I have been thinking about my youth from 7 years old to college. I work part-time these days at Cranes Pie Pantry and Restaurant with young people in high school, in their twenties,  and a few of their mothers for the most part. I listen to them and think. The picture above shows me on the left and my younger sister, Kim, on the right.

Gramma Peggy did not have much money but we would go out to eat on Fridays sometimes. We would to The Lone Star Tavern in our small town. Gramma did not drink but they had dinner specials on Fridays. I was elementary school age. What I remember is that I would always get a hamburger and fries. My hamburger was meat and a bun plain with nothing on it. My favorite part was the burger. So I would mix eating my fries and burger, and I always made sure I had one bite of my burger to eat last. I wanted the taste of the burger to be the taste I left with.

When 10 years old, Gramma trusted me to walk to the bank with the social security checks and put them in and then pay bills in town. I remember one time losing them. I went home crying uncontrollably. I knew how important they were. They were all we had. However, by the time I had gotten home, the bank had called. Someone had found them by the door and turned them in. Relief. I thought Gramma would never trust me to do this again. Not so – she sent me right back out to finish my job.

Another thing I enjoyed would be going with Gramma to Josie’s Coffee House. She would go there to meet her friends. I loved listening to their stories about their lives. I would at Christmas spend days baking cookies and making candies to give them all a plate. Most of them did not do those things anymore and had very little family. Josie’s was also my very first real job. I started my sophomore year and worked about 2 hours a day after school. I used the money I earned to buy my high class ring ($49.50) and my senior pictures ($99). It took awhile at, I think, $1.25 an hour.

Gramma was worrier having lost my dad (29) and her husband (38) at such young ages. When I lived in Kalamazoo while attending Western Michigan University and went out with friends, she wanted me to call, no matter what time, and ring the phone twice and hangup. She would know I was safe then and back home. I rarely went to a party, and if I did I do not drink a or do any drugs. I twas usually just movies, malls, out to eat, work (a convenience store call Minute Market that I worked at until midnight), or out to eat. Sometimes just hanging with friends would go late. So, if she knew I was out, I would find a phone and call from wherever (if possible – no cell phones) I was and ring twice so she could relax and sleep.

The things that created the poet in me happened before these years. It feels good to remember the “normal” parts of life.  Living with Gramma meant not being so afraid all the time.