Beautiful Day

So I just got back from some grief shopping and realize that I now have a couple of shirts I will always associate with my grandfather's death. Just some shirts.

Things.

But things are weird that way aren't they? Inconsequential, not even connected at all, but things I harken to guess I will always connect, nonetheless.

Today was weird. Mom called around nine to let me know grandpa was gone. And it wasn't unexpected. He was 89, and had been ill. Still, it took a while to sink in. We had some other plans for the week to come, which had to be changed, and we needed some groceries as well, so I headed out. I was needing a little pick me up, so I figured I'd do some preshopping before the groceries. I got the afore mentioned shirts, at Maurice's of all places, and then headed to TJMaxx to further the buzz. That is where the grief hit, though.

I had forgone the cart, but had several items in my hand. It was just some clearance stuff that I wanted to try on. As I roamed the store somewhat aimlessly, I started to key in to the song playing over the loud speakers...U2..."Beautiful Day." Quite frankly, stores ought to think about what they are pumping into consumers ears..."What you don't have you don't need it now...don't need it now...don't need it now..." Needless to say, I put those items down, right where I was, and headed towards the front of the store. A rainy day had turned to some sketchy sun, and "It's a beautiful day...don't let it get away..." played me through the automatic doors.

I carried on to the grocery store, where it seemed EVERY little old man in Oswego was shopping, or being shopped around by his loved ones. I smiled my way through my glossy eyes, bought goodness knows what, and made my way home.

Things.

It is an odd summer...it has been an odd 6 months. While we are in the midst of celebrating some big highs right now, they have been juxtaposed by some signifigant lows. Still, 20 years ago, this summer, I married my partner in life. 16 years ago, we bought the home we live in now. That summer I did not have a dining room table. I had a particle board table, with screw on aluminum legs. They were a little bit stripped, having been my parents' early marriage kitchen table...or as the case may be, MY former kitchen table.

That summer, having moved to a smaller apartment attached to my aunt and uncle's home, my grandpa brought me my grandma's dining room table and chairs. They were something I needed then, desperately. I have toyed, over the last 15 or so years, whether to refinish and re-glue, or replace, and just earlier this summer had finally made the call. Mom and Dad had even said that if I would like it, they would like to give us the refinishing of that table as a gift for our 20th anniversary. Strangely enough, Grandpa's passing makes it even more appropriate. I will have the table and chairs refinished, and re-glued, to remember grandma by, and now him by, and in some way, my parents by.

So I guess U2 had it right.
What I don't have, I don't need now.
I need nothing new.
I have a beautiful dining room set that, when given a little tender loving care, will mark a number of moments in our FAMILY life.
The life that, no matter what is thrown at it, is so very full of everything we need.

Truly, every day IS a Beautiful Day.