Good-bye to Grandma's House

My aunt Melanie is moving and selling her house. Her house was my Grandma's house my entire life. Melanie bought it when my grandma died in 2002 and I think I just took it for granted that this house was always going to be accessible. A couple of weeks ago Melanie invited us over to say good-bye. Even though my kids have been to her house many times over the years, I neglected to show them some of my favorite features. Here goes.

This is her front porch. I learned to play King's Corner, spit watermelon seeds and whistle with a blade of grass on this porch. This was the gathering spot nearly every day. Aunts and uncles and cousins sharing stories, laughing, and eating vanilla ice cream in cake cup cones. We washed cars on the front lawn and played Annie-I-over in the summer. We had snowball fights and built forts in the winter. 

 If you were lucky you got a seat on the steps. If you were a kid, you most likely stretched out on the grass.

 Melanie beautifully renovated the kitchen. The skinny cupboard to the left of the window was where the cups were, including the red cup I still have. The cupboard above Melanie, in a silver bowl was where my grandma kept the saltines. I think she served saltines with every meal. Or maybe she just served soup at every meal. The cabinets, appliances, and countertops are different but the layout is the same. My grandma had big round black stools at the bar that I fell off of all.the.time.

 The front door is the same! I think this is why I am drawn to leaded glass. All growing up I was too short to see through the peephole. Now I am too tall.

 Here are a couple of videos. They aren't great because I wasn't planning on sharing them but here they are.

I always thought this little cubby was so funny between the shower and window in the basement bathroom.

 And here's a picture of the ceramic tile window sill/frame. They don't make them like they used to.

 This is still the longest hallway everrrrrr. I got a black eye from the doorknob on the door on the right. Cousins were throwing the big huge heavy green square pillow back and forth in the hall and I was trying to look into the hall through a keyhole (which didn't exist) in the doorknob. The door smacked all the way closed and the knob hit my eye.

 This is a little door on the chimney. You could talk to someone who was at the fireplace. I'm not sure what the little door is for.

 Besides squirrels hoarding walnuts, I mean.

 The backyard looks nothing like it did in the 90s. There were several cherry trees and a rickety picnic table. I picked cherries for my grandpa for $5 a gallon bucket in this backyard. And cut the heads off fish with my uncle Chad on that picnic table.

Other fun and not so fun memories about the house:
- I carried a cup of red punch down the stairs (not sure if I was supposed to) but I tripped half way down and punch went all over the wall. My aunt Irene helped me clean it up.
- The door at the top of the basement stairs swung into the stairwell. So if the door was shut and you were 5 years old, it was impossible to open the door standing down a step, not to mention swinging it open by stepping down one or two more. I figured out how to duck down under the door and swing it open that way.
- My grandma had an organ with pre-recorded accompaniments on cartridges. I wish I could remember the name of our favorite. It was peppy and made us laugh and drove all the adults crazy.
- When a bunch of cousins slept over together, we lined up our sleeping bags in the basement family room. They seemed to go on forever (there's like 50 grandkids). In the morning we'd play Hugga Bunch Land. Fun fact: I had this entire episode memorized when I was 5 and would recite it with voices and everything. I'm listening to it right now.
- Thanksgiving was a big deal at Grandma's. Tables everywhere. I loved the only little yellow kid chair at the little table. It easily tipped over. Strange feature for a child's chair.
- When we moved from Logan to Mapleton when I was 7, that ended the week-long trips to Grandma's and I'm still kind of sad about that.
- Living in the next town meant we saw them every Sunday after dinner. One time we were driving over there and realized my brother Thomas didn't have a shirt on so we had to turn around so he could put one on. He was like 4.
- We also got to be there whenever any cousins came from out of town--not just when our trips matched up.
- We trick-or-treated in her neighborhood every year since she had a better neighborhood for that than our more rural neighborhood in Mapleton.
- When I went to middle school n Springville, I discovered so many fellow students lived in her neighborhood. Worlds colliding. Several of them were in her ward and knew my grandma and aunt.
- We would walk to Reams from her house with money we scrounged up in couch cushions. I drive to Springville every week to shop at Reams and think of my grandparents every time. My grandpa would cut a tiny square plug out of his watermelon and taste it. If it was good, he'd cut it up in triangles for all of us. If it was no good, he'd return it to Reams.
- My grandpa would invite us over to watch movies he rented. I saw "Deceived" and "It Could Happen to You" and many others in their living room.
- One of my cousins shut my fishing pole in the door of our car and snapped the rod.

Grandpa Baadsgaard and I. Meredith and my uncle John in the background.

Halloween circa 1993. I was a cleaning lady, Thomas a vampire.

Thanksgiving 1992

My cousin Katherine and I and our improvised pool. 1988?

There are so many more memories in that house and I'm sad to say good-bye as I think even more memories will fade. It's the end of an era. I am so grateful for wonderful grandparents that created a safe and warm place to gather and escape.