Dinner with the grandparents

Well, I'm back in Michigan now for a short 3-day work week before heading off to NC to see my closest friends. I love this summer, even though it's been busy so far; I just love being outside and seeing things and being with good friends. Tonight we (my grandparents, Michael and I) were having dinner, and we got to discussing their life in law school when they were pregnant with my mother. I really love listening to their old stories and hearing about how their lives are so similar to mine, how they dealt with the same issues as I have ("Oh I think our parents about died when we told them I was pregnant...they thought Poppa would never finish school. They thought, 'Oh! He's married! And he's having a child! He'll never finish school and he'll never get a job!'"). In actuality, he finished 7th in his class and his first job paid $5000, which apparently was quite a lot back then ("We thought we were so rich!"). And I love hearing the story of my mother being born, how Poppa was still studying for a law exam in the hospital room, which occurred about 3 hours after her birth, and on which he got his best grade ever, an A+. I love hearing about the church they went to, when it was first built and all there were were four walls and concrete floors. They thought it was huge at the time, though upon bringing Rebecca to law school a few weeks ago they realized how small it really was... I love hearing how they lived on nothing, how "going out" consisted of having potluck dinners with friends, or meeting each other at the baseball diamond around the corner to walk my mom in the stroller and watch the game after Poppa got out of class.

I look into my grandmother's face and see the same passion and zeal for adventure as I have now, and the same view on marriage as a great grand adventure that grows and expands you, and I am reminded again of how badly I want the same sort of bond they had and continue to have 50+ years later. Just looking into her eyes and seeing the love pour out of her for Poppa and the life they've lived together makes me melt, and I yearn for the person I want to share my own life with. Sigh...