Three years ago
It's been three years since Mom passed away on July 2nd, 2006. I was thinking about the early years with the family in Fredonia and how we would look forward to spending a few days at Grandma's and Grandpa's. They were the only grandparents I really ever knew. I only met Dad's father once and although I do remember him and the livingroom of his house, the memory is very faint. Mom's parents Sara and Nicholas became for me the definition of grandparents.
The house is still there and it still looks the same -- same paint, same bushes, same barn. Google Streetview captures it during a recent October with gray skies and orange leaves on the neighborhood trees. I can remember after nine hours in the back seat of the black '58 Impala, finally arriving at the driveway and coming to a slow stop in front of the red barn looking for Grandma to open the back door and greet us. The pine tree, the gravel driveway, the clapboard siding, the painted wood steps... all very clear. The house looks smaller now because I was only a little guy at the time. It looked like an old mansion with the open front porch and wide steps.
We'd head straight for the candy drawer in the kitchen - a special place Grandma kept stocked with hard candy and candy bars right at eye level for grandkids my size. Grandma would have been cooking all day before we arrived and the smell of her special pizza, homemade bread and olive oil traveled through the whole house. The pizza was baked in a rectangular pan, cut into squares and always served at room temperature. Aunt Rose and Aunt Louise in their simple conservative colored dresses would be coming down the Persian runner covered stairs from their 2nd floor apartment to greet us. Everyone was smiling and very happy to see each other. We always arrived in the late afternoon so dinner was not too far off. We all ate at the table in the kitchen with the AM radio playing Italian or Polish music just barely perceptible in the background. Grampa would be sitting at the end of the table with his little glass of Cribari red wine. It was a happy place. Thanks Mom.
