One Thing Remains

But store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:20)

I know I’m not supposed to start a letter with an apology, especially in a blog that supposed to be encouraging and uplifting. Maybe it will be by the time I’m finished.
As our vacation was drawing to a close, a classmate of mine tagged me in Facebook to a fire. As I sat in the hotel, I watched a live feed of a structure engulfed in flames.
To most of the onlookers it was a building. To me, my brother and sister, our children and cousins, it was our childhood home in Vandergrift filled, no loaded in every square inch, with memories.
Old memories of my own childhood with mom, dad, Nani, Nana, Marion and Carl were expanded to include our husbands and wife, then our little kiddos, then our children as adults. On one very special day Thorin proposed to Kayte right there in the kitchen surrounded by weepy eyed loved ones.
There were five bedrooms, one converted to a play room, where cousins played and fought until we were called to the kids’ table at Nana’s Sunday dinner – pasta of course.
With a variety of relatives within walking distance, there were always, always visitors. In the backyard, between the house and garage, was a vegetable garden where Dad produced and generously shared the biggest best tomatoes in town.
In our early years, the downstairs housed a grocery store that Nani started so that mom would not have to work for anybody. He was very protective of his only daughter who we lovingly dubbed, the Italian Princess.
So many random thoughts come to mind, both happy and sad, or just nostalgic –
Carl and Timmy dangling G.I. Joe from the back porch; playing jacks with Carole; Marion and I and our California cousins putting on shows; our own kids scaring each other with stories of Jack the Pirate who lived in the attic; the flashlight Easter egg hunt in the empty storeroom.
If you don’t share some of these memories, you’ve probably left me by now anyway, but if you’re still here be comforted.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away.
Buildings may evaporate , memories may dim, but one thing, the most important thing, remains – love.
Love never runs out– and on, and on, and on, and on, it goes.