Happy Retirement Days

The tiny kitchen table
Happy Retirement, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Happy Retirement Days

One day you wake up and your parents have grown old. Now, it is me that is getting old!This photo reminds me that it was NOT yesterday, that I took this cute photo of my dad and my daughter with his little ice cream cake for his retirement. 

I wish my parents had enjoyed their last years together. It was all too short and filled with worries, illness and loneliness. Dad couldn't play golf anymore. Mom began to forget things. 

As long a I can remember, this drop leaf table was in my parent's kitchen. It only seated two people perched on stools with cushions. It mostly was used for breakfast and lunch. Groceries were set on it. Mail was opened on it. It is a symbol of the simple life of the 1950s and 1960s in "The Plat"

I left it there for the new owners. Maybe they ate a snack on it before they got rid of it. Most of the other furniture I sold because it had value. This little table just belonged to the house and I wanted it to be the last thing I saw when I shut the door. I patted it and said, "Goodbye", locked the door and we drove away.

I have many more photos to organize, scan and archive that are of "The Plat." A few have my grandparents in them. As I have been writing, I have been planning another project about their life and what I have learned about them as I have been on this genealogy adventure. Maybe I will get that done. Should I do this?

The last post of this Family History Challenge will be a collage of a remembrance of the house.