Memories

Every summer my brother and I would go stay with my grandpa and grandma Parks for a couple of weeks. I will never forget the yellow farm house with the American flag waving in the yard. The huge barn-red barn full of wild cats, tractors, and the smell of hay.

We would run around the farm, tan and lean, going from one thing to the next. We'd swim in the irrigation ditch (if I ever get cancer, I will know why), catch frogs, drive/wreck the 4-wheeler...

My grandma would cook and bake up a storm. Huge breakfasts, amazing hot lunches (grandpa's favorite meal of the day) and very light dinners. She'd make chocolate chip cookies and bake bread almost everyday. I remember Brian and I would slather on her homemade jam onto warm bread and she'd always wonder why we never used butter. It just didn't need it.

I'll never forget the smoothness of my grandpa's hands. He was a farmer, yes, but he always wore gloves. His hands never aged a day, and even in his later years, his hands looked like those of someone 40 or 50 years younger. Amazing.

He had a sparkle in his eye and loved to chew Winter Mint gum ...

My grandma, who is now living in Spearfish, had the longest hair imaginable. She always kept it up in a bun, and I remember sneaking into her room at night when she would take it down to brush it - it was such a feminine gesture, the brushing of her hair, and as a little girl I thought it was so alluring.

At the end of our visits each year, out would come the Polaroid camera. They would take pictures of Brian and I - happy, content, sun-kissed, and probably a little homesick. I was just amazed at the instant-ness of them...and I loved to wave them around, hoping to speed up the drying time.

I never saw the collection of photos they took over the years, and have often wondered who has them. I suspect my biological father does, but I don't know for sure. They are tied to such sweet times of my childhood...

When I saw this old Polaroid frame, all those memories came flooding back. Of course, this picture is of Wayne & Claire, but the sweetness of the old-fashioned picture goes way back ...