Family Time

8/19/09 Two tubes of "Leg Lifts" lotion (by Origins!) and a baseball, given away

My grandmother spent the last three days with Joanna and me, delighting us with her stories and great wit. We took her to a Portland SeaDogs game last night (the good guys won, here's a recap), which reminded her and me of the Cleveland Indians games we used to go to back when I was in high school. (I have her to thank for summer-time room and lodging all through high school and college, my brief stint as a professional writer [working for the Galion Inquirer], and countless rounds of golf.)

Today, my mom, my sister, my niece, and my nephew came over for the afternoon to have lunch with us and play in the pool. Their visit marked the end of Nanna's time with us, although we will see her again before she returns to her home in Ohio.

Gotta savor the time we get with Nanna each summer. She's given the world 89 great years so far. I tell her she's only got eleven left until the century mark, which is a good goal to shoot for.

As they were all getting ready to leave, I was scratching my head over what to downsize today. The issue of what to get rid of has become one of Joanna's favorite games. She rose to the challenge, immediately recommending two tubes of skin cream she had found when we reorganized and cleaned out our medicine cabinet. Good enough for me! Technically these were Joanna's, not mine, but they count towards the challenge for two reasons.

1) Cleaning out the medicine cabinet had been my idea, although Joanna jumped at the suggestion like a kid on candy.

2) If I hadn't needed to get rid of something today (and vocalized my quandary) those two tubes would likely have sat in that cabinet for another year or two.

Plus, Katie and mom where thrilled to get them, and tried out the stuff right on our deck, as the photo above proves.

Now, I know that some of you out there are still going to object that the skin cream doesn't count. Fine, be like that.

I have a safety: As my nephew James was petting our cats goodbye, he noticed a baseball I had sitting on my desk.

"Baseball!" he chirped, pointing at it.

"Would you like that baseball, James?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, his eyes sparkling like only a three-year-old's can. Done deal.

So, anyway you slice it, I downsized several items today.

I just wish I didn't have to watch my grandmother leave with them.