This week I am moving into my grandparent's home. Two of the greatest influence's of my life. Anna Judith Winter(Judy) and Marion Edcar Winter(Ed). Together they taught me how to work hard, to nurture, to be nurtured, and to eat. They showed everyday what it meant to be constantly devoted to a savior. Grandpa and Grandma loved me unconditionally, they wanted me. The greatest feeling in the world is one of self worth, and they had a determination to show me mine. I have two brothers, three sisters, and a myriad amount of cousins; and I guarantee they all felt this way.
Their greatest lesson, however, was the lesson of marriage, how to love each other. They never had much money, but they always had each other, they always had their family. My grandparents had five children together: my Uncle Phillip, my Aunt Cecilia, my father, and my Aunt Shirley. My Grandpa, like most men of the time, enlisted in the arm forces. He was in the U.S. Coast Guard, while my Grandma was at home with four kids. It seems to me that my Grandpa only thought of his family, while in Japan he had portraits made of them, he sent them letters. He wanted only to be there, with them.
My grandparents truly loved one another. They were married for over fifty years. They built a home, in love and in foundation. They planted seeds together, and the fruits of their labor stand true today, a garden, a family. They provided for their family in all the ways they knew how to, and they did it all together...as one body. Marriage...one body.
When my Grandpa died, most say, so did my Grandma. It's hard for a body to stand, when it has no legs...no firm foundation. Grandma has been moved to a nursing home, and every time someone visits, she cries. It's the familiar faces, the reminder of a home, a spiritual home, that make her cry. I don't believe she'll ever truly be at home without him.
That's love.
