Investing in a Day

My grandpa has been living in Arizona for two months, avoiding one of the harshest winters in Utah in decades. It has been a wonderful opportunity for us to spend time with him and for him to spend time with little Madelyn.

This past weekend my uncle picked up Grandpa to take him home via the small Arizona town where my grandpa grew up. Dave and I made plans to meet them there on Sunday so that we could spend the afternoon seeing the town, hearing stories and walking the cemetery where my great and great-great grandparents are buried alongside great uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.

On Sunday morning, our car broke down. Or rather, our car became dangerous to drive even though it did still drive.

Dave decided to put windshield wiper fluid in the car right before we left and noticed while he did so that our coolant was out.  Bone dry. And it's not such a wise idea to start a three-hour mountainous desert drive with no coolant. Though we normally do not shop on Sunday (scroll down), we decided that we needed the coolant to make the drive safely. At the Walmart where Dave took the car, they discovered that our fans had stopped functioning and several other things were making our car overheat quickly. It would not be a quick fix like we had hoped.

Dave's accidental discovery was a blessing. If he had not decided to add wiper fluid, we probably would have broken down, possibly irreparably, in the middle of the desert somewhere. On the other hand, it was easier to be frustrated and angry when it happened than to admit the blessing. This was probably my last chance to see Grandpa's hometown with Grandpa. Seeing it alone or with someone else wouldn't ever be quite the same.

Thankfully, I have a sweet and thoughtful husband who understood how important this was to me. Before I even had reasonable time to become upset, Dave had already called up three of the local rental car places to compare prices and availability. After gathering the information he came to discuss with me the possibility of renting for the day. We would get there later than planned, but we would get there. It was money spent on Sunday travel; was it appropriate? It was money we hadn't budgeted; was it worth it? Dave helped me feel okay about saying "YES!" Others (even in my own family) probably would have said the opposite, but I am grateful that Dave was so supportive of my desires to connect a little more with my ancestors.

After taking advantage of generous friends who drove us and all our food, baby supplies and cameras to the rental car place, we were able to start out only two hours later than planned.The drive was gorgeous; the desert was blooming with thick carpets of green grass and purple and yellow wildflowers. I wanted so badly to stop and take pictures but I didn't want to sacrifice the time. I am, however, highly tempted to drive north 45 minutes another weekend just to try out my camera on such springtime Arizona beauty!

My grandpa has always been good at scraping up distant relatives. We met him and my uncle at my grandpa's cousin's son's house with his mom and several children and grandchildren. That means...(ready?), that I was able to meet my third cousins and my grandpa's first cousin (a very old lady by now) was able to meet her first cousin twice removed (me) and three times removed (Madelyn). My grandpa's first cousin once removed was able to meet his second cousin once removed (me again!) and his second cousin twice removed (Madelyn).  At one point there were a couple of fourth cousins in the room (Madelyn and my grandpa's cousin's great-granddaughters). In fact, at one point there were two first cousins, two second cousins, three third cousins and two fourth cousins in the same room! Not too shabby.

After a St. Patrick's Day dinner of corned beef and cabbage, we spent some time driving around the town with a video camera while my grandpa pointed out houses, corners and hills where relatives used to live or where he tobogganed as a boy or would go to wait for his dad to come home from the ranch. Most of the original buildings are no longer standing, but it was neat to hear Grandpa relive his childhood with such clarity. Grandpa was prepared with a packet of old photographs and maps so that we could envision the way it used to be. I would have loved to take modern pictures along the way in addition to video, but again our delay made that impossible.


We also stopped at the beautiful old cemetery. It was a bit cold and windy by that time, so we weren't able to spend as much quiet time as I would have liked. I love cemeteries.



 










On the way home we stopped to see the nearby temple. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful Sabbath.



PS. This is a public blog so I haven't posted pictures of direct family stones. If you are interested in seeing pictures of family plots, please email me and I will be glad to send them. (I realize, of course, that most of my family has been to this cemetery at least once before, but I wanted to explain the lack of more personal pictures.) 

Comments

Paulita said…
i loved reading this. i wish the technology and the wisdom had both been available to do this with my grandparents and even my own parents. what priceless memories and records you have from that day.

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