the skinny

Hey!
Things have busy and exhausting. I returned from vacation to Portland on Saturday and didn't have a moments rest til Friday, which is my day off. I slept for 20 hours. it was insane.

The trip home was great. Mom and I painted and we picked out a new ceiling fan for the Family room. We met up with Aud and the kids to go to the beach and I got to go berry picking with Ryan up on Sauvie's island.

What really wore me out was all the driving. Because I planned my trip last minute I drove instead of flying and it was killer time in the car. Thankfully my friend Tressa let me crash in Boise each way and provided me some driving relief.

On my way through Baker City I stopped to find the gravestone of my great-grandmother, Violet Elizabeth Cox Miller. She lived from 1900-1939. She and my Great-Grandfather, my grandfather (John/Jack) and his sister (Eleanor) lived up in Washington state while GG was working on the Grand Coulee Dam.  Violet ended up in the hospital with what my father thinks was probably complications from diabetes. Although Diabetes was first treated in 1922, the knowledge wasn't widespread for some time. So Violet was probably not diagnosed.

My father told me that Grandpas Jack found out his mother had died in the hospital when a bartender from his neighborhood walked over to his house and told him of the death. Not having a phone themselves, they had given the hospital the phone number of the local bar. My dad expressed that he felt Grandpa Jack had always had a difficult time with how the news had been delivered.

He was born in 1924, so he would have been 15 when she passed away. Shortly after her death my GG moved the family to Baker City, I'm assuming for work, or maybe because he needed help looking after the kids and so Violet was sent there for burial.

Audrey and I were driving through Baker City a few months ago during her move to Oregon. We stopped briefly in BC and went to the cemetery hoping to find Violet's grave, but unfortunately it was getting dark and my iPhone did not want to cooperate.

I got there early this time. I had left Tressa's in Boise around 6am and was there by 7. I arrived at the same time as the work crew that cares for the cemetery and I looked up her plot on the map they had. I walked over and found her. I believe (I may be wrong) but Grandma and Grandpa, with  the help of my aunt Carla had replaced the headstone a few years back. They even made a trip out there to visit Violet. I love that Grandpa got to do that and that Carla took the time to take them out there.

I was standing there thinking about her and her life and I became a bit overwhelmed. My grandfather passed away two years ago and it was so wonderful to think of him with his mother again. I also felt so grateful to her for having raised him the way she did. He joined the church after he was married and I imagine that the teachings of eternal life and eternal families was something that struck him as truth and gave him hope about seeing his mom again.

It was a great stop and I'm so glad I did it!