Red cardinal & memories

Today is Gran's birthday.

This morning, when I got into work, my boss said to me, "Oh, you wouldn't believe it- this morning, I saw the most beautiful red cardinal right out in back of the office. I grabbed my camera, but by the time I was able to get the flash working, it had flown away. It was a really magnificent one, too."

What does this have to do with my grandmother? She LOVED birds and when she passed away, my mom and Aunt Sarah were sitting in Gran's kitchen silently, staring out the window Gran used to watch birds from, and out of nowhere, a gust of wind whizzed by and with it flew a red cardinal. They took it as a sign of her spirit departing.

It was just really neat that there was a red cardinal "experience" this morning (even though I missed it, it still presented itself to me in the form of my boss telling me about it) on her birthday.

Because it's the holidays - specifically Thanksgiving time - along with her birthday, my family and I have been doing lots of reminiscing about Gran, her house and the holidays we all spent together while she was alive. My cousin Ben sent us all a sweet e-mail yesterday:

"Dear family,

With the holiday season nearly upon us, I am reminded of the Thanksgivings past. I have so many vivid memories of this particular holiday at Gran's house and I wanted to share them with you all. I hope that you do not find sadness in this, but rather take joy in remembering the many traditions and moments that we have shared together. As Elizabeth and I begin a new journey of family holidays and tradition, I am honored to be carrying forward this uniquely Mermann history.

Here they are, in no particular order. It will become apparent that many of these are from when I was a kid. Feel free to share your own memories if you like, and forward this on to anyone you like.

Assembling a cornucopia with old, wrinkly fruit
Putting leaves in the table
Lugging in fire wood
Making fire and standing on the hearth for hours
Old, strange people at the table
Seat assignments and place cards
Setting the table
"Ah-people"
Wearing nice clothes
Commotion
Peas
Ice cream
Candle snuffing
Bob's breakfast with no kid friendly food and other old, strange people
Watching the parade and football in a cold library
Perusing magical Christmas catalogs that only Gran received
After dinner discussion and couch time - perhaps the best part?

Love to all
Ben"

It made me smile, for sure. I called my mom shortly afterward and we talked a bit about our memories. Later, I sent this e-mail (copied to everyone):

"Ben-
Thank you so much for this! I just spent the last 1/2 hour writing down a lot of my general memories of Gran/6 Fair Street. I don't know if I have many other Thanksgiving-specific memories than the ones you mentioned (most of which resonate with me as well), they sort of blend in a lot with my other memories of Gran/the house... see below for my unorganized/incomplete list if you're interested... I'm sure many of them you can relate to. :)
Love,
Annie"

(I'm going to make my memories of Gran and her house my next post so that it's its own separate thing, and I'll probably add to it again and again in the future as I think of things and want to remember them. To those who aren't part of our family, they probably won't make any sense, so it's more for my own record-keeping!)

I have received e-mails from other family members. Aunt Sarah responded with:

"Dear Ben and Annie,

Thanks so much for these memories. Not only is Thanksgiving upon us, but with tomorrow being Gran's birthday, you've evoked many wonderful things. Made us laugh, too.

Love,
Sarah"

From Uncle Willie:

"Ben and Annie- love this- now here are some additions from the parent perspective

Cooler full of Rolling Rock on the back steps and always some excuse to crack one @ noon
taking out a wasp nest from my car after it stung many of the children
checking the batteries in the smoke detectors I installed for Gran
the back room woodstove ALWAYS smoking
scratchy volume control on the back room stereo
Crab cakes and ham @ Bob's- yummy adult food
Round of golf day after t-giving with uncle steve that included scrambled eggs before with of course turkey in them
shoot the moon game
skittles game that included mens tournaments that included beers
cleaning up after thanksgiving which included Sandy and I "picking" at the turkey in the kitchen
raking tons of leaves
gran always finding a pool for us to swim in somewhere in Guilford
stay tuned for more- much love uncle wiggly( ha,ha)-"

From Rachel:

"What wonderful memories to share and keep the spirit of Gran and 6 Fair Street alive. Here are some that came to mind for me (aside from many of those previously mentioned).

Love to all,
Rach

Standing over the heat vent in the living room
Eating breakfast with Gran in the kitchen by the window
Trying to find a place to put your chair on the uneven patio
The rug near the porch door that was liable to kill someone
Visiting the yacht club (rocks, picnics, the piano, ice cream sandwiches)
The tiny rocking chair in the back room [We now have this in our guest ("family") room]
Playing the out of tune piano (singing, poor lighting)
The ottoman in the library
Lighting the candelabra over the back room table
Decorating tiny Christmas trees (and the Santa on the top)
Cocktail napkins & coasters in the living room
Toasts at dinner
Crab apples
Accompanying Gran to the late service at church on Christmas Eve
Hors d'eourves
Fighting over who would clean up after dinner
Gran's hair appointments"