School would have been out for about a week. It was fun to stay up late and sleep in light. Waking up we would find Mom sitting at the table looking out the large picture-window, into the backyard. It was the day Grandma and Grandpa were to arrive. I probably asked Mom a hundred times, “When will they be here?” You must remember that this was before cell phones. Nobody knew when somebody “would arrive”. It was kind of a surprised.
Eventually we would hear wheels crunching the gravel, at the end of the driveway. Rushing out we would find two tired senior citizens pulling in our driveway in a large, white box van. Grandpa didn’t like to stop in hotels, and I doubt that first van had air conditioning. If it did, Grandpa probably wouldn’t let Grandma use it. There was a mattress in the rear of the van, propped up on a homemade 2×4 frame, that Grandpa had made. A green, metal Coleman stove lay folded against the sidewall. Mom told me Grandpa would pull over and make Grandma make eggs. I know that you probably could have gotten two Egg McMuffins for about a dollar at this time. This used to make Mom angry. I know Grandma would have loved an English Muffin. She never complained.
Grandpa’s left arm would be sunburned where it hung out the side window on the long drive from Florida. This was proof that they had not used the air conditioner. Grandpa would smell of sweat. It wasn’t offensive. His large hairy arms and wild hair were the arms and hair of a man. You don’t see too many “men” like this anymore. Everyone is shampooed and clean. Grandpa could get “cleaned up”, but “cleaning up” wasn’t for every day. Most days were for working, or traveling and visiting, if you were old. Grandma and Grandpa would come inside. If I was still in bed, Grandpa would find me and rub his rough, whiskered face against my soft skin. I don’t know why I remember this, but he used to tease me about growing a mustache. He would tell me if I put cheese on my upper lip the “mouse” would grow out to “get the cheese”.
After they got seated at the table and Mom poured them coffee. (They drank coffee morning, night, and noon). We would ask if we could run out to their van to raid it for leftovers from their trip. Grandma and Grandpa would nod and soon we would come back with a plastic Wonder Bread bread bag full of old, stale homemade powdered crullers. They were really good. Sometimes Grandma might have a tin of Press Cookies or some other new snack or bread they had made for the trip. These leftovers would all be shared with our coffee. Mom would put sugar and milk in mine. That is pretty much all we would do for weeks is sit at the table, plan lunches and dinners and sit and talk in the evening. Grandpa didn’t like to go out much, except to shop at Kroger or wherever the price as best. He also loved hunting for cheap gas.
The next week we would go out and cut rhubarb and Grandma would make a Rhubarb Crumb Pie…but thats a topic for another day.
PastorJim 