Dana's Writings

Growing up at my Grandparents'

I have a lot of fond memories of being at my grandparents house when I was young, they watched me during the day while my parents were at work.  Some of my earliest memories were of Easter egg hunts my papal would walk behind me as I toddled along with my little basket and point out eggs to me and since he was the one that hid the eggs in the first place it was kind of cheating.  My brother and cousin never fussed about it though cause I was the baby plus they ran as they collected and always got more then me.

Even when I got older and could hunt on my own they always won cause they were faster and always knew were my pa pal's favorite  hiding places were.  When I got to old to egg hunt from my family's point of view.  I would hide the eggs for my friends little sister.  I would hide them while she helped Laura go around and find them.

When I was younger, but old enough to go to the bottom of the hill and get the mail.  My papal would give me either a Butterscotch Disk Hard Candy, or a piece of Wrigley's Double Mint Gum.  And along with the piece of candy he would give me a dime as a reward.  Almost everyday he would hook this small, old wagon to his lawn mower and would take me for a ride up the mountain into the woods on these well defined paths he had made over the years.  I would sit in the back and I would sing because the mower was to loud for talking.  So I would sing all the songs that came to mind.  We would look around for neat things to tell Grandma about when we got back to the house.  I think I must have gotten some of my eye for photography from him because he showed me how to look for  interesting things that maybe other ppl wouldn't see or to see them in a different way.

When I was older but still not allowed to stay home alone, and was getting to heavy for the poor little old wagon.  Papal got his big ladder and climbed up on this huge oak tree just within good eye sight of the house and hung a wood and rope swing that he made for me.  I'd spend hours on that swing, I'd have my CD player with me in a pocket or in pouch I strapped around my waist.  I'd swing and sing for hours unless it was way to cold, hot, or if it was storming.  I loved to swing on days when it was very windy it felt like I was flying I loved it.  Because the ropes on the swing were so long I could make it go up pretty high to touch some of the branches with my feet when I leaned back.  I'd get it up high and start twisting from side the side so that the ride became wilder I was twisting and turning in the air in complete circles and it jerked around it was lots of fun and sometimes made me dizzy, but I didn't care it was so much fun.

Unfortunately a  few years ago when I gained my weight I couldn't stay on the  swing as long because the pressure would cut off my circulation in my legs.  And a few years after that the branch began to rot and so Papal  cut the board from the ropes so I couldn't swing on it anymore.  The ropes are still there as a reminder of all the fun I had on that gift he made for me.  I miss it so much, sometimes when I feel lonely or when I'm looking for a nice cozy place to read a book or think I go to the tree and sit at its base and remember all the fun I had singing my heart out on that swing.

A lot of my photography that I have taken has been around their house because they love having lots of flowers growing around the house.  Or the pictures have come from the walking track.  No matter how many times I go to either place I always find something new or I see something old in a different way.  Like at different angles, or light variations depending on the time of day.  I've seen things on sunny days, cloudy days, and even on rainy days.  My grandparents helped develop this instinct I seem to have for taking pictures by helping me when I was younger by showing me what they saw and how they saw it.  So I owe them a lot.

This is for some poeple in the chat that I told some of these memories to because they had to do with the topic that was at hand.  They asked me to put the stories up on my page for all to see.  So these are for those chatters, they know who they are.  I Thank them for asking me to put up these stories, because I might not have thought of it otherwise.  It was good to travel through these memories, and at the same time give those who know me a look into my past and by doing that learn more about me.

Dana