Memory Lane Monday- Early Memories

My mom swears I don't really remember as far back as I tell her I do, because she says if I saw it on old home videos, it doesn't count as a memory so much as something I've burned to my files up in the old noggin.

Still there are things I remember that I can't possibly have seen on home video because there just aren't any reels or footage of it.

For instance, I do remember the night my sister was born, and my mom sitting on their bed explaining to me where they were going and why I had to go stay with my grandparents and uncles and aunt. That was not on home video. (Though I did hear that story a lot growing up.)

Nor was the time when I was probably 2-3 years-old, my mom and two cousins were hanging out in the kitchen at the old Ripy Place, I think it was, and my dad was out in this barn/building doing some woodworking and I wanted to go out there, but it was starting to get dark. I remember them telling me, if I went out there, the Boogeyman would get me and I remember staring out the screen door and inching my way out but getting scared and darting back in the house.

I remember going on wrecker runs with my grandpa and uncle because they owned a junk yard and I spent a lot of time climbing around on old junk cars. I gathered eggs with my aunt from the chickens, who at one time were housed in the old body of a bus or something. I learned about the life cycle of mosquitoes in the cows' water trough.

Some of my favorite memories was going fishing with my grandma at what we called 'the Slab' down near the old distillery way out past where my grandparents lived. She and I would always pack peanut butter and crackers, vienna sausages and when we stopped for worms, she'd get us Hershey candy bars and Coca~Cola in the glass bottles. That must have been our thing, come to think of it, seeing as we got the same snack together at the hospital when we went to bring my mom and sister home.

Of course, my grandfather had a rented soda machine that dispensed glass Coca-Cola bottles for a long time for his junk yard business, but Grandma would wait until we were on the way and stop at a bait shop to get our drinks.

(the one pictured above is almost exactly what I remember)

What I do remember about the vending machine on the front porch is the long door on the left side of the front that you opened to grab a drink after you'd deposited your coins. I remember how hard it was to sometimes yank that bottle out. I remember that the Coca-Cola guy always had to come refill it a couple times a week and take the empties with him. I remember the brown "faux" wood paneling on it and how on really hot summer days, your soda would turn to slush as soon as the bottle cap was popped. Nothing tasted so good on those days either as a good slushie soda. Other times, my aunt would take a nail and poke a hole in the cap and let me drink it that way. I'm not sure why we did that, but it sure was fun back then.

Of course, I rarely buy Hershey's bars and I don't drink soda anymore, but memories like that inspire me to find one of those "retro" glass bottles of Coca~Cola and a Hershey bar, just so I can relive those moments when I was hanging out with my grandma and enjoying the simple things in life. I miss those days more and more as I grow older.

What are some of your favorite moments spent with a grandparent?
Were there special things you did together?