Grammy and Pappy's

My great grandparents lived about a mile away from my house when I was growing up. For the longest time, we visited them every Friday evening. Sometimes my dad and I would walk through the fields and over the bridge across the creek and follow the windy road to get to their house. After we left our little town, there was cow pasture on the side of the creek we had just left, complete with small meandering streams and large hills. It was pretty and peaceful. Fields were open behind my great grandparents' house, which was one of a small enclave consisting of three houses in the general area.

Their house was situated dead center on their rather large lawn. The front lawn had a gentle downward slope, leading from the house to the road, where it abruptly arose. The lawn was decorated with fruit and chestnut trees as well as a large stone bird bath.

Depending upon the time of day, my great grandparents either sat on their front porch beneath the green awnings looking out onto the road, or on their back patio overlooking the fields and the birdbath. Both porches were surrounded by well trimmed hedges. In fact, the entire yard and the house were always immaculate.

I was angry when strangers bought their home because my great grandmother went into a retirement home several years after my great grandfather died. I wanted someone I knew to keep the house, but I didn't get what I wanted.

I still drive by there every month or so. Things look mostly the same on the property. I can't say the same of the general area. Now I can take my son on a paved path to a playground at the bottom of a hill of condos where the cow pastures once stood. The trees that grow along the creek block the house from that angle, but I know exactly where we are. Behind their house the fields have turned into another kind of field, a college athletic field, with constantly glaring lights.

The changes in the area dishearten me sometimes, but it's the changes in the house itself that make me want to scream. I suppose I should be thankful that an older couple bought the house and have made very few changes throughout the past 15 years. The same green awnings are there, although they leave them on in winter, so they have faded. The yard is usually well maintained, but the driveway is in need of repairs. Someone apparently can't park cars very well because a bright yellow caution line has been painted at the bottom of the garage door. I drove by and saw an elderly man picking fruit from a truck in the yard and shook my head at what he must be doing to my great grandfather's lawn. I wonder about the birdbath and if it has been maintained. Sometimes it takes a lot of strength to keep from pulling into the driveway and heading to the back yard to check.

Today I saw cinder blocks sitting by the front porch. Apparently that is in need of repairs too. Inexplicably, I was angry with the current owners for letting the porch get to the point where it needs to be replaced. I certainly am not one to care about my own lawn or small repairs, yet I wondered why the porch had not been sealed gray every year like my great grandfather did.

I hope the porch doesn't change too much. The house feels like it is mine, I want it, I have always wanted it, and I don't want things to be too different when I can finally call it my own.