happiest gift

After Gramps died in September, my mom asked us all if there was anything we wanted from the house. I asked for a book that I made for Gramps for his 80th birthday with stories and memories from all his kids and grandkids. He treasured that book, and it made me so happy to be able to put it together for him. I couldn't think of anything I would value more than that book.

Luckily for me, someone else was doing the thinking, because I got a text from my uncle Matt saying that he thought I should have the typewriter. Honestly, I had kind of forgotten Gramps still had it, but I'm so so thankful that Matt reminded me. The typewriter is (probably) from the late 1940s or early 1950s. Gramps and his dad used it at Jeffirs Motor Company, and my mom can remember using it to help him type up invoices. I'm sure Gram must have used it too; she kept the books for the dealership. It's a beautiful machine, and it represents both my history and my chosen career, and I am so lucky to have it.

Gramps brought the typewriter home with him when he sold the car dealership in the late 1970s, and there it stayed for the next 40 or so years. At some point, it stopped working, but still he kept it. I remember seeing it on the desk in his den and admiring it, but I don't remember actually using it when I was younger.

For my birthday, Mike found a man in Ann Arbor who specializes in repairing and refurbishing typewriters. It's a dying art, and we were lucky to find someone relatively close. In November, Mike and Henry made the drive up to drop it off. It turns out that among other problems, when the guy opened it up, he discovered that mice had been happily living in the typewriter for some time (ugh!). But he was able to restore it and clean everything up and find a new ribbon, so today Mike and Henry went back to Ann Arbor to pick it up and bring it back for me.

Friends, this might be the best gift I've ever gotten. I'm not super into the acquiring of things (I'd rather have time/experiences/memories) but this is a thing that will be special to me forever. Every time I look at it (which is often, because it lives just outside my office in the front entry to the house) I think of Gramps, Gram, Grandpa Jeff, and Mom. I think of years stretching out behind and in front of us. I think of the love and care that went into bringing it back to life. And I think how precious it is that I can be a caretaker for all those memories, which is the best gift of all.