Grandma's House

My mom called me the other day to wish me a happy birthday.  She related to me that the day I was born there was bad weather.  There was snow and ice and the roads were bad.  I don't remember that she had ever shared the story of my birth.  But, I am glad she finally told me about it.  I like to hear stories about old times.  You know the ones like.... they had to walk miles to school and had no shoes and there was snow on the ground.  We laugh when we hear it, but I'm sure if it's not true it's not far from the truth.  I know that for my family times were hard and so was the work.

This is my dad's family. Taft, Edith, June, Arnold and Allen.




 The picture below is my dad sitting in my grandfathers chair. 






Both of my grandparents came from very large families.  Everyone had to work.  The girls had to cook, clean, garden, do laundry and more.  My grandmother talked of how hard life was for her family.  I remember her speaking of her mother and how even though their days were filled with work, her mom always tried to make it fun.  They played simple games like, if they were peeling apples or potatoes, they would see who could finish without breaking the peel.  She said they sang and laughed and enjoyed each others company.  Both of my grandparents were close to their families and talked a lot of their brothers and sisters.  I wish I had paid more attention to their names and the stories they shared about them.

Now that all my grandparents have passed away I often think of things I wished I had asked of them.  But, that time has passed and it's too late now.  Both of my grandfathers were coal miners.  My dad's father was blinded in a coal mine explosion.  He never saw his youngest child, my uncle.  As a child I really didn't understand why my grandfather could not see.  He wore dark glasses when he was out in public.  But, when we were home I could see where his eyes should have been.  As a child I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask about that, but I was never allowed. I guess it was just painful to relive the circumstances.  But, as an adult I wish I had asked him to share his story with me so I could understand.  Maybe as time passed he would have been able to talk about it and would have wanted me to know about that part of his life. 

 This picture was taken in front of Grandma and Grandpa's house.









My dad's mother kept me while both he and my mom worked.  So as a child I spent a great deal of time in their home. After the mining accident my grandfather's work was running a newspaper stand in Terre Haute.  He tried working there alone and did well.  But, if someone paid in paper dollars instead of coins, some could and would cheat him since he couldn't tell if he was given five dollars or one dollar.  My grandmother had to be there with him. So, I spent enough time there that I knew my way around pretty good.

Their news stand sat at the outlet of an alley between Woolworth's and I think it was the Buster Brown shoe store.  One Saturday, while in town shopping with my mom and (I think one of her sisters or my other grandmother) at Woolworth's, I was focused on the area of the store where the barbie dolls and doll clothes were.  I didn't notice that my mom had moved on and she didn't notice that I wasn't with her.  I looked for her but she was lost.  I was not, I knew exactly where I was.  So, I left Woolworth's and went next door to the news stand where I knew my grandparents would be.  Eventually, my mom came to the news stand to enlist my grandmothers help to find me.  Of course that is where they found me.  At the time I could not understand why I was the one in trouble.  Because I was not lost!  Now, as a parent I can only imagine how terrified my mom was when she could not find me.   

You may have had an experience where as an adult you revisited a place from your childhood.  It's funny what we remember as children.  Sometimes it's often hard to know if you actually have a memory or if you just remember hearing stories from someone elses's memory.  Places remembered as a child just don't look the same as they do as an adult.  A house might have seemed really big or a road or driveway really long.  A few days ago I shared a picture taken outside my grandparents home from my last visit there.  I had visited there several times as an adult.  But even then, I didn't really see the house.  As long as they were there, when I thought of the place they lived, all I saw was the two of them.  It wasn't until they were gone, that I really saw the place, the house, the road they lived on.  It made me sad. That picture captured the moment I realized it was the first time I really saw the house and the last time I would be there.  It made me cry.

 As I look back, I realize how fortunate I was that I was able to be with them daily for those few years.  You see, we moved from Indiana to North Carolina when I was in the third grade.  After moving, I saw them on yearly vacations and once I spent a month with them in the summer when I was a little older.  Now that I am a grandmother myself, I wish I had the opportunity to invest the kind of time in my grandchildren as my grandmother did in me.  Because I am a grandmother, I also know now that she enjoyed having me there as much I did being there.