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Beautiful Picture a Gift From Grandma

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Photo By Lorraine Gaskell
This beautiful picture evokes memories of a kind and loving grandmother.

Years ago, when I was a very small child, our family frequently visited my maternal grandparents on the farm. They lived southwest of Manhattan, Kansas, and there was so much to do there. It was great fun for small children, and our grandparents were attentive to all their grandchildren.

My grandmother had lovely pictures, set in gold frames, hanging on the walls in her dining room. One of the pictures fascinated me so much that I would just stand and stare at it every time we visited the farm. It was a pastel picture of a two-story house on a hill, and the house looked very much like my grandparents’ house. In the lower right-hand corner was a pond, with three cows standing nearby. The picture was mostly shades of green, and the sky’s colors were done in pastel hues, and the entire thing was beautiful.

When my grandparents left the farm and moved to town, my picture made the move with them. I was a teenager by this time, but even so, my eyes were still glued to that picture.

When I went to college, I lived with my grandparents, and I was still drawn to the picture. To this day, I don’t know what drew me to the picture when I was younger, or why it continued to mesmerize me through the years. Perhaps it was because of the soft colors and serenity of the scene. Who knows?

Grandma had noticed my interest in the picture through the years, although I hadn’t realized it. One day, after my grandfather had died, my mother was visiting Grandma, and Grandma walked over to the picture, took it off the wall and handed it my mother, with the instructions, “Give this to Lorraine. She loves it so.” When my mother handed me the picture, I was quite surprised – and extremely happy.

Today, that beautiful picture hangs in my bedroom. Although I don’t gaze at it like I did when I was a child and a teenager, I look at it each morning as I get out of bed, and I’m reminded of my loving and thoughtful grandmother, who gave me this wonderful and beautiful gift.

Lorraine
Chanute, Kansas

Read more heirloom stories in Keepsakes Passed Down Through Generations.