My Grandparents

Grandpa Davis, Grandma Davis, and Uncle Ed

My grandpa Davis passed away just short of his 99 th birthday in January 2005. At his funeral we collected this picture of him holding my daughter Becky back when she was little. I have collected some of my thoughts on Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Ed. Grandpa was the last of his generation in my family.

Back around 1961 my family went though a divorce after my Mom moved out. Cynthia, Fred and I spent what seemed like a year at Grandma and Grandpa Davis' farmhouse. I now know that it was not that long. This time we spent at my grandparent's house changed my life.

During that time I was battling depression. I felt my family had fallen apart and I thought that I was a complete failure, I could not do anything right. I remember going on walks with Uncle Ed and he tried to teach me how to do things like wink and whistle and how to recognize the trees by their leaves.

I remember on one such walk Uncle Ed told me to wait where I was and to not take a step further until he returned. I took a step to see what would happen and a bee attacked me. He told me to "hold still" but I madly swatted at the bee. Needless to say I returned to grandmas with a big bee sting on my forehead. On two other occasions I returned to grandmas with Poison Ivy. Grandma would wash me up with some special soap and I would recover. She never grew tired of cleaning me up. (But I am pretty sure she chewed out Uncle Ed a time or two.)

My grades at school were nothing to be proud of in those days. In fact I have heard that the teachers passed me to the next grade just to get rid of me. So on one occasion when my report card was really bad, I accidentally dropped it in a mud puddle on the way home. Grandma cleaned it up and was able to read it anyway.

I can remember playing in the attic. There was an old record player up there that we could listen to. I recently visited the attic, it sure has shrunk! Why anyone would want to play up there I can not imagine. I remember going through Uncle Ed's books and looking at all of the electronic parts in the closet. Someday I would know what all of those things do.

Then there was the barn. I remember playing with old electrical power meters, and automatic street light sensors. We would climb all over the beams like a bunch of monkeys. There was a huge pile of electronic magazines in the barn that I took home to read. I read everything I could find on electronics and electricity.

Then there was the pond. For years the only way I knew to get there was though the paths uncle Ed had cut through the woods. Then one day I discovered that there was a dirt road that goes back there. Once when swimming in the pond I returned to shore with leeches on me. I do not think I have gone swimming there since. There is a spring on one side of the pond. I remember something else near the spring but cannot remember what. Perhaps it was a picnic area.

Every year after that we would spend a week or two during the summer at my Grandparents. The farmhouse became sort of a refuge. It was a place where we could get away from the cares of the world and just relax. There were no schedules, there was no time that you had to arrive or leave. We would stop in along the way on a long trip and just talk for an hour or two.

We also went to grandmas and grandpas for the holidays. Somehow the table was extended so over a dozen could sit at it. Most of us kids sat at a second smaller table. Grandpa always sat at the head of the main table and we passed our plates to him so he could cut the Turkey and put a piece on each plate. There was always so much food. Someone would generally put the food on our plates for us. Later I graduated to the big table and was able to choose my own food. We were always told to take a little of everything that was passed.

Someone at grandpa's funeral said that it this was the end of an era. It was the end of an age. The age has ended where everyone was not so busy, when everyone did not have a dozen jobs that they had to be at. Now when you come in the side door at my house you are greeted with a calendar that is marked up in different colors for each child so that we can synchronize all of our schedules. Never again will life be so relaxed and easygoing.

I greatly miss grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Ed and the farmhouse. As everyone always says "Those were the days". Somehow it is hard to imagine in this day in age that a place existed where there was no time pressure. My imagination of what heaven will be like is based on what the farmhouse was like back in those days.