A Tribute to a Memory

Growing up I lived about a hundred yard from my Grandparents on my moms side.. My grandpa sold all his land to his children as they became old enough to buy it. So it was a aunt on both side and grandma and grandpa's house back and to the right.

Their house never changed....

I was a two story home with a detached garage.
It was white with a barn red trim going all the way around, with a gray shingled roof.. Large thirty yearn old pines and oak trees surrounded the house, what used to be a wind break on stormy nights. The garage held all things from a old 1950 all original Chevy truck to the old discharged bikes my grandpa would collect and rebuild so the all the grand kids would always have something to ride no matter how far away they lived.

I'll walk you through.

First things first, you never use the front door, I don't think I went though it the entire time I live near them for almost 13 years. So in the back door to the porch. On the right is flowers and a few boxes that never moved, to the left a cooling pie or two. Usually a blueberry and a Strawberry rhubarb. The smell of pie gives way to the sent of fresh bread as you walk to from the porch to the kitchen. It was the warmest yellow with the cabinets and sink on the right and a table big enough to seat a full seven maybe eight people on nights when everyone would come out to play yatizee (Like poker.. but with dice instead). Keep walking and you would find yourself in the "Formal Dinning room" it was full of all things delicate and off limits to anyone under twenty five, but who of us didn't go in there anyway just to look at it all. Through a large doorway to the left was the living room where the console TV sat next to a huge stereo credenza with all the modern electronics of the seventies. Complete with Record, eight track and AM/FM radio. The couches where brown, and made of some sort of poly weave that I could never figure out. One sofa on the right side of the room and one on the left. No one sat on this one as it was where grandpa went so catch up on his sleep every afternoon. Next to that soft sat a phone chair. For all of you who don't know what this is, back what phones where attached to the wall you needed somewhere to sit down, this is what that was for. There was an avocado colored rotary phone that was there for at least 12 of the 13 years I was there.

The master bedroom was though the hall, It was carpeted in the most plush purple carpet you've ever seen, the furniture was old and classic flawlessly cared for and a warm ware had happened to the corners and handles over the course of time. Next to that was the bathroom it held nothing out of the ordinary, but at the same time was everything you could ever need.

Going up the narrow stairway to the second floor it had one landing and about seven more stairs after that. Once one the second floor there was a room on the right to small to be a bed room but still to large to be a closet. I never did find out what it was for. Straight ahead the first bedroom. It was large enough to hold four twin size beds with ample room to be apart with your own dresser and night stand. Next to that room was a smaller room with a full bed its own closet and dresser along with a vanity to get ready at every morning. The last bedroom was almost identical in size and contents except the bed was a queen instead.
The rooms where all full of windows as there wasn't any AC when the home was built so on those warm Minnesota night you could open them and catch a breeze on a still night.

No old home is complete without the scary basement.. and let me tell you this house had that in spades my friend. It was dark and poorly lit, the walls were unpainted and cold. It was full of all manner of random items acquired over the course of time. But what made it wonderful was the fact that my grandpa used this area has his indoor shop of sorts.. He would get old blenders toasters and other things taking them apart and tinkering around until god knows when at night. That and that's also where the fridge full of coke, 7 up, orange soda, and root beer would be until I moved. That was all well and good but nothing compared to the Cellar that was though a door behind the stairs.. I think I opened it once.. maybe twice the entire time I was there.

This was a place where I was safe and happy for a long time. But in 99 both my grandpa and grandma passed away within two weeks of one another. It's wasn't a time to feel bad, their lives where long and full they had nine children and countless grandchildren. My grandpa was 97 and my grandma... well she was in her late eighties by then. When they passed all their children split the contents of the house to all four corners of the globe.. I have an original piece of the first Golden gate bridge, that used to sit proudly in the dinning room. My parent now hold for me the Grandfather clock the sat in the living room and I will get it when it is time. The house was sold and remodeled and sold once more, it's different inside and out.. but my memory's the same.

In memory of my Grandparents.. They Lived together loved together and left together.