A Toast to Grandparents!

I've always loved my grandparents. But this visit has been different. Maybe because I'm more sentimental because it's the holiday season. Or maybe I'm just more emotional because it has been kind of a stressful semester. Or maybe I'm maturing and realizing just how great of a blessing grandparents are. Whatever the case, I've felt exceptionally good about spending time with them this time.
Nana and I have reminisced about when I was little and would serve her "lunch" from My Little Tyke's Kitchen or serving her "tea" with the yogurt containers I played with in the bathtub. And of course we've talked about the famous roadtrip of 2000 where the 3 of us traveled down to TX and back and had so many funny stories and memories along the way.
I've been able to ask Papa a lot of questions this visit. I've heard that everyone has a story to tell but not enough people ask them to tell it. I've been drinking in the tales of smoking ham in the smokehouse, eating rabbit stew, and of course about his days in the Air Force (esp. in Iceland and Alaska).
At church on Sunday, I sat between them and held both of their hands during the prayers. Nana's hands...always a bit chilly ("Nicole warm my hands up!") but soft from her careful moisturizing. Hands that are wrinkled from scrubbing floors, doing countless loads of laundry and making the best darn biscuits in the world...and don't even get me started about her cherry supreme cake!! And there's something indescribable about holding Papa's hands. Though his right hand shakes from his Parkinson's disease, I still feel safe with my little hand completely enveloped in his big leathery hand-worn by years of service-to his country, to his family and to his God.
Their 50th wedding anniversary is on Friday. Though I look forward to seeing everyone at home and I'm already missing Matt and my school friends, I know that I wouldn't have it any other way than for me to be here with all the family to celebrate the lives of love that these 2 individuals-my very own grandparents-have led thus far. Ladies and gentlemen, raise your glasses...To Grandparents!