When I was Cora's age we lived about 4 hours away from both sets of my grandparents. Every summer it was like a divorce. My parents would meet my grandparents half way and my grandparents would take us for a few weeks during the summer.
Looking back I always loved going to my Grandma and Grandpa Holt's because they lived across the street from the community swimming pool. I always looked forward to seeing the same friends summer after summer. We would swim from sun up to sun down but at that time in my childhood I loved spending summers at their house.
Spending time at my Grandma and Grandpa Baker's house was different. They lived in a "one stop light" town and there was no swimming pool! But the things that we did at my Grandma and Grandpa Baker's house I wouldn't appreciate until much later in life.....like right now! Things like walking to the post office to get the mail, swinging on the front porch waving to everyone, playing with cousins in the yard, making homemade ice cream, smelling my Grandpa's roses and pumping the water pump! However the best memory I have is of a little room in their house.
Upstairs in their house next to the two bedrooms were walkin attics. The one attic space was used just for storage. But the other one my Grandmother used as a closet. She hung all her clothes in there, she had a sewing table and there was a twin bed in there. The matress was on an old metal bed frame whose springs squeaked. But what I remembered the most was laying in that bed on a summer night hearing the train on the edge of town and sweating because it was so hot! But I couldn't wait to sleep in there!
Those were the summers of my youth. This summer is one that I want Cora to remember forever. Three whole months of summer and we are already on our 2nd grandparent visit! But there was something that happened at both grandparent visits that brought the memory of that special summer bedroom.
This is Cora in "her room" at her Granny and Grandpa's. This bed was made and ready for her complete with a blanket that belonged to her daddy!
This is Cora in "her room" at her Maw Maw and Paw Paw's. This is a small room in their house and they put a blow up mattress in there for her to sleep on.
As we are almost to the middle of our summer; it has pretty much gone according to plan. You could say every memory has even been planned. But I hope that when Cora is older she will have her own special memories of her years as a child and summers with grandparents. Who knows maybe she will even blog about it.
~Bill and Ruth and Mel and Pearl's Granddaughter
And Cora's Mom
