WWGD

It's hard not to get emotional over the past year. As the temperatures climb, the kittens leave the protective hideouts and the birds return to the end of Snavely Lane, I can't help but think of grandma. Through all the doctor's appointments and rough times last year, it was still one of the best summer's I've ever had . . . and now it's left me with an entire season that often feels like one ongoing memorial. It's happy and sad and frustrating, but mostly, it's all about the little things that make me miss her.

First, grandma would have really enjoyed the road construction. Yes, the same road construction that makes me late to work, continually ruins the tires/suspension of my car, and makes a trip to Riverton twice as long as it should be. Grandma would have loved it. First, she would have loved the progress it represented. As she would share, she remembered them building/working on the first road using horses. Oh how she would have loved these multi-ton trucks, the fence work, the cattle guard and the large equipment we'd pass along the way. And if she could have, she would have been down visiting with the work crews, inviting them to the house for treats, to see her antiques or to peruse her garden.

Second, she would have LOVED the rain of this summer. We would have tracked the rainfall on the calendar, and she would have loved the record totals, the relatively large amounts of rain and more. If we could have convinced her to go to Thermopolis, she would have loved that Boysen Res. is near capacity.

She also would have loved that the birds have returned to Snavely Lane. We looked for those birds every time we went to Lander last year, and they weren't there. . . but they're there now. Plenty of varieties she would have loved. She also would have enjoyed sharing the story of calves when they are searching for their mom's every time we passed Lily's ranch.

She would have loved that our neighbors got horses, that our aunt finished her painting of the moose, and she would have loved following all the new developments and buildings in the area. I can only guess she would have kept her incredulous sense of wonder about James and I's new Wii games and Dad's racecar video on the computer, and would have been highly disappointed in my most recent choices for meals to prepare. Though she would have never complained otherwise, I think she would have also enjoyed the cooler evenings we are having this summer compared to last. On a night like tonight, she would have done much like I did, and enjoyed an evening of antiques roadshow while it rained outside.

Mostly, she would have loved sitting outside, enjoying the evenings in front of the house or under the apple tree. She would have enjoyed the longer evenings, acclimating the new kittens, fetch with the dog, watching me pull weeds . . . . . . . and doing these things without her just isn't the same now.

With the season of fresh corn, fresh flowers and evenings outside upon us, and all the joy and sadness these memories bring, it is undeniable that summer in Hudson will always be grandma's season, and the time when I remember, reflect and celebrate everything she shared with me.