The Trick is to Keep Breathing: A Lasting Impression...Gram

I think it is well known by now that I don't like snow! And of course what is it doing right now? Snowing. Actually no...that is an understatement...there is a blizzard going on outside of my window. Which is even worse than if it was just snowing. I just had to put that out there...although it has nothing to do with what I was planning on blogging about! So...this conversation ends here.

Here is a new beginning....

Have I ever mentioned that I don't like history? Well, if I haven't...I don't, I don't like history at all. But the strange thing is, if you relate history to my family, I LOVE it! I could rattle on and on for hours about my family history, telling story after story. I am so passionate about it! It is truly amazing what all is out there to be discovered. I was recently sent a photograph from the early 1900s that had every single person labeled on the back. Such a rare find! I am sharing about my passion for this because since the last post I have really been thinking about what I wrote. Lasting impressions. For whatever reason this topic has really pulled on my heart strings. So, I have decided that I am going to start to share every once in awhile (or every post, who knows) about the people who have made a lasting impression in my life. My grandpa is certainly not the only one!

Jean Clair Buttenbender. In my eyes the name is famous. I see it all the time, all over my house. You see, my grandma, Jean Clair Buttenbender had this habit of writing her name on everything just so no one would confuse it for their own. To this very day my grandma makes me laugh. All I have to do is pick up a pad of paper to jot down a quick note, because if you turn that pad of paper over, no doubt in big letters you will see...JEAN. haha. Apparently she didn't want anyone using her pad of paper. However, this is not the only reason. My grandma was an artist and a fantastic one at that. I strive to be half the artist that she was, because even then I would be really good. Unfortunetly cancer took my grandma away from us too soon, 13 years ago. Wow....I can't believe it has been that long! But I still see her everyday! You see, two short years after my grandma passed away, God gave a gift to my family. He gave us my sister (and she wont ever let us forget it). Before my sister was ever born my parents had decided that they were going to name her in honor of my grandma. Little did they know that when she got here she was going to look like my grandma too, down to the little kinck in her ear! Jamie Claire has been a blessing to my family and a reminder of my grandma everyday! I just wish that she could have met her! I also wish my grandma was still here so that I could tell her that I found her birth family. I wish she could be here to see all that I am discovering! She too left a lasting impression!!!