A Christmas Miracle

A few weeks ago when my grandmother was staying at my mother's house, she called me one afternoon. She had found a book crammed into the various assortment lining my mother's living room shelves: Life is a Fulfilling: The Story of a Mormon Pioneer Woman, Sarah Diantha Curtis and Her Part in the Colonization of the San Pedro Valley in Southern Arizona, the Homeland of the Powerful, Antagonistic Apache. Now that's a mouthful. Printed in 1967 by BYU University Press, this book tells the story of Grandad's grandmother's family, written by his grandmother's sister's daughter.

GranNomi asked me to help her find another copy of the book--she didn't have one and she hoped to possibly find one for each of her children. Because it was out of print, that became a little difficult.

I forgot all about the book until I was home last week and happened to see it on the bookshelf. Sure enough, it's an old school family memoir, obviously with a small printing intended mostly for family. I checked it out on bookfinder.com and found a used copy at a bookstore in St. George, Utah. I ordered it and had it shipped to GranNomi in Southern California, where she is staying with her sister for Christmas.

The book arrived unexpectedly today. She opened it, a bit curious about what would be sent to her at that address. What a surprise to find this out of print book--but even more, to open the cover, and see in her very own handwriting, her attribution to her husband, Harold Goodman.

I guess a few years ago GranNomi had wanted to loan it to my uncle Steve and she took it with her to my cousin Shawn's doctoral graduation. Somehow the book was lost and she never thought she'd see it again. Fast forward a bunch of years--Grandad has died; GranNomi has bounced around a little bit between Missouri, Utah, and California; Uncle Steve and cousins Shawn and Amy have all moved various times; and somehow this book ends up at a secondhand bookstore in St. George, Utah. When I think about it, the description on the bookseller site even mentioned something about the name of the owner inscribed inside the cover.I still think it's Grandad's way of saying he's hanging around--that we can't get rid of him that easily--that he's just trying to put things in their proper order and take care of us. Thank goodness.