Pappaw's 100th Birthday

I can hardly believe it's the last week of summer vacation!  Of course, I'm back in session for inservice, but Evie is going to swim camp this week.  She's had an amazing summer camp experience: Nature Camp, Cheer/Pom Camp, a week with her cousins in Memphis and St. Louis, Art Camp at her old school, a week of staycation with me, Theatre Camp, Gymnastics Camp, Zoo Camp last week, and now Swim Camp.  Swim Camp is wearing her out since they swim twice a day and then do other activities during the day.  But she's getting so tan so quickly! 

She's also threatening to lose another tooth soon.

I have confessed before that every night I go into her room after she's asleep and steal some snuggles and kisses.  She's just so beautiful and perfect.  I want to bottle these moments to experience them again later.

Yesterday was my grandfather's (Pappaw's) 100th birthday.  He died when he was 90, so Evie never got to know him - in fact, he only met 1 of his 8 great-grandchildren, my niece Addie.  One of Pappaw's good deeds was to pick up soda cans and other trash as he did he daily walks.  So my mom thought it would be a nice memorial act for us to go pick up some trash at a park that is close to my parents' house and that my grandfather often went to.  So my parents, Evie, and I headed to the park yesterday afternoon and each picked up 100 pieces of trash.  Evie was very into it and enjoyed counting and helping all of us.

This might sound a little hokey, but the experience for me was very symbolic.  As I got closer to my 90th piece of trash, I started thinking about how these pieces could be representative of a year in Pappaw's life - not that I'm trying to say his life was trash - just that it's a life that is now spent, used, and he used it to the fullest.  He survived the Great Depression, helped raise his younger brothers and sisters after his parents died, served in WWII, and raised a family of 5 kids who all grew up to go to college even though he himself didn't even get past (I think it was) 5th grade.  He was active in the church and the community and was respected by so many.  So, as I picked up these pieces of trash and was counting them, I thought, you could look at each of these pieces like a year in your life.  Some of them are pretty ordinary like those uneventful years, some of them are bad and a little disgusting, like when you're going through a particularly hard time.  Some are unusual like when you have a big move or big change in your life.  I was actually pleased to find a soda can because it reminded me of Pappaw specifically collecting cans - and that "year" made me smile.  Then once I got to 90, each piece I picked up after that, I thought of what he's missed the last 10 years.  Great-grandchildren being born, my grandmother's passing, people moving back home, graduating, getting married.  Like I said, it's a little hokey, but that's just the kind of thing my mind likes to do.  So, happy 100th birthday, Pappaw.  We made the world a little cleaner today, and taught your great-granddaughter the importance of taking care of your community and remembering your loved ones even after they're gone.