Fourth Memorial
Buy kids thousands of dollars worth of toys, and they will still want to play in empty cardboard boxes.
No, the little blonde boy Grandma is also hugging isn't Marvel, though I can see why you might think so. This was just some little boy I was dancing with at the Christmas party at the German social club to which my grandparents and great-aunt and great-uncle belonged.
From left to right, that's Guate (my grandmother's sister), Santa, me, Grandma, and Grandpa.
Santa had unisex Fisher Price toys for all of the children at the dance. That was nice.
Mommy, me, and Grandma on Christmas morning.
I'm so not awake yet.
Me, Guate, and Grandma again.
I was a real cuddler as a kid.
As I've mentioned before, my family owned horses. What I might not have explained is that we didn't exactly keep them in our backyard in Queens. There was a farm a few towns away from where Grandma and Grandpa lived that took in boarders.
When they were younger they looked an AWFUL lot alike, but I'm thinking that's Dad leading Sizzle--Firecracker had more of a comet-shaped mark on her forehead.
Yep, that's Sizzle all right. She really had a lot of "character".
For the life of me, I can't remember what event this is, or even where it is.
You know what I find ridiculous, though? WE OWNED HORSES. I JUST SHOWED THEM TO YOU. Why on earth would I want to ride a fixed-in-place painted horse? Kids are dumb.
That's about as close to the horses as Grandma ever got, save for that ONE time Dad got her up on Cracker Jack's back. Grandma loved horses--she loved all animals--but they were bigger than her so she was a little afraid of them. Also, you can see I inherited my fashion sense from my mom.
That's all I've got this year. I wish I had more, but of course, even if I had a hundred per year, I don't think I could do an adequate job of giving you a sense of what kind of person my grandmother was. She was kindness itself; if we were at a party, and there was one person sitting in the corner by himself, she'd go over to him and quietly talk to him, and probably ask if he wanted coffee or something to eat. If she knew your favorite color, every present she ever got you from then on would be wrapped in paper of that color. If you were down about yourself even for something that was indisputable (like failing a test, or something), she'd find some other thing to praise you for to keep your spirits up. And a hundred other little things that were so subtle as to be unremarkable, and you only really noticed them when you realized their absence after they were gone.