My stuff is all out of the shipping cube and in various stages of put-away-ness, and my parents have headed north to collect my other grandfather (who's coming for a two-month visit) and return to their home. I even have California license plates now. So I guess this is the first day of the rest of my life.

The other day I was talking about buying a second-hand filing cabinet for my grandparents' library, which I have just thoroughly colonized as my personal study (my books ALMOST fit). I had seen a couple of suitable units at the Rescue Mission Thrift Shop the last time I was in the state, so was thinking of heading back there. But GrandDad volunteered that he had a minimally-utilized filing cabinet in his den, and we could probably clear it out and turn it over to me. (He's got a partially-full cabinet in his master suite, and so could transfer files as needed up there.)

So today we tackled the top drawer. Got a good handful of stuff sifted out -- dental invoices from the 1980s, tax returns from the 1970s, owners manuals for items he hasn't owned in 20 years, etc.

But we also found a fair bit of things definitely worth keeping. There was information related the electric car he put together from a junkyard chassis and a golf cart battery in the early 70s -- and which has now caught the attention of at least one of his young adult grandchildren as an interesting restoration project.

Also, several folders worth of documents relating to his war service. The president's national thank you note was obviously a mass-produced commendation that went out to all servicemen, or at least all officers, but carries an intangible dignity and eloquence nonetheless: