Spy Pages

Some People Just Stay in Your Heart

When I was a little girl, my grandma Suds would let me play tea party with all of her dishes while she watched "Another World". I would then set up "Sal's Place" restaurant in the living room while she would lay down in the afternoon. The days with her during the summer would be hot and lazy. Sometimes, she would let me go into the "junk room" to try on her old clothes from the 20's and play with my aunts baby doll. The sweetness of the time takes me back to nostalgia so sweet, I could've been a little boy growing up with the Brooklyn Dodgers and stealing afternoon dips in the lake.

My grandma had rheumatoid arthritis to a degree that left her unable to leave the house. She never learned to drive so my cousin Kel and I would stay at her house, in my grandpa's room (died when I was four) and we would walk down to the "little store" as we called it, to buy candy cigarettes and bubble gum while grandma finished her cream of wheat. I remember the taste of the Kraft Cheese Slices (never tasted anything like it since) my grandma kept in her fridge and the vanilla ice cream from her "ice box" as she referred that she always made my aunt buy for us.

My favorite times were when I didn't have to share my grandma though. I loved the days I would stay there, just her and I. I would help her hang the laundry on the line out back and take her change to the "little store" for dollar bills. After I put out the trash and swept off the "divan", we would eat breakfast together; her with her cream-o-wheat, me with my applejacks or fruit loops and then play a game of "Go Fish". Then I would be off to the back yard to play soccer, or school or basketball in the alley. In the afternoon I would take a nap with my grandma or maybe I would play the organ. I didn't know what the notes meant or how to read the music but hours would pass while I tried to figure it out....and grandma never minded the noise. She would just rest her eyes and hum along with my music. Back then you could use one phone in the house and dial a certain number, on the 'ole rotary phones, and make the same phone ring. She would pick up her bedroom phone and talk to me for ten minutes, as if I was a long lost relative calling from Missouri. She was so much fun.

At night, grandma and I would eat something like a grilled cheese sandwiches or fish sticks with mayonnaise for dinner. Grandma had favorite shows she would watch on the "watch box" but what I remember most about the evenings was when grandma would let me have ice cream or cereal while we would watch Johnny Carson. I was never allowed to stay up late at home so when I could watch the whole Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, I was thrilled. My grandma and I would laugh and laugh at his jokes and hilarious skits. It's a childhood memory that will forever be burned into my mind and it makes me not only nostalgic for times long gone but it makes me remember the smile that Mr. Carson brought to my grandma's face each and every night of the week. I miss my grandma so much, even those wilted little hands of hers that could barely grasp a fork or spoon (but she could hang on to a cigarette like there was not tomorrow alright). Thanks for reminding me of better times Johnny....Rest in peace.

posted by spy @ 12:23 PM