Of Mice and Men

Last weekend we had the privilege of getting together with a bunch of Bradley family members. We even had some staying with us in NC. They turned out to be some of my top book fans. I really think Miss Bethany could run my fan club. . . if I just had one! HA! We enjoyed the visitors and their willingness to put up with our “work in progress” house.

Besides the human visitors we also had mice. I mentioned the poor little squashed mouse in a previous post. After that we put out the D-Con which, just as advertised, produced some dead cohorts three days later. This in turn prompted another clean-out frenzy which I had been putting off. That delayed our arrival at home, but it allowed us to still be in NC when Bruce’s aunt wanted five more books. So, I guess I should say thank you to the dead mice??? Not so much. 

In the cleaning we discovered papers from Bruce’s parents. There were receipts from medicine they bought the year Bruce was born. Since he was sickly there were a lot. There was paperwork from when Bruce’s dad was in the Korean War. There were high school diplomas for three of the boys. There were treasures his Mom had stashed away. I am sometimes sad that I never got to meet Bruce’s parents. However, through cleaning out their house I think I’ve come to know them better than a lot of people. Through the things we save, the things we felt important we show a bit of who we are. I am thankful for the opportunity to help with the project of Mama’s house. It’s been a huge amount of work but it’s been a special blessing too.

At the Bradley reunion I heard more stories and had the privilege of meeting Uncle Robert and Aunt Sarah. I received a blessing from the message Uncle Robert preached in church Sunday. I loved hearing Aunt Sarah and her grandchildren sing. I enjoyed making music with some of the Bradley family at the reunion. I learned more about Bruce’s dad from his brothers and sons. I remember looking around at the roomful of people and thinking, these are my kind of folks. It is awesome enough that God gave me an amazing husband, but one who has a family that I can be instantly at home with? That’s incredible.