Neighborhood Memories

My grandma’s house has lots of memories. She stayed there for at least ten years. I know one time my mama and my little sisters daddy got into an argument so my mama walked 20 blocks to get to my grandmas. I don’t think it seemed like it took long for us to get to our grandma house, because even though my mama was mad, she made it fun for us on our way there, Or at least I think she did.

All of the kids that lived around the neighborhood knew my grandma. Lots of kids that even go  to J C Harmon or have grown up in Argentine know my grandma as “Ms. Lillie.” My grandma is the type of person to have  any and everything someone needs. Every time my grandma babysat , she would make sure the kids ate good. She would cook raviolis with toast. Her toast was not just toasted bread with butter. My grandma would always put cheese on top of the bread, with butter, and put it in the oven. Whenever you would bite the toast it was like the cheese and toast melted in your mouth all together. She made it all the time we loved it. After a while we would go in the kitchen and make it on our own. As long as we cleaned up our mess, and didn’t get burned my grandma had no problem with us eating whatever we wanted. My grandma would also always make sure the kids had on clean clothes. As long as the clothes were clean and stayed up on their waist she did not care about the style or color of them. Kids would always have time to play, either outside or in the basement. If we was outside, we always had water, or little juices to drink. We would either play football, toss the ball back and forth, or either take turns riding the bike up and down the sidewalks where my grandma could keep an eye on us. When we were at grandmas house, everyone had fun, as long as we did nothing wrong or tried fighting each other. If she needed to make a run around to the corner store, she would make sure we all were in the house with someone that she could trust. It would either be her best friend that lived right next door, or my mama or auntie.

When I was in fourth grade we all had to move with my grandma, in her two bedroom apartment. It was my two little sisters, my little brother, my mama, and I. There was a time where my cousin and uncle had to come stay with us too. There was always an extra room at my grandmas house. Of course she gave my mama the other room, while we had to stay with her. Grandma bed was big enough for my sisters, my grandma, and i to all sleep in it. She would have my cousin, and uncle sleep in the living room on the couch or floor. She always made sure we were comfortable and well taken care of before anybody else.

Although my mama had nothing to worry about, it was one thing that would really irk my mama’s soul. “Mama can i go outside?” She would be the mean one, and always tell us “NO.” Of course we were kids at the time, and knew our grandma would never tell us no, so of course we went behind our mama’s back to get what we wanted. On the other hand grandma would also be the one doing our hair most of the time, or choosing what we had to wear to school. My mama would always be at work, or busy trying to get our house. Everybody would know what was wrong with me or my sister just by looking at us. Our grandma did not know how to do the best hairstyles, she was just worried about our hair being clean and out of our way. At the end of the day we always got what we wanted and had fun.