Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Two Stories

My brother, Casey and I had dinner with my grandparents last night in their RV. They're scooting around the country with their two cats, Coco and Arawen, and right now they're settled in our area. When you look forward to eating with your grandparents, you look forward to two things (or at least I do): good food and good stories - hopefully about one of your parents. Last night did not disappoint.

The first story is about my grandma when she was pregnant and made my grandpa venture out at night in a strange town to find her an avocado. When he returned with the avocado (surprisingly), she had to eat it with her hands because they didn't have a spoon in their hotel room. Apparently she had no problem with this...such was the strength of her avocado-craving.

The second story is about my dad as a 7-year old boy. My grandparents had taken the family on a trip to Durban, South Africa, where my dad had enjoyed the kiddie pool. He "swam" around by using his hands on the bottom of the pool. In swimming classes that year at school, the teacher instructed those that knew how to swim to go to the deep end of the pool and those that didn't to get in the shallow end. My dad, thinking that, of course he knew how to swim, jumped in the deep end...and nearly drowned. Not really. The teacher saved him after he saw him flailing around.

There are other things I learned last night too:

1. My brother adamantly claims that San Pellegrino is better than Pierrier because it has less bubbles. He's crazy.

2. Apparently one of my grandparents cats can make her breath stink when she gets upset. Hilarious.

3. Flameless candles are perfect for the RV life.

1 comment:

Jacque said...

Hey Rachel! I, too, had a good visit with my grandmother this Christmas. My parents and I hosted a brunch for her and her 3 closest friends. They all met in 1942! My grandparents met one of the couples in their apartment building - they were neighbors across the hall. Both families had young toddlers, but enjoyed spending time together too much to be fussed by the childrens bed times. So their friends rigged an alarm/intercom system that would signal in the other apartment if the babies got restless or cried while the adults had dinner together. Ha!! The things you learn about your grandparents. :)