I remember my grandmother’s house and having to use my imagination to play

The corner shelf had one lonesome toy car that was my vehicle to achieve this.

I remember being on her giant back porch and wishing we had a giant back porch

Cracks in the long cement alleyway, running aimlessly and trying not to trip or fall.

I remember her calling me in to eat her stuffed cabbage and kasha varnishkes

Getting disgusted when I found out the tongue sandwich she made me- really was “tongue.”

I remember her huge pink colored refrigerator in her small gray colored kitchen

Breaking off pieces from the giant Hershey bar with almonds that was kept “hidden” within it.

I remember watching my grandfather snoring on the recliner as the baseball game was blasting

If I dared change the channel- one eye would open immediately – then it would be -game over for me.

I remember looking forward to my birthday and my grandfather bestowing upon me a dollar for each year passed

Thinking every year how rich I was when that August day came and how I couldn’t wait until I turned ten.

I remember my grandmother sitting at her huge kitchen table with loud women playing cards

The high volume of their voices, the stench of cigarette smoke and the clinking of poker chips flooding the room.

I remember when my uncle visited my grandmother’s house in his beautiful shiny new sports car

His visits would be brief due to my grandmother’s incessant interrogating of his every waking existence.

I remember being happy and safe in my grandmother’s house even with her barely giving me attention

Although we didn’t exchange many words, I knew there was a strong connection and a sense of belonging.

I remember my grandmother being old when she really wasn’t

Her thick English accent and odd expressions never leaving her lyrical vocabulary.

But-

Even with her few words, her obligatory interactions, and the sense of duty regarding her “grandmotherly” role,

I remember the love and bond I had to my grandmother and the everlasting strong ties to my heart -that would never be broken.