small house. big mansion. priceless.

it's no secret. i'm ridiculously sentimental. i've been know to keep strange things (old movie stubs,disgusting pop cans & seriously nasty dried flowers from high school just because they remind me of something/someone special. as i'm writing that, i'm reminded that i must clean out that box. could it be where THAT smell is coming from!!)

anywho....like i was saying. i'm sentimental. one thing that gets me is things that my grandparents have left behind. a vintage ceramic hat lady from my grandma db, a set of pink Pyrex bowls from gram g. and a handmade doll crib made by my grandpa genzink to name a few.

my grandpa denbleyker has been with Jesus for over 9 years now. often when i think about him, my eyes still well up with tears, overwhelmed at how much i miss him & thankful that i was his granddaughter. how i wish he could have known my boys.

he was an amazing man. a gentle person. a kind man. funny and always witty. a man of God. a spiting image of my dad. he was unbelievably talented, especially in his shop. there was nothing he couldn't build or fix. a few years before he died, he and my gram began to build (he built, gram decorated) a spectacular miniature doll house. floors are tiled. lights actually turn on! doors and window open. there is even a bible sitting on the coffee table. they thought of everything. it makes me want to take off my shoes and curl up with a good book on the couch. (but i'm not an ant so it wouldn't be fun for big ol' me!) he 'putzed' on it for years. buying something new for it whenever he and gram went to town. (gram even kept a tally of how much they spent. i just found it, neatly documented in her own handwriting!) after the two of them passed away, it stayed in his shop until it could be decided where it would 'live'. well, unbeknownst to me, my folks had asked to have it brought to Washington to spend it's days with us. you can about imagine the shock (and of course, tears) when i drove in the driveway last week and saw it there, in all it's glory!!! dad and i brought it in the house, put it on the kitchen table and i waited for my boys to come home. oh, the joy to watch little boys play and discover rooms in a 'doll house'. :) rooms were quickly 'staked' and their leGo men moved in! hours upon hours have already been spent making themselves at home!!who would've thought that something that was originally designed to bring much joy to little girls, brought such delight to my 3 little men. it has now been moved onto the floor in our room to keep it safe from the wars of little people. our new 'home' will spend some time here in Washington,possibly some time at my brothers and maybe someday it will make the trek across country to spend some time in new jersey with a handful of 'fellow-sentimentals'(i KNOW, it's not a word but whatever, you know what i mean)!
one of the boys asked me if i would sell it for
a hundred dollars.
no.
a thousand?
nope.
A MILLION?
notta.
A TRILLION.
never.
so i guess you could say, it is one of our family's heirlooms. one that can never be replaced or bought. after all,isn't that what family history is??
thank you gram and gramp. a job well done.