When I was in fifth grade, my brothers and I went to visit my grandparents, Nanny and Gan, in Manville, Texas. They had built a small house there, near my Uncle Charlie, after moving from Chalmette, Louisiana to the small town on the outskirts of Houston.
There, standing on a small bridge that spanned a shallow creek, my mom told the three of us that she and my dad were getting a divorce. We wouldn't go back to Florida, but spend most of fifth grade and all of six grade there, living with Nanny and Gan.
It was mostly a happy time. I don't ever remember being sad. I don't know what other divorces are like, but my parents' was seemingly without conflict. At least, from my vantage point. Perhaps, a lot of conflict raged behind the scenes, but my brothers and I were never privy to it. Both my mom and dad did a very good job of shielding us from any conflict. If it was ever there. Like I said, I imagine it was, I simply don't know.
Most of my memories of Manvel and living with Nanny and Gan were good ones...going to Astroworld, high school football games with Uncle Charlie under the Friday night lights, visiting our cousins in Sugarland, going to country-western bars and eating Nanny's pancakes and biscuits.
I do remember my younger brothers and I flying from Texas to Florida as unaccompanied minors. It is the only time I remember wanting to cry. But I don't know if I did or not. Josh and Carlie were crying, so I might not have. It wasn't because we were sad, I think, just scared.
This isn't a blog post about my childhood or divorce. Quite the opposite. There aren't a lot of memories of my parents fighting (if they ever did), because I honestly don't remember a time they lived together. So, in my mind, there are no instance of them together, happy or otherwise. Only memories of them as distinct individuals. Separate.
This is a blog post about granola.
Gan's favorite cereal was Quaker Oats Granola.
Soon, it became my favorite cereal, too, and I always referred to it as Gan's cereal.
In Brazil, I somewhat foolishly and environmentally-incorrectly ordered it on Amazon to have it shipped to us even though perfectly good granola was available locally.
Elise does a lot of nice things for me. It's taken some getting used to. I wasn't very good at dating and got used to not having anyone except my mom do nice things for me. Girlfriends (as few and far between as they were) certainly didn't. They just broke hearts.
But Elise does. And, perhaps because I still have trouble accepting all the nice things she does for me, I call everything she does the nicest thing she does for me, when, in truth, it is just one of many very nice things she does for me.
Elise makes granola for me weekly, and it is the nicest thing she does for me. It's really good granola, too. Way better than Gan's cereal.
There, standing on a small bridge that spanned a shallow creek, my mom told the three of us that she and my dad were getting a divorce. We wouldn't go back to Florida, but spend most of fifth grade and all of six grade there, living with Nanny and Gan.
It was mostly a happy time. I don't ever remember being sad. I don't know what other divorces are like, but my parents' was seemingly without conflict. At least, from my vantage point. Perhaps, a lot of conflict raged behind the scenes, but my brothers and I were never privy to it. Both my mom and dad did a very good job of shielding us from any conflict. If it was ever there. Like I said, I imagine it was, I simply don't know.
Most of my memories of Manvel and living with Nanny and Gan were good ones...going to Astroworld, high school football games with Uncle Charlie under the Friday night lights, visiting our cousins in Sugarland, going to country-western bars and eating Nanny's pancakes and biscuits.
I do remember my younger brothers and I flying from Texas to Florida as unaccompanied minors. It is the only time I remember wanting to cry. But I don't know if I did or not. Josh and Carlie were crying, so I might not have. It wasn't because we were sad, I think, just scared.
This isn't a blog post about my childhood or divorce. Quite the opposite. There aren't a lot of memories of my parents fighting (if they ever did), because I honestly don't remember a time they lived together. So, in my mind, there are no instance of them together, happy or otherwise. Only memories of them as distinct individuals. Separate.
This is a blog post about granola.
Gan's favorite cereal was Quaker Oats Granola.
Soon, it became my favorite cereal, too, and I always referred to it as Gan's cereal.
In Brazil, I somewhat foolishly and environmentally-incorrectly ordered it on Amazon to have it shipped to us even though perfectly good granola was available locally.
Elise does a lot of nice things for me. It's taken some getting used to. I wasn't very good at dating and got used to not having anyone except my mom do nice things for me. Girlfriends (as few and far between as they were) certainly didn't. They just broke hearts.
But Elise does. And, perhaps because I still have trouble accepting all the nice things she does for me, I call everything she does the nicest thing she does for me, when, in truth, it is just one of many very nice things she does for me.
Elise makes granola for me weekly, and it is the nicest thing she does for me. It's really good granola, too. Way better than Gan's cereal.
No comments:
Post a Comment