outside. The two teenage girls we saw walk in late also went to the ladies room with cell phones glued to their ears already. At our...
8 comments
Read more