Saturday, June 19, 2010

SUMMER OF 62

If I could go back in time, I think I would choose to go back to the summer of ‘62. It was the summer I got to spend with my mother's parents, Mimi and Grandpa Benny, in Thistle Utah. It wasn't a summer of going places, or playing with kids my own age or swimming at the plunge. But I loved every minute of it. Yet if I could go back, I would tell them both to talk more -- to each other and to me.

"Kathleen, tell your Grandfather to pass the salt please," my Grandmother Mimi tells me during dinner one night. I relay her request to Grandpa who sits next to me and I hardly notice the fact that she has barely conversed with him in the six weeks I have been there. Sadly, it's not till twenty years later that I realize the charades they played that summer I was seven hundred miles from my parents.

Mimi and Grandpa lost their only son when he was ten years old in a mountain avalanche just a few hundred yards from where they lived. When I grew up I often thought this was the reason for my Grandfather's drinking and I thought it contributed to my Grandparents' rocky relationship. I mean how do couples survive when one of their children doesn’t?


I'm not sure if this was what separated them, but looking back, staying in their home that whole summer, I learned nothing about who Mimi and Grandpa were. That was the saddest part of all. They had no T.V. and no telephone; we had plenty time to talk, but neither of them shared too much. I would have loved to get to know them better. If nothing else, I would just love to be reading their memoirs right now.

I have precious memories of Grandpa Benny calling me over and handing me a giant Hershey bar and telling me "not to tell my Grandma." Another time Mimi and I were sitting out on the front porch when one of her neighbors she didn't care for came over and asked, "What ya doing Anna?" My Grandma quickly replied, "Oh, we're going to town with Benny." Only I distinctly remember Mimi being upset with Grandpa and her asking me to relay a message to him saying we would not be joining him. I thought this was hilarious at the time.


I know life is cruel at times but I wish I had been enlightened that summer and explained a few things about life. Would I have understood? probably not. Maybe it was better that way. I don't know. All I know is that I know of very few married couples who get along; not my Grandparents, not my parents and not me and my ex. I just wonder how my kids and their spouses will fare. I really couldn't tell you right now because none of my four kids plan on marrying in the near future.........

3 comments:

  1. Kacie, I'm really sorry that you weren't surrounded with people that really "get along".It makes me sad that you didn't have the happiness growing up that I had. I sincerely wish that all kids could be brought up in families that are deep in love. I can only imagine how that could change a child's life.

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  2. My Dear Little Sister, as I read and felt your words I was reminded of the soulful,tender yearning that is weaved through out your memoir writings. You give voice to your inner-child, thus produce such purity / honesty of heart. Keep writing to make sense out of things you couldn't have understood as a child. I know this is true because of my own experiences.
    Love, Yolanda

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  3. Hi KC,
    A brilliant story. Despite the fact that your grandparents didn't seem to talk to each other, maybe they got along just fine. Either or both of them could have been hard of hearing and it just took too much effort to communicate. The bottom line is you loved every minute of your stay with them and you would go back again to the Summer of '62. Don't worry KC, your kids will fare just fine - you are a good and loving mother.

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