Summers

     My summers at home were always very peaceful. Grandma enjoyed summer, she loved birds, she loved her garden. Our home was usually windows open, till the dead of heat came and then it was closed windows with the AC on. Mind you, we first had a husky who needed cool air, and then after 9/11 we got a pug. Which, if you know what a pug is, they need to be able to breath and heat is difficult. I love summer too. Warm air is nice to me. And the warm air always has a fresh feeling. Grandma always made her best meals around summer time too. I would be out of school and my summers were usually either going to Kings Dominion with a family with whom I was friends with all of the kids. But when I would go home, or if I stayed home all day, I was outside most of the time. Me and my grandpa would play softball with these plastic balls all the time. And then I learned that apples were more fun, till the bees started swarming around and then that was time to stop with that. My grandpa was my coach. I called him that a lot. He was my grandma's basketball coach in the church were they met. He would pitch and I would hit as hard as I could. My balls always ended up in our neighbors yard, which I'm sure he loved to pick up everyday.

     One summer, I was outside with my friend and we were playing football. I was wearing a redskins helmet and my friend threw the ball way over my head. We were in the backyard. My next door neighbor had two huge dogs that I knew and I absolutely loved them. Well that day, his rotty/pit bull mix bit me. I did not feel the bite, they say you lose feeling. The only thing I felt from the bite was what I thought a bug crawling down my arm. My friend came running at me full speed and asked if I was okay. I was like of course, what are you talking about. I looked down and had the scare of my life. Did not expect blood at all. I ran inside and my grandparents were like "what did you do!" I ended up going to urgent care and they cleaned me up and bandaged it, I felt pretty cool that year with a dog bite to show off. A few weeks later I went to a National Wildlife camp with my Aunt Kelly, who worked for them. The healing process itched but I made sure not to scratch at it. We had always joked that my neighbors dog bit me because I was wearing a redskin helmet and the owner was a cowboy fan.

     Grandma's best cooking was this magnificent thing called potato salad. Now mind you, she was from North Carolina and knew how to make the best of anything southern. Her potato salad was heaven. I'm pretty sure she makes potato salad all the time in heaven too. Everyone that tried it, loved it. For work, when I started, she made some for my coworkers too. I hope to perfect it as well as she did. She also loved to make deviled eggs. And so for the most part, my summers were chicken, potato salad, beans and rice, coke, and sweet tea. We would sometimes even go to North Carolina for a week, and her sister Mary made amazing sweet tea. There was nothing better. That is one thing I will miss every summer forever. I love North Carolina, I hope to live there someday. I feel closest to my grandma there, for she was a true southern woman. 

     She would always wear jeans, and that always had me questioning that, why during the hottest days of the year? I asked her once, and she told me of this time, when she was young, she was walking, I think on a dirty bridge. Her foot went through the bridge and she ended up with a huge scar down her leg. She still had the scar years and years after. She always told me to make sure to be careful. She taught me a lot and I enjoy that. I enjoy the things she taught me, something I can pass down to my children or friends children. Not that exact story, but a lot more.