I am thankful for hand-me-downs.
Ward and I visited Theo yesterday afternoon and I smiled when I saw what he was wearing--a pair of faded blue jeans with the back pocket worn to the shape of a wallet. I smiled because they used to belong to my father. Most of my father's life, he wore Lee jeans and he always carried his wallet in his back pocket. These jeans suited his lifestyle of both hard outdoor work as a lineman and his active outdoor play as a gardener, hunter, and fisherman. He always had several pairs of Lee jeans in his dresser even when he was in the nursing home.
In the beginning, it was hard to see my father's clothes even when his grandson was wearing them. It just reminded me of my loss and made me sad. However, enough time has passed that that is no longer true. It makes me happy. And what makes me the happiest is that this is exactly the way my father would have wanted things to be--his grandson getting use from his hand-me-downs. So for these hand-me-down clothes from a grandfather to grandson, I am thankful.
