My grandparents

I absolutely loved my grandmother and my granddaddy. They were such a huge part of my upbringing. I remember when I would get sick, I would go stay with my grandparents. My grandmother would make up the sofa bed so that I could lay down and watch Sesame Street, Electric Company, and Captain Kangaroo. Once these shows were over then if I was feeling a bit better she would make the sofa back up again and I would lay on the sofa the rest of the day.
Now my grandmother was not a huge TV watcher but every day at 1230pm right after the noon day news, As the World Turns came on. Everything in the house came to a stop so that my grandmother could watch that show. It was on for an hour and she would stop what she was doing, watch the show, and crochet. Other than Lawrence Welk on Saturday evenings I don't recall her watching TV. She is the one who taught me to play piano. I remember she would go every other Saturday to the Lechinstein's department store in downtown Corpus to get her hair done. While she did that we all hung out in the mezzanine area watching people. I loved those days.
My granddaddy did a lot but I am not too sure what all he did now that I think about it. I know he read a lot and he studied on things that interested him. At one time he was Pre-Med and at another time he was Pre-Law. He was retired when I was born. I know that he spent a lot of time with me. He was my true blue hero the day the trantula incident happened. He never thought my questions or stories were stupid. About the only time I ever saw him mad was the day it snowed (I was 5) and I built my snowman against his metal garage door. It refroze and he couldn't get into the garage where his car was. He had an appointment and had to call and reschedule because of the snowman. He encouraged me to go down my own path and to be independent but not too independent.
Why am I writing about them now? Thanksgiving and Christmas are hard holidays for me. I love them both and I get excited about them but at the same time I struggle with them. Growing up, these holidays were low key and proper. The first time I celebrated these holidays with Jeff's family, I almost went into shock. Every year, I get excited and am determined that this will be the year I make it through without the blahs setting in. Every year I find myself wishing I had my grandparents there one more time. Maybe by writing about them, it will help.
I will probably write more memories about them over the next few months. I might even write about the trantula story.