Here at the house. My dad's working on getting a new unit. Until then, we're relying on window units. It's like being back at Grandmother's house in the early 1990s. She didn't have central heating and air, like most of her neighbors. For some reason, every time the airport offered free stuff done to the homes in her Nashville neighborhood as compensation for living under the flight path, Grandmother turned them now. My mother would get frustrated with her mother that she didn't take the offered up. As a result, Grandmother's house was one of the oldest homes in the neighborhood, not just in age, but in life, too.

Grandmother's house did have an A/C unit in the living room window. When we would stay at her house while in Nashville, the whole family would sleep in the living room. We would shut the doors surrounding the room. My mother would yell if we left the doors open to the living room. Considering my mother craved her A/C, I don't see how she could stand staying at Grandmother's house. The rest of the house was hot in the summer. Cooking must have been hell for my mother. No wonder she took up Tetris back in 1991.

Yes, Tetris. My mother became addicted to it in the summer of 1991. We spent most of the end of July and beginning of August that year staying in Nashville. My mother just wanted to catch up with her old friends. The neighbors at Ft. Bragg thought my mother had left my father because we were gone so long. No, she didn't. We kids were with her most of the time. We would go to her friends' homes. She'd catch up with them as Nicki and I would play with their kids. When weren't at those homes, we were usually at Grandmother's home. Grandmother had no cable at the house, either. So, our forms of entertainment boiled down to 3 things: Over-the-air TV, Nintendo, or cards in the dining room. I was 12 at the time and big into Tetris. I could only get to about level 9. One day, my mother asked how to play the game. I didn't think she was serious about playing it. By the end of that trip, she could get to level 2. She loved that game until her death. My dad surprised her in 1996 by getting her the SNES Tetris/Dr.Mario game pack. She said that was one of her best gifts ever.

As for 1991, when we weren't sweating at Grandmother's or off at an old friend's, we did two other things. We would be at Grandma and Grandpa's at the pool. Thank goodness for that pool! The other thing is that we were hanging out with Alice and her kids, Joshua and Jessica. Josh and Jessica were each a few months younger than me and Nicki, respectively. That summer, we spent time listening to New Kids on the Block, Amy Grant, have Josh spray us with his new SuperSoaker, going to Wave Country, and catching fireflies.

That was my 2^nd to last summer as a kid. The next summer spent in Nashville was my last. After that summer of 1992, I had to grow up. My dad went to Egypt and Grandmother started to get sick. I'll save the summer of 1992 for another day.

[♪ Listening to: "Dreaming Of You" - Céline Dion]

Posted by Shawn at September 24, 2006 11:35 PM in Memories.