Family #24

24 on THE LIST: Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.


I kinda feel like I've talked quite a bit about this already this month so instead I'm going to tell you a little about my grandparents. I was very lucky growing up. One set of Grandparents lived about two miles to the East of us and one set lived about a mile to the West, so we literally saw them several times a week. Every Sunday we would go visit each set of grandparents. At my Wilcox grandparents house the grown-ups would sit and visit in the living room, and my sister and I would go play dress up in Grandma Bobbie's closet. She had literally hundreds of shoes lined up in her closet, and all of them were beautiful! And she also had a purse to match each pair of shoes, and she had tons of big flashy jewelry. We spent hours in her closet dressing up in those things, and I remember always feeling like a movie star or something. My grandpa owned a cattle ranch and in the summers he would take the cows to a range called South Mountain, in Colorado. Sometimes we would go there and help with the cows or fix fences (at least that's what we said we were doing, really, we rode horses and played around, but we liked to call it work:) I have hundreds of memories of South Mountain, but even more fun than that was when we would stay home with Grandma instead. She always had the yummiest icecream in her freezer, and when we stayed with her and Grandpa was gone we would watch movies and eat icecream and popcorn until late at night. Then when it was time for bed my sister and I would pile into bed with Grandma and she would tell us stories about her growing up in the Ozarks until we would fall asleep. My Grandma was the Postmaster in our little town, and sometimes I would stay with her. I would help her sort mail, and look at the stamps and envelopes stacked neatly in the drawers. I loved to play with the rubber stamps that said things like FRAGILE or RETURN TO SENDER, it was so exciting to work with her. When Grandpa was home and he had time to take us with him I always had a wonderful time. We would drive around in his truck that smelled like Budwiser and cinnamon Certz. He really drove about 15 miles an hour everywhere we went, but he would always tell me we were going 100 miles an hour. I always pretended that I believed him and that I was scared, and he loved teasing me. In actuality I might have really been scared, he had usually been drinking, and he wasn't a very good driver. I know that sounds kind of unpleasant, but I really do remember the times I spent with him with fondness. 

My Grandma Bobbie and her husband Neldon, who I love just like a grandpa.

My Grandma and Grandpa Fuller at my Grandpa's 80th b-day this February. Excuse the picture quality, it was taken with a cell phone, and then stollen from Facebook:)

I probably spent more time with my Fuller grandparents than the Wilcox ones. My grandma used to babysit me a lot, and I had a wonderful time there. My Grandma worked as the custodian at the church, and I would tag along with her. I remember dusting the wood in the chapel and tending the flower beds with her. She taught me a song about little purple pansies that I still sing to my kids. And in the summer there were these birds called mud dobbers that would build ugly nests in the eves of the church. That was my favorite thing because we would put a high powered nozzle on the hose and shoot the muddy nests down. (remember how I don't like animals). I loved being at their house. My grandma is the best cook ever, and we would always have delicious meals at her house. Some days my grandpa would come home for lunch and I loved those days the best. When we were done eating we would go lay on his bed and he would give me black licorice that I would munch on while he took a nap. On the days Grandpa wouldn't come home Grandma would read me stories after lunch. Sometimes she would try to skip pages so that she could get finished faster, but I always caught her and made her do it right. I'm sure she LOVED that. :) My grandma is a wonderful artist, and the lucky grandkids who spent enough time at her house got to paint a picture with her. She actually did most of the artistic stuff on mine, but she let me paint the sunset and the trees, and I felt so artistic. I was actually lucky enough to get to paint TWO pictures with her (that must mean I was the favorite, right?:) and they are still some of my most prized possessions. My grandma has a green thumb too. She has magnificent flower beds and an orchard full of fruit trees and a grape arbor and a HUGE garden. She can make anything grow. When I had my own house it was surrounded with starts of plants from her, and every spring when the flowers would bloom I would think of home and of my Grandma. 


My grandpa Wilcox passed away when I was in high school, but the rest of them are still around, and I love that my kids have the opportunity to build relationships with them too. I was lucky enough to know my great grandparents when I was growing up, and those memories are still very precious to me. I am grateful that my kids have that same opportunity.