SMALL WORLD

It is a small world after all......very small.....and I do not mean that we went to Disney, because we did not.

I had an auction going on eBay for some yarn left over from my shop...Classic Elite Sand in a lovely orange color.  When the auction closed, I got an email from the buyer to have it sent as a gift to an address in Iron River, MI.

Iron River Michigan!  I could not believe it.  That is where my father was born and raised and would still be living there if my mother had not enticed him away.

Iron River Michigan!  Home to approximately 3,000 people since they merged Stambaugh into the town.  A community that used to be based upon mining.  As a child, I remember my Uncle Shorty and his family coming to visit us in Denver...descending upon us would be a better word.  Uncle Shorty's vacation was an incredible 13 weeks a year.  They stayed with us for many of those weeks making my mother insane (and particularly unpleasant).  I was well into adulthood when the lightbulb went off and I figured out the lengthy vacation was to attempt to get his lungs cleared out prior to the return to work in the mines.

At any rate, it was a jog down memory lane.  I remember beautiful weather in the summers while visiting as a child.  Catching fireflies in a jar.  Sitting out in the yard on a wooden swing.  Trying to find the warm spot in Ice Lake.  My Grandparents house had a stove that worked with wood, not electricity.  They made their own sausage, until my mother found out what she was stuffing.  There was a stuffed moosehead in the attic.  All of the things that made for great stories while growing up.

That being said, I have never shared any of these stories with my own family, so this will come as a shock to all.