I spent the night at my grandparents house this weekend. Over last year or so I have began wanting to soak up all I can of them. I thoroughly enjoy listening to them bicker :), tell stories, and just spending time with them.
My Grandpa Smith. He was born in 1928. Yes he is getting up there. But one thing always amazes me his is memory. He recall such details from the past. I barely remember what I had for breakfast. He loves conversation so, when you start one with him, be prepared to listen for a while. Also be ready for random and slightly irrelevant facts added... sometimes they make things interesting. We got on the subject of school. My Grandfather is a very smart man. He graduated high school at 16 or something. He attended elementary school at a country school like so many kids of his time. But high school was in town. His family didn't have a car for him to drive and the trek to school was too far to make everyday. This is were the story began.
My grandpa stayed with a women he called "Grandma" I guess everyone in town called her this. She also had another man staying with her. She didn't have much money. She was a widow and only received a small pension from the government because her husband had been a WWI vet. She had a garden so most of her food came from there. The room my grandpa stayed had no heat. To get to said room he had to go out the back door walk outside, walk through a screened in porch into another building and then upstairs. Hence the no heat. Grandma lived in the other part of the house with the stove...smart lady. He said he was so grateful for a place to stay and she was a kind lady. Thank you "Grandma" for helping my grandpa out.
After the Christmas Break my Grandpa had different arrangements. He had made some friends that lived across the pasture from him. Guess what luxury they had....a car! Grandpa decided to live at home....and ride a horse over to the Slagle brothers place and hitch a ride in their car to school. I for one cannot imagine having to get up that early to ride a horse, (it was over a mile) to get in a car, to go to school. He said home was warmer, so this arrangement was better.
I am unsure why the car thing didn't work clear through school. Maybe the brothers were older than Papa. But another family had lived in town or close to town, I guess and they ran a dairy. Claude- the man of the house- milked early in the mornings and late at night. Grandpa slept on an old Army cot in the kitchen- we all decided it was most likely the warmest place in the house. He said that sometimes Claude's alarm wouldn't go off in the mornings and he would be running late. This is when Grandpa would get a wake up call, Claude would ask "Can you milk a few cows before you go to school?" So Grandpa would get up and milk some cows. Then he would come back in, clean up and go to school. Again....I barely make time in the mornings to slap on some mascara! Grandpa wasn't sure what his parents gave Claude and his wife for payment of him staying there. Grandma and I said maybe milkin' those cows did the trick!
When Grandpa actually told me this story it took a a good 20-30 minutes...this is the condensed version! I hope you all enjoy your grandparents as much as I do. I also hope this post didn't bore you, I just wanted to document it and share, I find their stories fascinating!
Blessings!
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