Things I Remember at Oma & Opa's House (April 2014) [Katrina]

 Well if this isn't apropos... My family spent most of this past weekend at my grandparents' house, as next weekend the estate sale guy comes to get that underway. In keeping with not 1 but 2 writing/posting prompts ("I remember" & old writing), I found this from April 2014. It was in my first writing class- at the Kings' wonderful condo. My Oma was in the middle of some health issues & we weren't sure what the future would hold. 

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I realized this week...Oma & Opa's house is really my childhood home. Not that I've ever lived there, but of all my houses, that's the one that's stayed the same. It feels so safe & comfy & gemütlich. So on top of everything else crazy this week, the thought of that so-known, always-there place not being as it always was is sad, & kind of scary.

I remember eating snacks & watching glorious 90s cartoons after kindergarten.

I remember playing Boxcar Children, with Allison & I, & Big Boy [a giant teddy bear] as our little brother.

I remember playing Barbies with lego houses and cardboard-cutout Ken.

I remember playing in the backyard- Pocahontas (in my moccasins, always making Allison be the secondary parts), making blanket forts, "painting" the birdbath, oom-pa-pa-ing to the Bayless High School Band early in the morning. Even going over the fence to play with the neighbor. I certainly remember picking gooseberries and never eating them.

I remember hiding with Allison in the closet during As the World Turnssss-uh.

I remember coming back completely worn out from morning trips to the Zoo, Shaw's Garden, or Grant's Farm, to a lunch of frozen White Castles & fries, tomatoes, & little pickles.

I remember spending countless in-from-Mexico weekends sharing my room with Allison, the comfiest bed ever- still true.

I remember reading umpteen magazines 30 years too old for me in the living room, & getting $1 per grade for good report cards, & definitely watching countless hours of Mary Kate & Ashley movies.

I remember Easters- making coconut-laden bunny cakes & dyeing & finding REAL eggs.

I remember 20 Christmases of the white-&-gold tree, opening presents in our exact spots.

And of course I remember food- holiday feasts, Christmas cookies (making & devouring), countless brunches, my ever birthday cake- chocolate with buttercream, and always, always, always Oma in the kitchen, at the stove with something bubbling or mixing something using 50-year-old dishes.

Lately I remember chess with wonderful wood pieces, being beaten mercilessly but being glad for it.

In Oma & Opa's backyard, a month after I wrote this