3 – Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

By Jill Buzby

I remember . . .

The crooked porch with ivy growing inside. Waiting for the mailman to drop the mail into the nifty little slot/box cut into the wall. Painting the porch with water and a paintbrush. Taking one of Gramma’s pots outside and making soup from water, grass, and dandelions.

Thinking Gramma was a witch the first time I saw her long dark hair loose.

A fat little dog (Susie) and a cat with no tail (Lars).

Grampa’s coin purse––the oval plastic kind with a slit in the middle. Sitting on his lap, hearing his “Uh, huh,” even if I hadn’t said anything. Playing dominos with him.

The freezer in the back room filled with goodies, especially sugar cookies. I’ve never found any as good as Gramma’s, although Pepperidge Farm comes close.

Going into the cluttered garage and riding Grampa’s grindstone like a bike. Going to the park and the pool down the street. Going to the A&W Root Beer stand for root beer and barbecue sandwiches.

Little white mint candies. The light string with the hair curler on the end. Upstairs, there were BATS!, and a funny bathtub with claw feet. When I was little, I was scared because I imagined the wardrobe was a monster. Gramma, who never ventured upstairs, came up to comfort me until my parents came home.

I remember the box of toys: Lincoln Logs and a Casper The Friendly Ghost Jack-in-the-box. One time Gramma told me she had a doll for me to play with. I ran upstairs to get it, picturing a beautiful doll with green eyes and brown curly hair and a party dress. I walked right past the homely, second hand doll with straight blonde hair, looking for MY doll. When I realized that the homely doll, known as Poor Pitiful Pearl, WAS my doll, my face fell. I sure Gramma could tell how disappointed I was. I probably said, “Is this it?” or something like that.

I later learned that my cousin Tanya had given Pearl to Gramma. Still later, I found one of my own in a thrift shop. I wonder if Gramma ever knew that Pearl became one of my most beloved dolls. Now, my two daughters play with my Pearl when they visit their Granny and Grandfather.

[Jill Buzby lives in Virginia with her husband and three children and two dogs and two cats.]

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