In between sorting through boxes I really wanted to take photos of my grandparents and their house while they still live there. It's so totally and completely "them." I mean, it would be, since my grampa built the house and they've lived in it since the 60's. I think maybe my love of fake wood could be possibly influenced by this house, haha. And my love of DIY. Every single time I spent time with my grandparents we did crafts. My grandma has files upon files of magazine clippings of craft projects from magazines. The original pinterest, that woman has. They're all organized by craft type and seasonal crafts. We all think we're so clever with pinterest, but holy cow did she ever have pinterest on lockdown decades before. And her craft closet is just packed to the brim and remarkably organized. Her little craft room has a window that looks right out on Auke Bay, arguably a craft room with one of the best views there is.
It was a pretty hard weekend, emotionally. It's been a hard decision for my grandparents to move out of their home and hometown, but they want to be closer to family in these last years which means moving to Sitka, but unfortunately the trade-off is having to let go of their community in Juneau. Thankfully Juneau and Sitka are close enough to each other that coming back to Juneau for the occasional visit isn't out of the question, but it's still tough. And I think ultimately, it's hard to lose control over one's life as age starts becoming more and more of an issue in terms of just being able to perform regular life functions. My grandparents are classic Alaskans. Very independent, very strong people, and not the types to admit they need help. So it's been hard for them to accept help, as admitting needing help means, for them, admitting weakness. I definitely recognize the same tendencies in myself, but I'm learning that life has seasons. There are seasons where you are the helper, and there are seasons where you are the one that needs to accept help from others. My grandparents have almost always been the helpers, and definitely helped my parents through some hard times in dealing with my brother's health issues. It's nice to be able to give back and support them as they get older and need more help, even if it is hard for them to accept it.
