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I never had grandparents. My mother's mother died when she was six weeks old, my father's mother died when he was around 8 or 9. Both grandfather's remarried and moved on with their lives. My mother's grandparents raised her, and spoiled her rotten. Her mother had been their daughter and they would give her what ever she wanted. My father's father and his new wife moved out of the area and we didn't see much of them. My mother's mother had three sisters, Aunt Becky, Aunt Carrie and Aunt Emma Jame (Emmy) Aunt Carrie had one son, Aunt Becky lived away and aunt Emma had no children. So we seven kids became her "grandchildren" and she and Uncle Steve (Teemus) our grandparents. There are so many memories I have of these two people, some funny, some serious, but mostly loving. Aunt Carrie came to live with them when I was oh, about 4 and so now I had two grandmother's and one grandfather. We couldn't wait to go up to their house and spend the night- it was always a treat from the moment we stepped on the property until we reluctantly went home. She would never have us all at the same time, seven was a bit much. But my memories are of "my" times at their house. First off, there was no indoor plumbing, so we went to the "outhouse" and we pumped water from a well. It was nice in the summer, but Lord during the winter! You could freeze your hiney off. We always got to do things at their house that we couldn't do at home, like stay up as late as we wanted. Now why I don't know, there was no tv, no anything to entertain us, except for the Ghost Stories that they could and would gladly tell. They had a screened in front porch and there were two big rockers, one for each of them, and a small cot for us to lay on. I can close my eyes and smell the wisteria in the cool night breeze, hear the whipperwhill calling to his mate and see just enough to make out their shapes on the porch. My sister Karole and I usually went together and sometimes our youngest brother C.J. would be with us. We would huddle on that old cot and I can hear them now telling about how the Indians had come through years ago and burned a house down where their house now stood, every one was killed save a little girl who they took and raised. If you listened close you could hear her calling for her mother (now that is really something to be telling kids all under the age of 12!) Uncle Steve had the deepest voice I think I have ever heard in my life, he would sit there in the dark and sing songs to us, "Little Birdie," "Down in The Valley" and "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley." In the dark of the night with the crickets calling and the smell of the wisteria I would fall asleep. There were so many things I remember, but one of my favorites is that Uncle Steve (whom by the way Aunt Emma never called anything but, Mr. Smith or Teemus) loved 7 UP and he didn't want anyone touching his 7 UP. That was almost grounds for being fed to the fish in the pond out back of the house. Well, I loved 7 Up too, so Aunt Emma would fix me some in a glass, and would say," tell Mr. Smith it's water" So, off I would go to sit on the cot and watch him roll his Prince Albert and drink my "water." He would sit there awhile and then very casually say, "Kackie, what you drinking?" I would not look at him and say, "Oh just some water." He would wait about five minutes giving me time to think I had gotten away with it. Then suddenly he would take his cane and get up from his chair and come walking toward me. He would put out his hand and say in the sweetest voice, " I believe I'm thirsty, give me some of that water." Now this is kind of like Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football. The game would be played out every time I went there. I would hand him the glass and wait in fear for my life. He would take a big swig and say, "That is the sweetest water in the world, don't you think? I believe I'll go get me a glass." Then he would shuffle off to the kitchen. It's so funny now to think about it, that I should have known what he was doing, just making me sweat. They had a horse named Tony, and we loved that horse. He was a beautiful Paint. He was so gentle with us that when we rode him to the creek usually three or four piled on his back, when we got to Mill Creek you had to go down a steep embankment to get to the water. Old Tony would not budge when he got to the deep ravine until we all got off, then he would go down and wait for us to climb back up. No matter how many times we tested him, he never failed, if we were on his back he wouldn't budge. Uncle Steve had a pond down behind the house and it was so beautiful as I remember it now, it was shaded with huge Willow trees and had several old wrought iron chairs there to sit in. We would dig worms and go to the pond, with Tony and Uncle Steve in tow. We would sit for hours catching some of the biggest fish in the world (seemed so at the time.) He would always make us throw them back, to give them a chance to get bigger. When we tired of fishing we would take turns riding Tony around the big field beside the pond. We would come home tired and hungry, after a bath in a #2 tub, we would eat and then sit on the porch again. Our other favorite pastime was (now this will sound strange to anyone younger than 45) to sit on the porch with a bag of candy and play "Guess the car." There were so few cars on that road then that we could hear it coming, we would all pick a color (we only had white, red, blue and maybe green) who ever was correct got a piece of candy. That may sound silly to some of you, but I can remember getting so excited when I would hear a car and start screaming, "Red, Red, Red, it's RED!" There was a little country store (which I talk about in my "Gone Fishing" story) named "Miss Annie Mae's Store." We could walk there from Aunt Emma's and she would give us money to buy "nick nacks or goodies." One time my sister Karole and brother C.J. got the brilliant idea to pull a fast one on me. They told me that they had seen a sigh in the store that said anyone who could eat an entire package of Fig Newtons would win a trip to Disneyland and could take two people with them. I always wanted my big sis and brother's admiration and respect so I went for it. I ate the entire bag in one sitting. I was so sick, I thought I was going to die. I today cannot eat a Fig Newton! I threw up so much I had to go home. (Karole, C.J. I still owe you both for that one!) So I will end this with my all time favorite memory. Behind the front door of their house was a HUGE oval mirror. You couldn't see it if the door was open, it had to be closed. I loved that mirror. I thought it the grandest thing I had ever seen. When Uncle Steve realized my fascination with it, he put it to good use. Whenever I was getting on his nerves (can't imagine how) he would tell me to go in the living room, pull up a chair and stand in it. Stare into the mirror and I would see who my husband was going to be. I am such a hopeless romantic that I did it for hours on end...just staring. When Uncle Steve and Aunt Emma passed away since they had no children my mother and one of her Aunts was all the family left. So it was up to them to dispose of the personal belongings. My mother gave me that mirror and I have it to this day. It is heavy, and I don't hang it, I keep it safely packed away, but someday I am going to hang it just in case. You never know with Kaya getting older, I might have to pull it out and stand her in front of it... May 2000 |