for Brian...

...because he's the only other person in the world who could relate, or would even care...

My grandparents:
Mom's dad - tall, quiet, always asleep in his chair. Such a confortable chair. I remember waking up really early with him, driving down to the highschool gym. We'd walk around the basketball court, with all the other gentlemen his age. A couple of times. Then head to the restaurant in town for orange juice and honey bun, he had coffee. The honey buns always made me sick to my stomache, but I always ate them because that's what we did. He fell asleep when he took me into "town" to see Annie. Played dominos with him.

Mom's mom - petite, always cooking. I loved going to their house in that small country town. Huge yard, wondering what exactly was in the neighbors underground shelter. The big garage was off limits, but the little storage house we could sneek into - such great stuff in there, but I never wanted to dig too far - somehow afraid of what I'd find. The metal dog on top of the chain link gate. Huge lot. Huge garden - perfect rows. The best tomatoes. Picking blueberries, then she made two blueberry pies, and two carmel pies. Never even heard of a carmel pie before or after, but they were the best thing I've ever eaten. She'd make vegetable soup. We'd eat a bowl while watching Days of Our Lives, then another watching Another World, nap, more soup for dinner. Steal as many of those chocolate chip cookies in between as possible - 2 inches round and 2 inches high. I was never able to make chocolate chip cookies like those, no matter how many times I tried. The front two rooms were the fancier guest living rooms - loved the shelves of nic nacs - I now have the pink glass clam with the big glass pearl - doesn't match anything I have now, stays in a box, but it was a must have after she passed. The closet was so full of wonderful old lady things, fancy cloths, hats, shoes. The smell that was destinctively hers - just like the smell of the sewing cabinet that I now have from her - took me 2 years to actually throw her old scraps of material and buttons away - just couldn't let go of that smell - kept the petite, fancy gold magnifying glass she used to thread needles. The last words I remember hearing her say as she lay in the hospital - "this isn't living, I don't want to live like this." Arby's for lunch was the big treat when we went "into town."

Dad's dad - only met him once or twice, same name as my dad, gave me a beautiful ring that belonged to his mom - he even had my birthstone placed in it.

Dad's mom - not many memories. She put her make up on using a little mirror sitting in front of the window so that the sun was shinning on her. Beautiful woman, I thought, the face that looked great with a smile, such beautiful blue eyes. Best cranberry salad for Christmas and Thanksgiving - I made sure I got that recipe. On her hospital bed, in the last few days, the only thing she could muster the energy to say was to respond with an I love you to her daughter, who read the newspaper on her mom's legs, but at least she was there. We always thought she loved owls, always gave her owl things as presents - until one year she asked why all the owls.

Just thought about it and felt the need to write it.