I've been thinking about my Grandma Shea a lot today, all because of a jar of peanuts.
Last night at the grocery store, I asked Lexi to grab a jar of peanuts. I didn't realize until we got home that they were "no salt" peanuts. My first reaction: yuck! But, I mixed them with some M&M's, and managed to eat many more than I should have. I couldn't help it....the "no salt" peanuts reminded me of Grandma Shea. Grandma always had pop, candy, and peanuts. The peanuts were in a two tier candy dish, which was either in the middle of the table, or off to the side on a cart. Perhaps my memory is failing me, but after eating a bowl of "no salt" peanuts, I could swear those were the same kind of peanuts my grandma always bought. Thoughts of her, and memories of my childhood had me smiling all day. And that got me thinking....about libraries, television shows, and cookies.
Libraries always remind me of my Grandma Parker. When I was a kid, I would spend at least a week with Grandma and Grandpa Parker. My mornings were spent at the ranch with Grandpa, riding horse and eating lunch in the trailer house...there were always hard boiled eggs and Recess peanut butter cups. I spent my afternoons with Grandma at the library where she worked. I once thought I would become a librarian and think of my Grandma Parker everytime Jake begs to go to the library, or tells me of his future as a librarian.
Television shows are, for me, just as much about who I watch them with as the actual shows themselves. I finally watched the series finale of ER tonight. I cried several times during the two hour program. My tears were not only about the storyline, but also about the friends I've watched that show with over the years. ER debuted 15 years ago. I was in college in Wahpeton. I remember spending Thursday nights watching Friends, Seinfeld and ER. I continued spending Thursday nights in front of the tv for many more years....at one point we even had a Thursday night tradition of Dominos pizza and "Must See TV". Now all those shows are off the air, and I've lost touch with many of the friends I used to spend Thursday nights with. But, whenever I see a re-run of Friends, Seinfeld, or ER I am immediately taken back to 1994....no kids, no job...just Thursday nights with good friends.
I love all cookies but there is one particular kind of cookie that takes me back to high school. I haven't bought them for years, but whenever I see the Keebler Rainbow Chip cookies at the store, I flash back to 1993. Amber Beld and I used to buy those cookies at the Bison Food Store, then drive around town in my 1978 Chevy Nova while we ate them. I'm pretty sure we ate the whole bag while we solved the world's problems and wasted gas and time.
I have even more memories, connected to even stranger objects that I won't share with you tonight. My point of this blog is how sometimes something as simple as a jar of peanuts can remind you of how great your life really is. I am so lucky to have had so much fun with my grandparents and to have always had good friends to share things with, whether it's a night of television or a bag of cookies.
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