The Family Door

I am not quite sure how the door started, but I remember it was my Grandmother's idea to start measuring the five grandkids every year when they came up to camp. The door hung at the bottom of the stairs about 5" off the ground, which allowed lots of room to measure growing kids. Although kids weren't the only thing that got measured the family dog, parents, grandparents and a few friends of the family made the door.

The door was taken off at least twenty years ago when the stairs was remodeled and no longer needed a door. The latest date I found on the door was 1974 and it measured my ex-husband Bill. Coincidentally it is the tallest measurement at 6'2". The shortest human measurement was my brother, David, who in 1966 was about 35" tall.

I seem to have the biggest one year growth spurt in the family of 5 1/4" in one year between 65 and 66(I was 12-13 then). I think I was the skinniest for my height the next year at 94 lbs and 5'31/2" tall. I am the only person to have a weight recorded as well as height, so my grandmother must have thought it noteworthy as well.

I know she worried about me eating enough and was always trying to feed me. Grandma being a farm girl figured something wrong with you if you didn't eat eggs. I hated eggs so she devised ways to get me to eat them. Not the least of which persists today adding chocolate chips to hard boiled eggs. I pretty much gross people out when I do it. But I never liked the taste of the white part of the egg and that covers it up.

Many camps have diaries we have a door that tells a story of the growth and visits of five grandchildren to their grandparents camp. I am not sure what to do with the door it is starting to fall apart like all things made of wood. It is large and difficult to display. I was all ready to turn it into a shelf in my garage when a tinge of guilt seemed to make me stop. Are the pictures of it enough to carry the memory? There seems to be something mystical about touching it. You can feel yourself standing next to it with a ruler on top your head and a relative marking a line in pencil. When you turn around there is always a comment about how much you have grown. If you are the youngest one you look up at your brothers or sister and dream of catching them, especially after you pass a few of their early marks. For my youngest brother, David the dream of catching the others was lost when the door came down long before he could make a high enough mark on the wall.

If you have any suggestions as to what I should do with the door...let me know. I have decided to use a different old door for the shelf for now. One that doesn't talk back. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.