A Happy Memory of Mine

As I stepped out of my mother's favorite red camry, I ran to my grandmother’s front porch and rung the doorbell until she opened the door. My mother dropped me off every morning on her way to work. Entering the living room, as my grandma and my mother stayed at the door to discuss the plans for the day, I lay down on my grandmas big couch covered with pillows and I instantly fall asleep. My grandmother’s home was my happy place as a child and it is a memory that I hold dear to my heart today. My grandmother’s house is a memory that I think about daily and I learned that the simplest moments should not be taken for granted, and we have to appreciate the moments because we cannot go back to those moments, once they are gone.

Each morning I would wake up constantly to see if the sun was coming out, so I could play outside with my cousins, as the sun was my alarm design to tell me that it was playtime. I would wake up to the smell of steaming rice, beans, and plantains sizzling on the stovetop just about every morning. Even though it was the fifth time we had this dish in the same week, I would eat it and tell my grandmother that the food tasted better than the one from the day before. That would make my grandmother smile every time. I would sit next to my cousins and watch the spanish novelas (soap operas) playing in the background that my grandmother could watch all day if it wasn’t for her babysitting. She would serve us each a plate of breakfast and a glass of orange juice, and she would leave us watching television while she would clean the kitchen. I would try to watch my grandmas favorite shows, and it was always too confusing and dramatic for my young self to understand at the age of five.

Once I was done eating, I would start asking my grandmother to give me and my cousins permission to play outside, and before we could go play outside my grandmother would ask my cousins and myself to do the dishes and sweep around the house while she considered letting us go out and play outside, early in the morning. After my cousins and I convinced my grandmother to let us go play outside, I would open the white sliding door made of glass, and look at the huge playground at the end of the backyard. It was my favorite view, my grandmother's backyard was my personal playground. Stepping on branches and dry leaves, I walked straight into my grandma’s tree garden. She had many types flowers and rocks surrounding the trees, taking care of the flowers and trees was my grandmothers favorite hobby. The playground was just right for my cousins and myself, we played on the trampoline, swings, and our bicycles. On my way to the backyard and into the playground, I would call my cousins to come and join me and my cousins would come out running into to the swings and jump on the trampoline . The hours would go by, and my grandma would have to remind us to have come inside and have lunch, she would prepare our meals including sandwiches, juice boxes and our favorite snacks. My grandmother would let us set up a picnic outside next to her garden and eat lunch there. My cousins and I would discuss various topics like our future plans and how we would like to live in Disney World and play there forever. After we were done with our meals we would go back and play with dirt and climb the trees.

My uncles and aunts would get off from work and they would go to my grandmothers house as well and we would always have a dinner party at my grandmas. Every day my uncles and aunts would catch my cousins and I eating blackberries from the berry bush that my grandmother had and honeysuckles too. Constantly, my uncles and aunt would tell us we would get poisoned from the blackberries and honeysuckles, and we did not believe them and my cousins and I, continued eating them. Losing track of time, the sun leaving the day, and our bodies filled with mosquito bites and dirt, our parents would call us, to come inside and to clean up and get ready for dinner. My aunts would discuss how their day was at work, and what they wanted to plan for the upcoming weekend as they helped set up the table for dinner.. I would always joined the conversation and ask if we could go to all the theme parks nearby. I would try to convince them, and it would never work. Each night before we would begin dinner, my grandmother would have everyone get in a circle around the dining table and say a prayer. After finishing dinner and putting all the food away, my family always found it difficult to say goodbye even if we lived twenty minutes away from each other. As soon as we would leave my grandmas house, my mother would be on the phone talking with her siblings and spend hours talking to them and I would listen to their conversations and it is a memory, I recall often.

After spending time with my cousins, I was always excited for the next day and ready to play outside with them again. My grandmother took care of us through our childhood, until we started school and it was difficult for my cousins and I to not see each other daily, and play each day. My grandmother's house was the most exciting place for me as a child, much more than Disney World, which is a child's dream place to visit. The simplicity of my grandmother's backyard was such a comforting and intriguing place for me as a child. The numerous memories created in my grandmother's old home is always brought up at our family get togethers, and gives us an insight on how important those moments really were. After my grandmother said goodbye to that home and she retired and moved to her birth place, my family began to see less of each other, and that showed me how grounded that home was for us. Investing what I call simple time, can be taken for granted and leave a memory for a lifetime.   

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