When my Grandma passed away last year a big question for my family was what would happen to her house? We’re a very sentimental family and are all attached to that house. It’s where my Mom and her seven siblings grew up, it’s where we had all those kitchen parties, it’s where we sat having a cup of tea, with Grandma eating sweets like Gumdrop Cake.

No one wanted to see the house go, but it didn’t seem like any of us could step in and take it over. For a while it was rented out and the couple who lived there did a lot of damage, which was kind of heartbreaking.

With very heavy hearts the family put the house on the market. One or two offers came in but for whatever reason the sales never went through. We were all feeling down about the prospect of never being able to go back to the house.

Then something wonderful happened. My cousin Cheryl bought the house for her and her growing family. She fixed up the place, she painted a few rooms, even found some of the pictures Grandma had hanging and put them back on the walls. When Uncle Bill passed away it was such a comfort to be able to go back to Grandma’s place.

My Mom and her siblings divided the proceeds from the sale of the house and my Mom gave my brother and I a portion of what she called her inheritance. I told Mom to keep the money for her retirement but she refused, she said, “Your Grandparents didn’t have a lot of money but what they did have they shared with the family and they would have wanted to be able to give you this themselves.” So she asked Jeff and I to spend it on something that would remind us for Grandma and Grandpa.

I bought a kiln. This is Samena:

Samena is a combination of my Grandparents’ names, Samuel and Armena. It’s also the name the town gave to the road that leads to Cheryl’s new house on Samena Lane.