Family

Last weekend I gathered with family to celebrate the wonderful life of my grandmother, Val Bezanson. Val married my grandfather on his 80th birthday and 10 years later sat with him as he passed. I'll always be grateful to her for the love she showed my family through her love for our patriarch. Her love for him was true and vibrant and I appreciate that she spent harder years with him compared to the earlier years of young love.

Val met my grandfather working in The Stamp Room at their retirement community. I love that stamps are a part of their love story. One of the quirks I remember about my grandfather is that he had tons of stamps from years ago - I honestly never received a card from him with one modern day stamp in the upper right corner; each envelope carried at least 3 stamps cobbled together to meet the current rate.

In The Stamp Room they take used stamp from envelopes and organize and package for dealers to purchase. Val was an avid card writer -- she never missed a birthday, anniversary, or special occasion. If you asked her, she knew all of the important dates for her 5 kids, 13 grandkids and numerous great grandkids. Because of her thoughtful card writing, I always had fun stamps she had used on her envelopes to collect and send back to her. This is how I first built a relationship with her - through cards. 

It was a joy to hear others speak of her love and joy for life. She had a caring heart and was truly the definition of "cute as a button." 

I can't write about Val without stopping to celebrate my grandfather. 

He was a warm, loving, full-bearded Santa look alike. I loved sitting on his lap and walking along the beach in Cape Cod with him. I've never once been to the beach without pacing the sand on the prowl for sea glass, an art learned from my grandpa. Another sweet quirk of my grandpa was his gift wrapping in old wallpaper. He used to hang wallpaper professionally and kept the extras. I'm sure my cousins will remember the blue paper with purple and silver shells. 

Some pictures from the weekend. I loved seeing by cousins Mike, Marc, and Brian. The family time was awesome but incomplete without so many cousins and my Uncle Tom.