"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us." -Helen Keller

"There are places I’ll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I’ve loved them all."
- There Are Places I'll Remember, The Beatles

I remember playing house with my grandpa every night after dinner. He would come over, and I would always get him his tea and talk with him and my mom as he seemed to take forever to drink it. As soon as he was done with his tea we would always play some sort of game- hide and seek, house, school (with me as the "magical" teacher, of course, and him as the student). I would always be a Mrs. Frizzle sort of character and he and my brother would just go along for the ride, wherever my imagination wanted to take them. I usually ended up being multiple characters at one time, changing my voice as I slipped into the persona of someone else. It was fun not being me for a change. When we played hide and seek, I remember one time, I one of my dolls underneath the covers, with just a little bit of her hair sticking out, and then went and hid somwhere else. At the time, he totally played along with it, even thought I made it completely obvious where I was hiding and that, in fact, the doll wasn't me. I remember his 70th birthday party and the look on his face- he was so surprised. It was that day that he taught me how he had been spending his Sunday nights when he wasn't at dinner with us- he was polka dancing instead. Yes, maybe being excited to learn how to polka dance is a little odd, but I really did enjoy it. I can't say I remember how to polka dance now, but from now on, I will always associate polka with my grandpa- and no one else. It's something unique to just us. That's what I loved about him. He was unique. He didn't spoil me, persay. He loved me with all of his heart, and even though I am sad that I cannot spend any more time with him, I know that all of the memories that only we share will keep me going for a long time. Memories are powerful things. They keep you going through hard times, and even though it's painful remembering happy things that you can no longer experience, the important thing is that you DO remember the happy things and be happy about them. Be grateful that you had happy experiences, because some people don't have that opportunity.