Wednesday, March 5, 2014

C-A-N-D-Y Newspaper

I absolutely loved to visit my grandparents when I was little.  I didn't get to see them very often since they were in Texas and I lived in Ohio.  We made a trip every summer though.  It was important to my mom that we knew our grandparents.  In between visits, we would talk on the phone often.  My brother, sister and I would run to the phone to be the first to answer.  My grandpa always teased me, calling himself "bad grandpa".  I would argue with him over and over again, giggling as we played.  His special name for me was Stick in the Mud.  I didn't know until years later that he called me that because I was a stubborn little thing.
When we drove to Texas we would usually drive until we got there.  It was an 18 hour drive.  I always slept a lot because my mom told me that it would make the trip go faster (or maybe because of the dramomine she gave me).
The excitement would build as we drove down their street.  You could almost cut the enthusiasm with a knife.  As soon as we pulled into the drive, my brother, sister and I would burst from the van to be the first to knock on the door.  Sometimes we tried to trick our grandparents by pretending to sell something, thinking that they surely wouldn't recognize us after a whole year!  :)  They always played along, followed by exclamations over how much we had grown.
We had many traditions in Texas, but my very favorite one was C-A-N-D-Y newspaper.  My grandpa LOVED sugar more than anything and he would spell out the word candy, pretending that we were tricking my grandma.  The funny thing is that when I was really little, I really thought we were pulling one over on grandma!  Grandpa would tell us to hurry to the car before grandma figured out what we were really doing!  Squeals of delight would follow us out to the car.  My grandpa would drive up to the corner store, buy a paper (our cover) and let us pick out our favorite candy.
It doesn't sound like a lot, but getting our super secret candy with grandpa was such a treat for my siblings and me.  I am glad that I didn't know grandma knew until later.  The thrill of time with grandpa and tricking grandma was just so much fun.

3 comments:

  1. What a very sweet memory! (no pun intended!)
    As I read your story, I pictured many smiles and heard giggles and felt the joy and love!!

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  2. How wonderful that you have such strong memories of your grandparents. I look forward to reading your stories each day.

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  3. This brought similar memories of us visiting our grandparents who lived in Iowa...so our drive was only about seven hours. I loved how you built up the anticipation of the visit...the nearer you got. We, too, would sit at attention when we neared the Mississippi River because we knew we were almost there. My grandparents could see the Mississippi from their house. Thanks for the memories. Jackie http://familytrove.blogspot.com/

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