This one is more of a someone than something, but it is technically a bunch of somethings. See, there are lots of things that I miss: Pepsi Vanilla, Saturday Morning Cartoon premiere mornings in September (kids today have no idea), Mark Waid writing Fantasic Four….but these items are trivial in the grand scheme of things, and something else that has popped into my head that I miss is days spent with my Grandmother.
When I was young, I spent many Saturdays over to Grammy Gilman’s house. I can remember going to visit in the morning with my parents and I’d ask them if I could spend the day, and they would tell me not to be rude and invite myself, yet Grammy was always happy to have me. We used to take walks in the neighborhood, or in the big apple orchard behind her house (now a housing development and something else I miss), or dance around like goof balls to her Jim Reeves records and crash onto her bed and bounce right back up and dance again.
As my sister got older, we started spending the night. She’d tell us stories, and we’d shine flashlights on the ceiling and “chase” each others’ light beams along the ceiling.
We spent all of our Thanksgivings there, and there was always an annual Christmas party…Gram’s house always seemed to be the gathering place for our family. Our family doesn’t gather much these days, but it was fun back then. As an adult, we’d watch old John Wayne and Shirley Temple movies, eat ice cream sundaes, and play rummy.
I wrote an essay about her in college years ago, and I’m starting to feel like I’m just rehashing it, so maybe it’s time to stop and maybe I’ll post the essay sometime. Something more recent that I will add is that she had two strokes late in her life, and I find myself wondering what it would be like to talk with her about our now-common ailment. I guess it’s probably best that she wasn’t around when I had the stroke; Grammy was a worrier.
Well, I’ve rambled on enough. Night!
