End of an era

This past weekend my husband

finally made the decision

to let the car that belonged

to his grandfather go.

My husband has very fond

memories of his grandfather

and spent a tremendous

amount of time with him

and his grandmother

Fortunately I was able to meet

and get to know them as well.

My husband's grandfather

taught him how to fish

and survive in the bush.

His grandparents had a

cottage someplace in Canada

that had minimal modern

conveniences, but apparently

they all loved it.

It was here they fished,

played, spent time together.

His grandfather taught him

how to fix things - which I

thank him dearly for.

My husband's father isn't a

handyman - so those skills

would not have been passed on by

him, so it was his grandfather

that taught him wood working,

how to fix the plumbing,

how to wire the electrical outlets

and various other things

that sometimes only our grandparents

can pass along to us.

Shortly after my husband and I were

married he started to show the signs

of Alzheimer's as many know the

disease not only trying on the patient

but just as hard if not harder on the family.

Eventually they had to make the decision

for him to go into a nursing home.

My husband's grandmother

would go every day and visit with him.

The last time we went to see him

before he passed. We had our oldest

who was about 2 1/2 at the time with us.

Grandpa kept calling my husband his dad's name

and our son my husband's name.

When we left my husband was so upset

and told me he didn't know me.

I replied to him and told him he knew you.

He just recognized you at another

time in your life when you happened

to be a little boy with your daddy.

So when my husband's brother

asked if he could give the car to

our oldest who had just

started to drive we said sure.

Little did we know at the time it

would soon become my husband's

car that he drove to work everyday.

Until a couple of years ago when

the inevitable started to happen.

My husband repaired what he could,

but the car unfortunately sat more than

it was driven. He came close on more

than one occasion to have it taken away,

but would always change his mind.

Well this past weekend the car was

towed away and so was the end of an era.