Memories of Grandma

Most of my memories are not from the house in Carroll, but from the farm. I remember more about playing outside and running between the evergreen trees along the road. Playing with the baby white face lambs behind the house and letting them suck on your fingers or getting the opportunity to bottle feed them for Grandpa. Remember the big white Adirondak chairs in the yard or at least they seemed big to me. You could sit two of us in one chair but it was better when you had the chair all to yourself.

I remember Grandma didn't like us to go upstairs because those were the boys' and Elaine's bedrooms and she said we didn't need to be in those rooms. That made it seem like some kind of mystery which made you want to go up there even more and I did. But I always walked very quiet so Grandma wouldn't hear me and I'd peek into all the bedrooms to see what the mystery was about. I could never figure out why or what it was that she didn't want us to see. It didn't dawn at me at the time that it was because it was somebody's bedroom and it was kind of private.

I remember, too, going down to the basement where Norman and Marvin did woodwork and seeing all the wood shavings on the floor. I would pick them up off the floor because they looked like ringlets when you held them up. And the smell of freshly cut wood was nice, although I don't remember anything they were making. Wasn't there a pool table down there too?

Grandma kept a piano in her and Grandpa's bedroom and that was fun to play on. But I think Mom and Grandma became quickly tired of listening to it because pretty soon they would make you stop and find something else to do. Usually, we went in the living room with the two pocket doors and watch TV. There was a long couch in that room that lined the entire one wall. And on the TV was this light that had a buck in a wooded area with a fire in the background. I thought it looked real until I figured out how it worked.

Grandma always kept coloring books and crayons and games in the big buffet in the dining room. There was a big oil burning stove in that room and it was always nice and warm in there during the winter. My best memory is building lego houses with Grandma in the kitchen. The legos were all red and there were windows and doors that opened and shut. We would put a green roof on the house and then finish it with a red brick chimney.

And all you Aunts and Uncles--I remember when you all were still dating each other! In fact, I remember Uncle John being in the army. I don't know how I remember that because I had to have been pretty little at the time. And Elaine was still young enough to play with us.

After Grandma and Grandpa moved to town, Grandpa had his stroke. Grandpa cried a lot when we came to visit and Grandma and Mom told us to tell him not to cry. Grandpa was a wicked Scrabble player. He always made up words and convince us grandkids that they were really words until Mom caught him doing it. Grandpa told Mom that it was in the dictionary and to look it up. We never could find the word and Grandpa told us that was an old dictionary. Grandpa played Scrabble one handed since his other hand was paralized. I don't remember much else except coming for Christmas and all the cousins were all there too. We played in the basement but it always seemed kind of cold down there, so it didn't seem as much fun.

My last visit was when my twin sons were 18 months old and we went to visit Grandma and introduce Nathan and Ryan to her. The last time I saw Grandma though was at the Schettler family picnic about 6 years ago. I had forgotten how tiny of a woman she was, but she had a very big presence in our lives.