PACKRAT

Yesterday I decided I'd go through some more books and see what I could weed out.   I also found a pile of cards and pictures I thought could probably be discarded.

BUT...when I started looking at them they were cards from some of the grandkids that they had made and cards from the four kids, a few from Ted that I don't want to toss, and the very last card I ever got from Ted's oldest brother, Wendell.    

Wendell and I always sent each other goofy cards for our birthdays.   One year I got a really nice card from him and called him up and asked if he was mad at me.   The last card I ever got from him had a $1 bill taped inside it.    I called him up and asked what I was supposed to do with that and he laughed and said he couldn't tell me.  

I also found a couple of special letters from my Uncle Bill.   He was just a special person in my life.   I heard he did not share the information about his war days with the other nephews and nieces so those letters were not discarded.    Kermit and I (mostly Kermit) worked to get the benefits he deserved because he had been a prisoner of war in WWII.  He did receive his due the last five or six years of his life, but should of been getting this money for 50 some years.   

I used to call him every now and then just to check on him and we enjoyed talking to each other.   About six months before he died I called and he did not remember me.   It broke my heart and I called Jim.   Jim told me he only remembered him as a young man and of course Bill did not know me at that time.   It still hurt.

All in all, as I went through these cards and letters I laughed a little, cried a little, and put most of them back on the book case.   Sorry, I just couldn't discard all those wonderful memories.