I have been thinking about my grandparents this evening, remembering what it was like to be a little girl and visit them on their farm (which was really just 10 wooded acres with a small house, a garage, and a large garden). Both of Gama and Papa have been gone for many years, but my memories of them are some of the fondest I have.
I remember walking into the house through the kitchen door (no one used the front door) into a tiny kitchen. My grandfather used to get onion bagels from O'Brienstein's in Richmond, he would cut them in half and load them up with butter then broil them for 5 minutes in the oven, they were incredible! And I remember hand cut fries (with potatoes from the garden, of course) and applesauce sandwiches that my Gama would make me.
From the kitchen into the living room, the 2 recliners flanking a console table on which always stood 2 glasses of sweet tea, Gama's in her Waterford crystal and Papa's in his big orange plastic cup. There was a TV and a teal velvet sofa (which I slept on when I visited until they built the bedroom addition). The heart of the room was the wood burning stove that kept the whole house cozy in the winter and even cooked most of a Christmas dinner one year when the transformer blew and there was no electricity. Then onto the formal dining room, which seemed out of place in the tiny farmhouse with it's huge Queen Anne table and chairs, the china cabinet filled with Waterford and fine china, and the crystal chandelier.
When I was very small, there was only 1 bedroom, with a 4-poster bed that my Gama slept in...Papa slept on an air mattress in the living room. There was 1 small bathroom with a stand up shower in which I used to bathe with Life Buoy soap after long walks in the woods to rid my body of any ticks or chiggers I may have brought back with me.
When I was older, they built an addition of 2 large bedrooms, one for each of them, and turned the old bedroom into a room for my Gama's home dialysis machine. There was a small twin bed in Gama's room for me when I came to visit. I loved her big 4-poster bed the best as it was covered in down quilts and pillows. She always kept a table-top Christmas tree up in her room covered in silver tinsel as well.
Papa's room was smaller, but had his HUGE oak roll-top desk and library of VHS tapes...there was no cable out in the country back then so I would watch hours of movies. I was introduced to John Wayne, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and many other classics during my time there.
I have so many fond memories of that place and the people there. I am sad to have lost them, but glad to have had the time I did with them.
Hug your kids, your parents, your grandparents, or grandchildren extra close tonight. I know I would if I could!
