they're mine. be jealous.

my grandparents 70th anniversary party is coming up. everyone is writing down a memory or thoughtful note to put in a scrapbook of some kind. its my goal to bring my grandparents to tears. i want to see sobbing.

this is the letter i wrote. it might be too long. i care not.

background information:

- almost every conversation with them includes a mention of how we are related to alexander hamilton. we are not actually related to him, as my sister found out through research, but they think we are. and they are obsessed with that. obsessed. ten dollar bills are referred to as "grandpa hamiltons."

grab some tissue. if you're not weeping by the end of this, you're dead inside.

As I was trying to figure out what to write for this, I realized that some of my most vivid memories from childhood took place in your house. I remember Grandma picking cucumbers from the backyard, drawing happy faces on them, and calling them our cucumber dolls. I remember Grandpa teaching us how to spin homemade tops in his work shed. I remember writing plays with my sisters in the playroom, and I remember playing George Bush in one of them. I remember playing in your RV, and how much fun it was to just pretend. We did so many simple things at your house, but none of them were ever boring. We didn’t need a TV or a computer to have fun at your house.

I remember listening to the clock in the living room tick as I fell asleep every night. I remember waking up to Grandma making the most delicious biscuits I have ever eaten. I remember how no trip to Oklahoma was complete without dinner at the Golden Corral, and how no trip to the Golden Corral in my hometown was nearly as exciting. I remember listening to you play card games with my parents, late into the night.

I remember how you would always buy us pickles, cottage cheese, and Kicks cereal. I remember telling Dad how I thought you must really like those things, because you always had them. And he told me that you didn’t buy them because you liked them, but because you knew we did. And that’s the kind of thing I love remembering about you. As the years have gone by, I have become more aware of how generous you are. You’re generous in small ways…like buying our favorite kind of cereal, or by sending us money for our birthdays. The small things you do, like cutting out comic strips from the newspaper just to send to me in the mail, mean so much to me. It is a blessing to know I’m always on your mind.

But you’re also generous in big ways. Every time I visit your house, you have neighbors and friends stopping by just to say hello. And I know that’s because over the years you’ve been generous with your time, kindness, thoughtfulness, and love. You have always welcomed people into your home and life. Your 70th anniversary is not just a celebration, but it is an example to me of how to live my life. I hope as I grow older I can learn how to love people the way you do. More people have been blessed during your 70 years of marriage than we will ever know. I hope that we’re able to show you how much you mean to us. I know you talk a lot about how Alexander Hamilton is one of our relatives, and how proud that makes you. But I want you to know I am more proud to call you my Grandparents.

Happy 70th Anniversary!