Memories...

It’s funny how certain memories can just hit you out of the blue. Something triggers the deepest parts of your mind and you can see, hear, feel, & taste those memories. That happened to me this morning on my way to work.


Every morning I drive past an apartment house where I spent a lot of time as a kid. It was a big blue house that was divided into four apartments, two upstairs and two downstairs. At one point in my life, my Grandparents lived in the upstairs right apartment, my Great Aunt Dolly lived in the downstairs right apartment and my Aunt and my two cousins lived in the downstairs left apartment and family friends lived in the upper right apartment. Then long after my family had moved out of the house, the lower left unit became my first apartment on my own. Needless to say, I have a lot of history on in that house.

So this morning as I was driving I happened to notice that the light was on in the kitchen of the my Grandparents old apartment. Instantly, I was eight years old again and I could vividly see that apartment. This morning it was about 5:45 AM when I passed and the light was on, so my memory flashed to me staying the night and sleeping on the couch in the living room which was right off the kitchen. I remembered waking up early to the light shining in from the kitchen and the smell of black coffee as my Grandpa got ready for work at 5:30 AM every morning. I remember running the hallway from the back to the front and beating feet downstairs to go play baseball in the side yard. I remember that the staircase to the upstairs apartment had 23 steps and that my Grandma was faster than she looked and had caught me many times on those steps. I remembered coming upstairs after playing long and hard and smelling my Grandma’s sauce simmering on the stove as she played solitaire on that small, old kitchen table.

It was a wonderful trip down memory lane the rest of the way to work. Even though I have no ties to that building any longer and my Grandma is gone, it was a beautiful way to start the day. I miss her every day, but she provided me with enough good memories to last a lifetime. I am truly thankful for those days.

What are some of your favorite memories?