Noodles = 405 N. Virginia

Have you ever enjoyed one of these?

If you haven’t, I highly recommend them. Not only are they delicious, but they’re only $0.79. Amazing.

Don’t worry, there really is a reason why I’m talking about noodles. They remind me of my Grandparent’s house.

Since my parents both worked, I practically lived at my grandparent’s house before I started going to school. I’m convinced that Gramma is the one responsible for the good grades I’ve received all through school. She would sit and play with puzzles and flash-cards, and eventually I knew the alphabet and what all the national monuments looked like. We would spend hours working on crafts too.

Once I started going to school, Grampa would pick me up and I’d go to their house until my dad came after he was done with work. This was the routine until I was about in the 8th grade. Side note: Grampa was driving Templeton. He didn’t have a name at the time, but it was still him. Grampa was going to sell him a few years ago, but decided to save him for me. I’m pretty sure that during all of those car rides our conversations may have totaled 20 minutes. When I was older I’d turn on the radio, but I’d always leave the mariachi station on when I got out.

The first thing I’d do after getting to their house was serve up some cereal. That’s approximately 1,500 bowls of cereal. 

I spent every summer at their house too. Oh and I guess Robert was also there, but he was still pretty annoying back then, so I didn’t really want to hang with him that much.

A creek runs behind Gramma and Grampa’s house, so I spent a lot of time exploring that. They have a lot of property, which of course when I was younger seemed like acres of land to run around. The city barn (where all the city trucks parked) is at the end of the street so I could ride my bike around all I wanted in the cul-de-sac.

Anytime I wasn’t outside I would just watch TV. Who knows how many hours of Barney and Disney movies I watched. I still don’t know how they put up with it all. Then I moved on to Goosebumps, Two of A Kind, Boy Meets World, Rugrats, Doug, Clarissa Explains it All, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Rocko’s Modern Life, Hey Arnold!, Zoom, or anything else that was on Nickelodeon, ABC Family, PBS, or the Disney Channel. Side note for those of you who think TV is bad for kids: the first things I could read were episode titles.

Majority of the time Grampa would make me lunch. Which was either the noodles mentioned above, or hard boiled eggs (minus the yolk). The noodles were of course very hot, so then he would stand in front of the swamp cooler and cool them off for me. I also discovered freezing Gatorade, and I also discovered that freezing a can of soda doesn't work quite as well.

Then of course there are the countless family dinners, which included the Kimmet and Garduño families. Well, part of them at least. Those who are part of that group know how distraught I was when Gramma decided for no reason whatsoever to replace the table they’d had for who knows how long with a table from the thrift store. Thank goodness they kept their real table. They brought it out for the last meal I’d have at their house before coming to college, and when I was home a couple weeks ago.

Even as I sit here writing this, I’m flooded with memories that happened at 405 North Virginia. All good of course. Well, other than the times Gramma would threaten to hit me with a flyswatter. My grandparents shaped who I am today as much as my parents did. Gramma taught me how to study and be creative. Grampa taught me to be quiet and love people through your actions, not your words.

P.S.

Just throwing it out there, my grandparents are the best.